Imagine using a random rock as a doorstop for decades, only to find out it’s worth a fortune! That’s exactly what happened to a grandma who kept a heavy chunk of metal by her door to keep it open. One day, out of curiosity, she had it checked out by a geologist—and surprise—it was actually a rare meteorite! 🌠 Turns out, this “rock” had traveled billions of miles through space before landing on Earth. Scientists were thrilled because it held valuable clues about the universe, and collectors wanted to pay a jaw-dropping amount for it. The best part? Grandma went from a cool story to a huge payday overnight! 💸 Credit: Chris Taylor / YouTube Norfolk On Film / YouTube Antiques Roadshow PBS / YouTube Pawn Stars / YouTube Animation is created by Bright Side. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/ Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightside Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en Telegram: https://t.me/bright_side_official Stock materials (photos, footages and other): https://www.depositphotos.com https://www.shutterstock.com https://www.eastnews.ru ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
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00:00In case the most exciting thing you've ever found in the street was an old quarter, prepare
00:04to be really jealous of this elderly woman from Romania.
00:08She found a rock in a stream bed and decided it was bulky and heavy enough to become an
00:13excellent doorstop, so she brought it home and used it for years.
00:18After she had passed away, her relative inherited her property and the doorstep with it.
00:23He somehow realized it was more than a quirky home decor piece and sold it to the state.
00:28It turned out to be one of the biggest intact chunks of amber in the world, worth over
00:34$1 million!
00:36Experts believe it's somewhere between 38 and a half and 70 million years old!
00:42Amber is a fossilized tree resin that's millions of years old.
00:46In the Romanian village of Colti, people have been digging up this gem from the riverbanks
00:51since the 1920s.
00:53The largest amber deposits in Europe are in the Baltic region, but with the right conditions,
00:58different types of amber can form anywhere, from Alaska to Madagascar!
01:04The huge amber nugget serving as a doorstop blended in so well that even jewel thieves
01:09ignored it when they robbed the house!
01:12Luckily, the Romanian authorities did recognize it as a national treasure of the country.
01:17It's now kept in a museum, and no, they don't use it as a doorstop!
01:23A building contractor named David Gonzalez bought a house in Minnesota for slightly over
01:28$10,000.
01:30It was built in 1938 and needed some serious renovation.
01:35While fixing it, David found an unusual piece of insulation among old newspapers.
01:40It was the very first comic book introducing Superman, a copy of Action Comics No. 1, from
01:47the same year that house was built!
01:49The comic wasn't in perfect condition and the cover was detached, but it still sold
01:54for $175,000, which was 17 times more expensive than the house!
02:01If the comic had been in better shape, it could have been worth way more!
02:05By the way, the most expensive comic ever sold so far is the very same one, yet it was
02:11in pristine condition.
02:13To get the comic in their collection, the buyer had to shell out $6 million in 2024.
02:19Previously, other copies of the same comic book were sold for $1.5 million and $3.5 million.
02:29A fisherman from the Philippines was out on his boat near Palawan Island during a storm.
02:34When he tried to drop his anchor, it got stuck on something he thought was a rock.
02:39He swam down to free it and realized it was a giant clam, and inside it, there was a huge
02:45pearl!
02:46The fisherman didn't know how valuable the pearl was, so he kept it under his bed for
02:50good luck for nearly 10 years.
02:53After a fire ruined his house, he showed the pearl to other people.
02:57It turned out to be the largest pearl in the world, weighing 75 pounds, about 4 times as
03:03heavy as a dachshund, and as big as 1 foot wide and 2.2 feet long!
03:09It's worth around $100 million!
03:12Today, the pearl is on display at the City Hall near Puerto Princesa to help attract
03:17visitors to the city.
03:20A really lucky someone who preferred to stay anonymous bought a ring at a car boot sale
03:25in the 1980s.
03:26It looked like a beautiful piece of costume jewelry, so $13 seemed like a fair price for
03:32it.
03:33They wore it for many years, until one day they decided to take it to a jeweler to find
03:37out more about it.
03:39The jeweler discovered that it was actually a real 26-carat cushion-shaped diamond set
03:45in a mount from the 19th century.
03:47The ring was put up for sale at an auction in London and sold for over $800,000!
03:54It was roughly double its initial estimated value.
03:57Diamond fans from today would hardly recognize their favorite gem in this rock because it
04:02was cut in an old-fashioned way.
04:04It was made for candlelight, so they tried to do everything to make it visible.
04:09The silver around it darkened over time, so it didn't look like something worth hundreds
04:14of millions.
04:15The ring most likely belonged to someone from the royal family or just a really rich person,
04:20as diamonds were super rare back then.
04:23Experts think the new owner will re-cut it and it's going to multiply the diamond's price!
04:32Next time there's a yard sale next to your house, don't ignore it!
04:35You could end up buying a small bowl for $3 that's actually worth millions!
04:41It's actually what happened in New York State.
04:43A lucky someone got a Chinese bowl for around $3 without knowing it was 1,000 years old!
04:49The bowl was sitting in the living room for several years, and then curiosity took over
04:54and the owner got it assessed.
04:57It turned out to be a real treasure from the Northern Song Dynasty, called a ding bowl.
05:02The only other bowl like it is in the British Museum in London.
05:06Four bidders were fighting for the New York bowl at an auction.
05:10Finally, a London dealer bought it for over $2.2 million.
05:16In 1970, a woman from Rhode Island bought a pretty ceramic plate for less than $100.
05:23She liked it so much that she hung it on the wall above her stove.
05:26For three years, it got covered in grease from cooking.
05:29In 2014, the lady took her favorite decoration to the TV show called Antiques Roadshow to
05:35have it checked out.
05:37To her surprise, she found out it was a plate designed by the famous artist Pablo Picasso
05:42in 1955 and worth over $10,000!
05:48In 1991, a man bought a painting at a thrift sale for just $4 because he liked the frame.
05:56Even though the picture itself wasn't very pretty.
06:00When he took the painting apart, he found a piece of paper hidden behind it, folded
06:04up like an envelope.
06:06It turned out to be a very old copy of the Declaration of Independence, printed in 1776,
06:14right after the original was signed.
06:17A friend convinced him to take the copy to an auction house.
06:21When experts looked at it, they recognized it was one of only 25 copies printed by John
06:27Dunlap, the official printer for the Continental Congress.
06:32The document sold for $2.2 million the same year, and then again for $7.4 million in the
06:39year 2000.
06:42A man named Andy Fields, who loves garage sales, bought a set of five paintings for
06:48just $5 at one of those events in Las Vegas in 2010.
06:53He took one of the paintings home and decided to reframe it.
06:57When he took off the backing, he discovered a hidden drawing behind the painting.
07:02It looked like a sketch by the famous pop artist Andy Warhol, known for his bright colors
07:08and bold designs.
07:10Experts believe Warhol drew the sketch when he was just 9 or 10 years old, and it could
07:16be worth $2 million.
07:19Andy Fields decided not to sell it immediately, though.
07:22He hopes it can be displayed in a museum instead of being locked away in a vault.
07:29A painting worth over a million dollars was used to cover a hole in the wall.
07:35The owner bought it along with some furniture for almost no money.
07:40They didn't know how valuable the painting was until they played a board game about art
07:45called Masterpiece, which had a picture of a similar painting.
07:49It turned out to be magnolias on gold velvet cloth by a famous 19th-century American artist
07:56named Martin Johnson Heade.
07:59The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston bought the painting for $1.25 million.
08:06That's it for today!
08:07So, hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your
08:12friends!
08:13And if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!