Alex Carson
Emil Knodell
Emil Knodell is a 67-year-old retired marketing director. Also, he’s a United States veteran and a treasure hunter. He loved to spend his free time going to estate sales and yard sales. He was a true believer that one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. Several times a month, Emil would scour the newspapers and the internet, trying to find the best place to find things in the area like an old dresser.
Missouri City Estate Sale
Emil headed to an estate sale in Missouri City, Texas, and at first, it was your run of the mill estate sale. There were a few good pieces, but it wasn’t anything that was too impressive. As a seasoned buyer at yard and estate sales, he knew that the odds of finding something worth millions for just a few dollars were slim to none.
Premier Estate Sales Network
Premier Estate Sales were running the estate sale that Emil would be going to that day. The company had a great deal of experience running estate sales. They made sure that no valuables would be overlooked, and that everything would be sold at a fair price. They often did their best to appraise items correctly. This caused Emil to feel a bit discouraged, but not enough to stay away from the sale. He says that he always went to estate sales with an open mind because you never know what you will find.
The Antique Wooden Dresser
There was one item at the estate sale that caught Emil’s attention. It was an antique wooden dresser. It had three wooden drawers and a marble top. And it was believed that the dresser dated back to the 1890s. He opened up the drawers and found that they were all empty. The dresser wasn’t to over the top, but there was something that caught Emil’s eye, and he decided that he had to have the dresser.
Cutting the Price
It turned out that the dresser had been for sale for three days before Emil showed any interest in it. This led the company managing the sale to drop the price. The goal was to sell everything, so cutting the costs was necessary from time to time. The dressers’ original price was $300. By the third day, the price was knocked down to $100. Emil thought that it was a great deal, so he purchased the dresser.
Loading the Dresser
When Emil tried to get the dresser into his truck, he realized that it was too bulky for him to carry on his own. He asked for help to load the dresser, and soon, the dresser would reveal a secret.
Strange Sounds
Man hears weird noises in an old dresser he bought at an estate sale, opens the drawer and gasps. When Emil started loading the dresser, he heard a noise coming from inside. He thought that this was strange because he had opened the drawers several times, and didn’t see anything inside. The men checked the drawers, and still, they found nothing.
A Crowd
By this point, a crowd had gathered to see what was going on. People wanted to know what was causing the sounds from inside the dresser. When the men realized that there must have been a secret compartment in the drawer, they wanted to find it so that they could see what was inside. They figured that the best way to figure out where the secret compartment was, they should lay it down on its back.
A Hidden Drawer
Finally, Emil found what he was looking for. There was a hidden drawer filled with treasure. When Emil discovered gold and jewels in the chest, he couldn’t believe his eyes. What shocked him, even more, was that there was cash from all over the world in the drawer, as well as a few personal mementos. Some of the items were dated back to the Civil War. After being appraised, it was discovered that the items were worth over $14,000.
Returning the Items To the Owner
Emil decided that the contents of the drawer didn’t belong to him. He found out that the executor of the will was related to the man who owned it before he passed away, so he tried to get in touch with the man. The owner says that the dresser was in his grandparent’s home in Michigan, and he had no idea that there was a hidden drawer. Many people believed that Emil should have kept the treasure since he was not the rightful owner. He didn’t think that this was right, so he returned everything to the owner’s grandson. Emil was happy that he got such a great deal on such a beautiful dresser, and he says that returning the personal effects that he found in the drawer was the right thing to do.
