Man Living in a Shack is Saved By His ‘Worthless’ Blanket That Spurs $1.5 Million Bidding War
Six years back, Loren Krytzer was living in a small shack, struggling to get by on $200 disability checks. He had been in a car accident in 2007, which led to losing his leg and his job. But then, something on TV changed everything for him.
Loren Krytzer, who’s from Liona Valley, California, was watching an episode of “Antique Roadshow.” He saw a rare Navajo blanket that was worth a lot of money—half a million dollars! Krytzer was surprised because he had a Navajo blanket that looked just like the one on TV.
Krytzer said the blanket had been in his family for many years. It was passed down from his great-grandfather in the 1800s. When his grandmother died, his mom and sister took everything from the house, except for the “dirty” blanket.
After watching the “Antique Roadshow” episode, Krytzer took the blanket to many antique organizations, but they all said no. Still, he didn’t give up. In 2011, he went to John Moran Auctioneers, and that’s when he discovered he had something valuable.
Moran and his team told Krytzer that “conservatively”, the blanket was worth at least $150,000.
When Krytzer decided to auction the blanket, he hoped he’d get enough money to buy a better house. During the auction, there was a 77-second bidding war, and the price went up to $1.5 million. This makes it the most expensive thing Moran Auctioneers have ever sold, and that record still stands today.
After taxes and fees, Krytzer was given $1.3 million.
“They had to bring me water and wipe sweat off my head,” Krytzer told CNBC Make It. “I started breathing really fast because I couldn’t believe it… Everything just went quiet, and I couldn’t catch my breath.”
“It was tough to understand. I mean, I worked hard all my life. I was in construction, I never bought anything new, I never saved money, I always rented. I bought used cars because that’s all I could afford. I lived from paycheck to paycheck my whole life,” he said.
So, what did this careful spender do with all that money? He put some into stocks, bought a house in California, married his longtime girlfriend who had been with him through everything, and treated himself to a nice car.
To this day, he still credits the dirty old blanket that sat in his closet as the thing that saved his life.
