Chance can often be worth a fortune, whether it’s a major discovery or a valuable artefact – we’ve picked out ten such cases.
10. The stone worth millions of dollars
A lucky Australian miner was collecting ordinary stones, and one day he found a large, shiny piece at the bottom of his basket. He liked it, so he took it home and kept it for a long time. Fourteen years later, he showed it to an expert who told him that the stone was actually a very rare black opal worth over $3 million. The find was named “Royal One”.
9. Whaling
An eight-year-old British boy named Charlie Naysmith once found an ordinary-looking stone on the beach. He and his father later googled what exactly the find was and discovered that it was actually an ambergris, or whale snout, worth $63,000. Ambergris is one of the most valuable raw materials in perfume production.
8. Money Wall
Some children in Pennsylvania found some old coins playing in an abandoned house, next to a wall. When their parents discovered the find, they broke the wall and were shocked to find hundreds of coins falling out. The find included both common and slightly rarer coins, which together were worth more than $200,000.
7. Gold nuggets
An Australian farmer was using a metal detector to look for something on his land when he stumbled across some tiny gold nuggets. He fished out the find, started digging, and came across a gold nugget weighing about 5.5 kilograms and worth over $300,000.
6. Putty knife
Instant glue was discovered by accident in 1942: Harry Cooper and his team of American chemists were trying to develop materials for plastic gun sights, and the now almost indispensable tool, which has since made billions of dollars, was born.
5. The Hoxne Collection
A British farmer called Peter Whatling asked his friend Eric Lawes to help him find his lost hammer using a metal detector. But instead of the hammer, they found a wooden box full of jewellery and coins worth a total of $15 million. Archaeologists named the treasure the “Hoxne Hoard” because of where it was found, and it was later exhibited at the British Museum. Lawest received a $2.3 million reward for the find, but of course he shared it with his friend Whatling.
4. Penicillin
Penicillin was discovered by Scottish biologist Alexander Fleming in 1928 – completely by accident. After returning home from a long holiday, he found a dirty plate full of bacteria and mould. That’s when he noticed that the mould was essentially killing the bacteria. So we can thank him for forgetting to wash the dishes.
3. Microwave oven
An engineer named Percy Spencer was working on an enemy aircraft detection device during World War II when he accidentally discovered that the magnetron was melting chocolate. This discovery earned the company Spencer worked for roughly $25 billion.
2. Ice cream with sticks
In 1905, a kid named Frank Epperson accidentally left a glass of water in the cold with some drink powder and a popsicle stick in it.
1. Coca-Cola
One of the world’s most popular soft drinks was created by John Pemberton and was originally intended as a headache remedy. But Pemberton’s assistant accidentally mixed the ingredients (coca leaves and cola nuts) with some sparkling water. This proves: don’t be afraid to experiment if you want your luck to change.
