A California man down on his luck got a change of fortune after a blanket he inherited from his grandmother sold for nearly $1.5 million at an auction.
Loren Krytzer was involved in a car accident in 2007, after which he was forced to have his foot amputated and could no longer continue working as a carpenter.
Krytzer spent close to a year in the hospital on dialysis after the accident.
“I kept trying to do the best I could, and finally it got so bad they said, ‘Now we have to cut your foot off,’” he told CNBC.
Despite being denied disability multiple times ― which forced him to send his children to live with their grandparents in Louisiana ― Krytzer was eventually provided with government assistance.
He was able to barter his rent down to $700 and was left about $200 to live on per month.
“It was rough,” he said. “I mean, we would literally go to Costco … and get a Costco hot dog and a Coke cause they were $1.50.”
But in 2011, Krytzer got a glimmer of hope when he turned on his television and discovered the Antiques Roadshow program. In that episode, Krytzer saw a senior sell a Navajo blanket for $500,000, and he immediately likened the blanket to a similarly designed one he received from his grandmother.
“I paused it and I went and got the blanket and I’m sitting there holding it. … I’m lining up the lines on the TV with the blanket, seeing if they match,” Krytzer said. “This guy is on TV, the appraiser says $300,000 to $500,000,” he recalled, so “I’m thinking maybe this one is worth $5 to $10 grand.”
Krytzer told his family about the blanket, but they seemed skeptical about it.
“You will not get more than $10,” he said his mother told him, according to HuffPost.
So, Krytzer brought the blanket to an auction house, which agreed to sell it to the highest bidder for $1.5 million in June 2012.
Since then, as you can imagine, a lot has changed for Krytzer, who went on to purchase two houses and a brand new car, among many other grand items, in the past few years.
“I just want to tell people to keep [hope] and never get down,” Krytzer added. “Things can change.”
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