14 Amazing Treasures Discovered By Accident

From discovering that a $5 painting was actually a Jackson Pollock original incredible to finding a shocking amount of gold artifacts! Subscribe to Talltanic http://goo.gl/wgfvrr 7. The Declaration of Independence A man purchased a painting for $4 at a flea market in Pennsylvania. He only bought it for it’s frame and removed the picture only to discover one of the original copies of the Declaration of Independence folded and hidden in the backing. There are only 24 known copies of the Declaration and the $4 purchase was sold at auction for the considerable sum of 2.4 million dollars. 6. Panagyurishte Treasure Three brothers were digging for clay at a tile factory in Bulgaria in 1949 when they uncovered this collection of gold Thracian treasure. The stockpile consists of a phiale, an amphora and seven rhytons that date back to the 4th or 3rd century BC. All told the cache is made of over 13 pounds of 24 karat gold. The stockpile is considered some of the best known surviving artifacts of Thracian culture and is displayed at various museums throughout the world. 5. Kruger’s Gold People have been searching for this missing stock of gold since its initial disappearance in the early 1900’s. Paul Kruger was the leader of a group of Dutch settlers, called Boers, in South Africa. Their uneasy alliance with the British Empire came to an end when gold was discovered in the area towards the end of the 19th century, leading to two wars. The Boers were losing the second war so they loaded a great amount of their stock of gold on trains and sent it out of town. No one was quite sure what happened to the gold after this and people would spend the next century unsuccessfully trying to track it down until earlier this year when a paddler was testing his new kayak by the Emmarentia Dam in Johannesburg. The paddler tipped over and improbably spotted the gold lying near the dam wall. 4. Caesarea Treasure Two Israeli divers unearthed an amazing treasure trove of gold coins and Roman-era artifacts while exploring the seabed near the harbour of Caesarea National Park. The collection of riches are over 1,600 years old and no monetary value has been put on the discovery. The hoard found includes thousands of coins found in two big lumps and rare bronze statues of Roman Gods. The discovery, which was made in early 2016, comes on the heels of another discovery in the area in early 2015 when divers found 2,000 or so gold coins that were found to be just over 1,000 years old. 3. An Original Jackson Pollock Painting People who collect original Jackson Pollock paintings are by nature extremely rich and part of a very exclusive club that is always resistant to new members. Perhaps that is why it has been such a battle for Teri Horton, a former long-haul truck driver with an 8th grade education, to get her Pollock authenticated. The painting is on display and for sale at an art gallery in Canada and while the jury is still out as to its legitimacy in the art world, Horton for her part says she will take no less than $50 million for the painting. The woman did not even know who Jackson Pollock was when she purchased the painting at a thrift shop in California for $5. The discovery and her struggle to get it authenticated were documented in the 2006 film “Who the #$&% is Jackson Pollock.” 2. California Gold Coin Cache A California couple that wished to remain anonymous found a loot of over 1,400 gold coins in eight cans buried in their backyard in February of 2013. It was thought that the government would attempt to make a claim on the money, which has been valued at roughly $12 million, but it was eventually ruled that the couple could keep their discovery. Some of the coins were sold at an auction in 2014 and the crown jewel of the collection, a $20 gold piece from 1866 is valued at over $1 million. 1. $100 Million Pearl When a fisherman found this pearl in a giant clam off the coast of the Philippines he didn’t know its value, so he kept it in his home as a good luck charm for a decade. Finally the man was forced to move from his home due to a fire and he decided to bring the treasure into the local tourism office, where shocked tourism officials informed the fisherman of exactly what he had brought them. While the pearl has yet to be authenticated by the proper authorities, when it is it will officially be the biggest pearl ever discovered, measuring almost 75 pounds, which is almost 5 times larger than the previous record holder, the Pearl of Allah.