Treasure hunters traditionally find pirate booty in rusty chests on the bottom of the ocean.
But a California man is probably the first person ever to find more than a half-million dollars’ worth of swashbuckler swag in a Tupperware container.
The man, who asked to be identified only as “John from San Jose,’’ bought the contents of a Contra Costa, Calif., storage unit, sight unseen, for a paltry $1,100.
Inside the locker was a large piece of Tupperware — that contained 16 gold doubloons, as well as a stash of “pieces of eight,” Spanish coins from the 1600s, not to mention older gold and silver money, along with loose gold bullion thrown in for good measure.
Dan Dotson, the “Storage Wars” auctioneer who along with his wife, Laura, sold the unit said the container weighed “about 250 pounds and took three guys to pick up.”
Laura said the unit had been rented by a now-deceased woman who had been paying the $300-to-400-a-month rent on an auto-pay credit card for years. The auction was held a few weeks ago, several months after the payments stopped.
John was the winning bidder.
Laura said she didn’t expect him to find anything of much value inside.
“I’d heard it was just old-lady clothing, and older woman stuff like kitchen utensils,” she said.
“But he hadn’t opened that box at first because it was big and in the way.
“He was just amazed with the find, so he went though every little piece again, over and over, to make sure he didn’t miss anything,’’ she said.
“But the only treasure was in that one box.”
Normally, the Dotsons don’t hear about the items in the storage units, because “it’s a little like Vegas and if you lose you don’t tell anyone,” Dan explained.
But some winners like to boast.
“John from San Jose,” a big fan of “Storage Wars” was one of those.
“He wanted to brag to us because it’s, like, ‘Look! One of your big heavy-duty whales, one of your big buyers didn’t get this one!’ ” Dan said.
Unfortunately for fans of the show — which returns to the air at 10 p.m. today on A&E — the cameras weren’t rolling when the find was made.
Did I catch a glimpse of a tramp stamp when she gets on the first ATV still in the unit or were those wires hanging down from her mic? Either way, she looked amazing.Also caught the last few minutes of the one where she is in the kayak. You could tell the producers just wanted to get her into a tight wetsuit and get it wet. Well played sirs, well played.
Really watched it for the first time last night. Brandi, the old guy and the two hicks are pretty awesome.
