The Most Expensive Items Found In The Trash By Garbage Men

1. A James Bond Submarine Car

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In the 1980s the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me starred a submarine car. This particular car was found years and years later by a British garbage collector. It had been dumped, by someone who clearly had no idea that the car in question was worth a LOT of money. It has since sold for $1 million!

2. Millions worth of bitcoins

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A man named James Howell had a hard drive with bitcoins on it in 2009. He discarded the hard drive alongside the hundreds of bitcoins, thinking that they would never be worth anything. He discovered years later that due to their growing value, they would've been worth a whopping $280 million.

3. A Rufino Tamayo painting worth $1 million

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A Rufino Tamayo painting was discovered in a trash can as Elizabeth Gibson was walking around Manhattan and saw it at the side of the road alongside a trash can. The painting had been stolen 20 years earlier. When she had the painting authenticated she realized it was worth $1 million dollars.

4. The original artwork of Emil Nolde

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One of the original paintings of Emil Nolde was discovered by garbage removal men in Germany in 2010. The finder of the painting had a true surprise when he realized he had accidentally unveiled a $3 million piece of art. Despite not knowing the true value, he had an inkling that whatever it was, wasn't meant for the garbage!

5. Giuseppe Pedrazzini violin

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Giuseppe Pedrazzini created some of the most famous violins in the world and was renowned as one of the most talented creators. It was a happy coincidence that the garbage removal man had been looking for a violin for his wife when he found one in the trash. It was even luckier when he discovered it was worth $50,000!

6. $5 million worth of diamonds

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A huge mistake was made by employees when 5 million dollars worth of diamonds were thrown out into the trash at the J. Birnbach Jewellery store in Manhattan. A security guard discovered them and started selling them for a huge price at the SAME store. He was caught on CCTV and arrested.

7. A first-edition Harry Potter book

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Nigel Reynolds was one of the few lucky people to interview J. K. Rowling. She then gave him a signed, first-edition copy of Harry Potter, one of around 200-500 in the world. He threw it straight in the trash before Harry Potter had even taken off. He realized his mistake afterward and ended up queuing to buy his son a new copy - which unlike his previous, wasn't worth around $10,000.

8. A first edition Apple computer

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One of the first-ever editions of Apple computers was created by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. The vintage computer is worth $200,000, however, it was discovered by garbage collectors at the recycling centre when someone recognized that it was actually the first-ever edition.

9. Ancient Mexican, Mayan artefacts

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Amongst the many treasures that have been thrown out in the trash with no idea of their true value, were some ancient Mayan artifacts of great historical importance. Some of them dated as far back as 300 B.C.E. They sold to a museum where they currently reside, for $16,000.

10. The blueprints of Freedom Tower

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In 2008 a great mistake was made when someone discarded or lost the blueprint for the Freedom Tower. Thankfully, the lost papers were found by a homeless man who returned them back to the right people. The papers included all of the details of the building including the electrical gateways, right down to the thickness of the walls.

11. World War II nuclear-weapon materials

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Somehow nuclear weapons had been discovered near a garbage dump in a securely closed barrel. It was investigated by a department of energy clean-up team which found that it contained materials that were traced back to World War II. While the chemicals were disposed of some of the shells were kept as valuable artefacts.

12. Millions of platinum dumped in the sea

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In the 1700s Spain was suffering from an economic crisis. They had been introduced to a material, platinum, which at the time was newly discovered and became used as a counterfeit gold as it had some of the same qualities. In 1735 they dumped all of it in the sea, however, years after it became apparent that platinum was one of the rarest metals ever.

13. A Banksy art piece worth $1 million

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A piece of Banksy art work was found in the trash and taken to a thrift store when it was discovered. Nobody knows who had thrown the painting into the trash, however, it's clear that they had no idea who created it or how much it was worth. It later sold at auction for $1 million.

14. Rare gold coins

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One thing in particular that garbage removal men have found more frequently than other expensive goods is gold coins, This is because unless you have some expertise it can be impossible to identify whether the coin is worth anything. When it was found dumped in the garbage, the collection of coins was found to be worth around $10 million.

15. A huge diamond ring

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When huge breakups happen and relationships break down, people act purely out of anger. One dismayed girlfriend had tossed her diamond ring into the trash in anger. It was later discovered by a garbage removal man who then pawned the ring which was worth hundreds of thousands!

16. Andy Warhol sketches

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Andy Warhol is a talented, famous artist. He had a sketchbook which was unnamed so it had been unknowingly tossed into the trash in New York City until it was fished out when someone recognized the style of his artistry. These original sketches were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

17. 24 gold bars

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In India in 2015 a garbage man found 12 gold bars in a dustbin, discarded in a rubble bag. They weighed around 12 pounds and were found to be worth just under 1 million dollars. Nobody knew where they had come from or how they had happened to be found dumped in the garbage!

18. A classic car worth $66,000

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In 2020 a classic car with $66,000 was found by garbage collectors in France. The car had been discarded by a very wealthy family who had no longer wanted the car anymore. Instead of trading or selling the car, they had simply thrown it out to be collected!

19. Piggy banks with rare coins inside

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In Britain, garbage men found an old piggy bank with some 1 and 2 pence pieces and also a few very rare, old coins that fetched thousands at auction. The coins had clearly been mislaid inside the piggy bank or misunderstood in terms of what they were actually worth"

20. Vinyl records of The Beatles

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Vinyl records of The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin were found in trash bins. They were old and in excellent condition and were worth thousands and thousands of dollars. One garbage removal man had taken home the vinyls and kept them, in the knowledge that their worth would only accumulate.

21. A Jackson Pollock painting

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In 1992 a Jackson Pollock painting worth millions of dollars was discovered in a trash can in New York City. Again, it was a case of the owner having no realization of who the artist of the painting was, or how much it was worth. Otherwise, it would never have been found in the dumpster.

22. Vintage Baseball Cards

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A collection of vintage baseball cards had been thrown out and found by a garbage collector in Pennsylvania. He gathered the cards together thinking they would be a fun collectible when he spotted a Hugnus Wagner card and realized their worth, which turned out to be hundreds of thousands of dollars.

23. Ornate Victorian furniture

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Victorian furniture was found discarded by a home in the UK, which in itself is not an irregular occurrence and some Victorian furniture sells for very little at auction. Yet these pieces were very particular, they were hand-crafted in excellent condition and they were rare pieces worth £5,000 in auction.

24. A Pablo Picasso sketchbook thrown into the trash

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Here is another case of a famous artist's sketchbook being completely overlooked because it wasn't a signed piece of work. Thankfully a garbage collector in San Francisco recognised that these looked like original sketches in a notebook. The knowledge paid off, 20 dollars worth.

25. A Faberge Egg

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Faberge eggs are some of the most expensive ornaments in the world. They were found by a metal detector on a scrap heap. They had been dumped into a trash can, taken by garbage removal men, and then found by someone with a metal detector. This egg was worth many millions.

26. NASA Lunar Tapes

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Somehow, the original NASA lunar tapes of the Apollo 11 moon landing had accidentally been sent to disposal. A garbage removal man spotted them and instantly knew that he had discovered the real thing and that someone had made a HUGE error. These tapes were priceless historical records.

27. A Tiffany stained glass window

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A garbage collector in New York City found a Tiffany-stained glass window in the trash pile. It was extremely rare and valuable as many Tiffany pieces are. It was then sold for around $20,000 after it had been saved from a garbage heap, thankfully still in one piece.

28. A Tag Heuer watch

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Recently in the USA, a garbage collector stumbled across a Tag Heuer watch in the rubbish pile. His attention had first turned because it was what he deemed a nice-looking watch and he had taken it to wear for this reason, before he even realized he was now wearing a $7,000 watch!

29. Antique maps from the 17th century

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As the saying goes 'one man's waste is another man's treasure, and in this case, it really was. These antique maps from the 17th century were discovered in a dumpster and found to be worth $22,000 when they were sold at auction. From the scrap heap to a small fortune!

30. The original Dracula poster

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The original poster for Dracula was discovered in the garbage. The owner had not realized that they had managed to acquire the original poster. They had believed it to be a copy, and therefore worthless. Yet when it fetched $19,000 at a sale, they quickly realized their mistake!