A woman in St. Louis visited Antiques Roadshow with a Buddha idol that she had purchased from a garage sale. She had paid between $75-100 for it. Robert Waterhouse, an Asian art specialist, appraised it at $100,000-125,000.
Waterhouse knows his field, but he had to evaluate the piece in just a few minutes. When specialists like him had more time to study the idol, they appraised it much higher. When the owner sold it, the final price was over $2,000,000!
You can see her reaction at the 3:15 mark.
-via Geekologie
"She had paid between $75-100 for it." Man, I need to hold a garage sale in St. Louis. Here, no one ever wants to pay more than a quarter for anything.
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