Viking gold ring found in junk jewelry

I love these type of stories. Like finding a real artist painting at a garage sale. I hope she takes good care of that find. Probably should be in a museum.
 
I'm now an antique dealer and attend many estate sales, flea markets, yard sales, etc and this kind of thing does happen. Not often but it does happen. My own surprise finds aren't nearly as spectacular as this one but similar discoveries do turn up from time to time among my local colleagues.

But, the thing is, they usually keep their mouths shut about them because blundering sellers of such treasures have been known to sue.
 
I'm now an antique dealer and attend many estate sales, flea markets, yard sales, etc and this kind of thing does happen. Not often but it does happen. My own surprise finds aren't nearly as spectacular as this one but similar discoveries do turn up from time to time among my local colleagues.

But, the thing is, they usually keep their mouths shut about them because blundering sellers of such treasures have been known to sue.
Have the sellers been known to win those lawsuits?

Back several years ago when buying storage lockers was all the rage, there was a delinquent locker renter who sued both the locker storage rental facility for selling and the buyer for buying his contents. The claim was the facility and buyer colluded somehow. Don't remember how it came out, the story kinda died. I figured it was settled out of court.
 
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Have the sellers been known to win those lawsuits?
My understanding is the sellers can have a case if they can prove the buyer is a professional dealer. The idea is a dealer would likely know the value of an item and has a responsibility to offer a fair price in keeping with that value. It's like if you brought a painting into an art dealer's shop and they only gave a few dollars for what turned out to be a Rembrandt then the seller would have a case for being swindled.

But, if the buyer is not a dealer and it can't be proven they knew the value then the seller probably has no case. Or, if the buyer simply bought a lot at auction and didn't even know the item was in there then ... well ... I would think the seller would have a hard time proving he was wronged.

But, of course, I'm not a lawyer ... I only played one on TV. :cool:
 
If something of value is mixed in with a bunch of other stuff and sold as a whole, i don't see how that is the buyer's fault. That'd be the usual rushed manner that estates are cleared out.
 
If something of value is mixed in with a bunch of other stuff and sold as a whole, i don't see how that is the buyer's fault. That'd be the usual rushed manner that estates are cleared out.
Right and I often buy boxes of stuff this way without even looking through them because I can see there's enough right on top to make it worth my while. I don't look through it until after I get it home. I've gotten some nice surprises this way though not enough to make headlines.

On the other hand, I've also had unpleasant surprises. It's all just part of the business.
 
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Right and I often buy boxes of stuff this way without even looking through them because I can see there's enough right on top to make it worth my while. I don't look through it until after I get it home. I've gotten some nice surprises this way though not enough to make headlines.

On the other hand, I've also had unpleasant surprises. It's all just part of the business.
It’s good to know someone in the business. We know who to ask for antique advice now lol.
 
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