May 3, 2012 The old man hid antiques worth £ 250,000

He lived very modestly, slowly like a beggar. Little did anyone know that an old man living in Southsea, Hampshire, was hiding rare antiques at home. Everything came to light when the man died. At home, he had gems worth £ 250,000.

The man lived in a municipal apartment with two bedrooms. Antiques expert Martin Lawrence expected to find only ordinary household items. It didn't take long for him to realize that a collector's delicacy awaited him…

Among the things beneath the pile of junk was, for example, a 170-year-old Indian bowl. It was sold at auction for 70,000 pounds. Then an expert found a silver trophy in the apartment, which was received by the captain of Nelson's Navy in 1796. It was hidden under the bed and sold for more than ten thousand pounds.

The antiques sold for a total of more than £ 250,000. In addition to rare things, the old man had a pile of rubbish in his apartment. He amassed old newspapers, cardboard boxes, and old mattresses that made it difficult to get into the rooms. Everything had to be cleared.

The "cleaning" event brought 300 antiques. "Things were either crammed into boxes, left in sideboards and cupboards, lying on the floor or under the bed. They were just in almost every corner of the apartment, ”said Lawrence, who works for Jacobs & Hunt in Petersfield, Hampshire.

Other pieces sold at auction included a Chinese jade statuette in the shape of a fish worth £ 12,000. Then there are two nineteenth-century pistols for £ 3,400 and an 18-carat white gold diamond ring for £ 2,600.

It is believed that the pensioner who lived in the apartment inherited the collection from his parents, who were well-known antique dealers in London during World War II. “The collection has been in one place for many years. The neighbor said that the owner was a really nice man, but he had no idea what rare things he had in the apartment, "Lawrence said.

The star item that attracted collectors in Canada, New York and Australia was the already mentioned Indian bowl. It was used by the Haida tribe in the nineteenth century to serve posh meals on holidays. The old man was hiding her in the kitchen cupboard.

Sources: www.dailymail.co.uk