What’s the strangest or most expensive item you’ve found or left in a property?

MSE_Laura_F

Martin Lewis recently asked Twitter (X) followers:

"What’s the strangest or most expensive item you’ve found or left in a property you’ve moved into it? Did you sell it or bin it?"

Answers from those who'd found things included a hidden room full of Victorian paintings, a dancing Santa and £15,000 in cash. Answers from those who'd left something included a 1950s dressing table and a treasured record collection.

Do you have any to add?

Martico

I've got a sword that was used in the Charge of the Light Brigade. I'd popped it inside the loft hatch of my last rental property when I lived there, to keep it safe and out of the way. Moving out day went fine, I left the house looking lovely, and completely forgot about the sword until about a week later. I rang the managing agents in a panic, and after a slightly surreal conversation (they were convinced I was on a wind-up) they were kind enough to send an employee round to retrieve it from the house (which had already been relet) and retrieved it for me. I did feel kind of conspicuous walking down the high street afterwards wielding an ancient sword. 

Section62

I found a collection of 1960's/70's ceiling/wall light fittings in the loft... I left them there for the time being.  One day I'll get round to calling Drew Pritchard and see what he'll offer me for them.

The dozens of old fluorescent light tube were a less welcome find.

Iamdave

a 1976 Gary Glitter Annual. Probably the most valuable item in the property too haha

DullGreyGuy

Mother left a Marko sized bag of frozen fish in the penultimate place she sold after falling out with the buyer when the reply to "do you want to buy any of the carpets etc" came back with "I dont want any of your old tat". Said fish were distributed liberally behind radiators, in water tanks, in certain voids under access panels for built in toilet cisterns etc. Even managed to squeeze them in gap between the structural built in wardrobe and the units that were built into them. 

Can imagine getting rid of the smell would have been fairly expensive. Former neighbours complained years later the place was looking almost derelict.. probably not connected.



The only oddity we've found was all the furniture in the lounge/diner of a rental place. We'd rented it as part furnished, viewing it vacant and had asked that the bed be removed as we had our own. So wasnt a surprise when moving in to see the sofa, coffee table, dining table etc all still there. It was when we were moving out and the landlord contacted us afterwards asking when we were going to collect our sofa etc... turns out the furniture wasnt his and no one seemed to know who's it was. 

Grumpy_chap

DullGreyGuy said:

Mother left a Marko sized bag of frozen fish in the penultimate place she sold after falling out with the buyer when the reply to "do you want to buy any of the carpets etc" came back with "I dont want any of your old tat". Said fish were distributed liberally behind radiators, in water tanks, in certain voids under access panels for built in toilet cisterns etc. Even managed to squeeze them in gap between the structural built in wardrobe and the units that were built into them. 

Can imagine getting rid of the smell would have been fairly expensive. Former neighbours complained years later the place was looking almost derelict.. probably not connected.

Sounds like your mother was being rather malicious...

Skiddaw1

Grumpy_chap said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Mother left a Marko sized bag of frozen fish in the penultimate place she sold after falling out with the buyer when the reply to "do you want to buy any of the carpets etc" came back with "I dont want any of your old tat". Said fish were distributed liberally behind radiators, in water tanks, in certain voids under access panels for built in toilet cisterns etc. Even managed to squeeze them in gap between the structural built in wardrobe and the units that were built into them. 

Can imagine getting rid of the smell would have been fairly expensive. Former neighbours complained years later the place was looking almost derelict.. probably not connected.

Sounds like your mother was being rather malicious...

Oh I don't know. Sounds as if she was sorely provoked... Actually, I always thought the fish thing was an urban myth.

Can't add any rare or valuable finds I'm afraid, though we did discover a wonderful vintage wooden front door with patterned glass when clearing out our previous shed. As we already had a nice vintage-style door we flogged it on Ebay.

Brie

My parents had bought back the family farm in Canada about 100 years after the last time it had been in the family.  For most that time one family had lived in it, farmer couple and then their children who never married and eventually died there.  So the last time the place had been decorated was at least 5 decades earlier so it needed a bit of work. 

Given the age of the place my parents suspected there would be lovely wood floors under the decrepit linoleum so that was one of the first things to be removed.  In the hallway they found a George V $5 bill in pretty pristine condition except that it was signed by, presumably, whomever put it there.  That was quite a lot of money to leave to the future considering it must have been left there in the 1930s at the lastest. 

After that they repaired a sliding door into a small storage room.  The door was made to slide into the wall completely out of sight and had been stuck that way for ages.   When they finally got it unstuck they discovered writing on one side that was the building contract for when the house was extended sometime in the 19th century.  It stated that payment for the building work was $5 and the big white horse.  

dannim12345

I was cleaning and sorting the kitchen cupboards not long after we moved in. I wondered why my partner has put a white T-shirt in the back of one of the cupboards so I pulled it out.  It was a massive pair of white y-fronts 😂😂

ProDave

I found an acoustic guitar left by a tenant in the loft of a rental property we used to own.

Grumpy_chap

ProDave said:

I found an acoustic guitar left by a tenant in the loft of a rental property we used to own.

Was it this one?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-66700300