Man Buys $25 Handbag At A Flea Market, Quickly Realizes It’s Worth Much More

The somewhat-clunky bag was adorned with a brown leather trim and had two handles long enough to rest on one’s shoulder. But what made the brown purse stand out was its campy Elvis Presley print, which covered its front, back, and inner lining.

Upon further inspection, he concluded the bag was likely a knockoff: Irish designer and “haute couture milliner” Philip Treacy’s name was on it. The renowned designer has made one-of-a-kind pieces for the likes of Lady Gaga and Princess Beatrice, who wore his hat in 2011.

John knew it was likely a knockoff Philip Treacy (left) piece, as those fakes often look realistic. Either way, he knew he just had to buy it; he did, for the American equivalent of just $25.

But the intriguing find simply marinated in the back of John’s head, eventually getting him to have the handbag appraised. “I decided to take it to the Philip Treacy shop and they confirmed that it was one of theirs,” John told the Hampstead and Highate Express.

Not only was it genuine, but the Elvis print was designed by legendary American artist Andy Warhol (who popularized the pop art movement) and the purse itself is believed to be one of just 10 ever created. SCORE!

“I was very surprised to hear that he had found it in a charity shop. But he worked hard to get the sale so whatever he does with it is up to him,” said Gee Brunet, the store manager of Philip Treacy London.

“I imagine it could reach £350,000 – it’s a piece of art, not a bag,” he continued, clarifying that its value is based on its cultural significance. But not everyone agreed that the artful bag could earn John up to approximately $440,000.

A Bonhams auction house rep told the Ham&High it wasn’t probable that the bag could earn such a high amount, even considering its rare nature. But John had already found a few potential buyers who were willing to pay big bucks for the vintage handbag.

John claimed that two private buyers in China reached out to him about the Philip Treacy piece, one offering him £350,000 and the other £250,000. It turned out that Gee Brunet’s estimation was accurate.

John planned to use the money from the sale to open a hair salon with his partner, despite the fact that auctioneers on New Bond Street urged him to hold on to the lucky find for a while. It wasn’t long before the tale of the Elvis-plastered purse went viral.

Though nothing was final just yet, if the Philip Treacy bag did sell for £350,000 ($438,970), it would’ve been the highest priced handbag ever sold back as of 2012. And when Oxfam got word of John’s lucky find, its higher-ups weren’t too happy.

“We were stunned to hear about the world record-breaking price this bag could be expected to achieve,” said Fee Gilfeather, the Head of Audience & Strategic Planning for Oxfam. But since Oxfam focuses on “ending the injustice of poverty” and providing disaster relief via its charity shops, disappointment was inevitable.

“Oxfam has a dedicated team of experts who work with the most valuable donations from our shops across the country to secure the best price for Oxfam, including annual high-profile auctions at Bonhams,” Fee continued. She was still in bitter disbelief.

“It’s highly unusual for an item of such extreme value to go unnoticed and demonstrates the growing appetite for seemingly ordinary items overseas. We are of course very disappointed that Oxfam won’t benefit from the sale,” said Fee.

“In West Africa, where millions are at risk from severe food shortages right now, £350,000 could help bring food to 35,000 families for a whole month,” Fee Gilfeather concluded. Oxfam was using a guilt tactic to retrieve the bag back.

And while John Richard struck metaphorical gold at the little London second-hand shop, others have struck actual gold while browsing the cluttered tables of flea markets and thrift shops.

When a man, who now wishes to remain anonymous, discovered a tiny golden egg at a Midwestern flea market, he got goosebumps at the mere sight of it. Believing it was made of real gold, he purchased it for $13,302.

Feeling like he ate nearly 14 grand, the man went to the one place that could maybe tell him more about the flea market find: the internet. He was desperate to find any information indicating the tchotchke was worth anything.

Rushing to Google, he typed “egg” plus the name engraved on the clock, “Vacheron Constantin,” into the search bar. The search took him to a 2011 article by Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper.

According to the article, there was a “frantic search” for the golden relic, which turned out to be the Third Imperial Easter Egg, made by the renowned House of Fabergé for the Russian royal family. You can imagine the entrepreneur’s feelings of shock and joy.

Soon, he started imagining the new price tag. Now $13,302 sounded like a steal! Practically jumping for joy, the man contacted Fabergé expert Kieran McCarthy, then hopping on a plane to London to meet with him in person.

He visited Kieran McCarthy’s workplace, Wartski jewelers, in the upscale English district of Mayfair. “A gentleman had walked in wearing jeans, a plaid shirt and trainers. His mouth was just dry with fear,” Kieran told CNN.

“He handed me a portfolio of photographs, and there was the egg, the Holy Grail of art and antiques,” he continued. Kieran was stunned. Though he hadn’t gotten to see the Fabergé artifact during that visit, he knew it was the real deal.

This time it was Kieran who would take a journey, trekking it to the American Midwest to see the golden beauty in person. “It’s almost an affirmation of his existence that this happened to him,” Kieran said of the finder.

The man’s miraculous 3.2-inch find sat on an elaborate gold stand with tiny lion paw feet. It boasted three sapphires and a diamond. Upon opening the egg, a Vacheron Constantin watch hidden inside was revealed. She was a real beaut.

When Kieran could observe and handle the egg up close, he noted that the egg finder did, in fact, overestimate the physical value of the piece, but underestimated its value as a work of art.

“He didn’t look upon a work of art at all. He saw that it was pretty and it was nice, but he was buying on intrinsic value. He bought and sold […] This was quite a considerable outlay for him,” Kieran explained.

“The essence of Fabergé’s work is craftsmanship. It’s the beauty of design and the conceiving of that object,” he continued. Apparently, in pre-revolutionary Russia, the tsar and tsarina had everything they wanted and more, making it difficult to impress them with anything of physical value.

“Their daily lives were lived at such a height of luxury that you couldn’t really excite them with anything of intrinsic value. It was always about the craftsmanship. This is what that object is about, this craftsmanship and demonstration of skill,” Kieran detailed. Yes, basic diamonds and jewels were a bore.

Kieran explained that when people imagine the iconic Fabergé eggs, they picture them larger than life, as if they were “the size of the Empire State Building, with diamonds the size of footballs.” People often forget their value in terms of art collecting.

Fabergé’s egg creations were meant to be little celebrations of Easter, as well as love tokens. Right up until the 1916 overthrow of the tsar, the Fabergé jewelry workshop made a total of 50 eggs for the Russian Royal Family. According to Fabergé “the only prerequisite being that they contained a surprise.”

The man’s flea market egg is thought to be Tsar Alexander III’s 1887 Easter gift to his wife, Tsarina Maria Feodorovna. Exactly 42 of the 50 have known locations, in private collections and museums, and the 43rd has finally been found.

It’s thought that there are two more original Fabergé eggs lurking somewhere around the globe, and that the other five were likely destroyed, as there was no mentioning or evidence of them existing succeeding the revolution.

A private collector purchased the man’s discovered Third Imperial Egg, graciously allowing the public to view it at Wartski in April 2014 before it was officially in his hands for good. Estimates suggest the egg could have cost him $33 million!