Man Bought Old Desk At Auction …What He Found Inside Completely Changed Family’s Life
A man in Massachusetts thought he was just buying a beautiful new piece of furniture for his home. The secretary desk is a classic Governor Winthrop design, and at only $40, Phil LeClerc couldn’t pass up the opportunity. He won the item at an auction house, and once he got it home, he couldn’t wait to examine it more closely.
The desk wasn’t in perfect condition, there were a few marks and chips, it had a missing foot, and the ornamental finial was missing (which was later found in one of the many drawers).
Phil LeClerc started to shake the desk to see if anything was going to fall out of it. The desk is a model known for its “secret compartments.” There are lots of small hidden compartments and sliding drawers where owners have been known to hide valuables. Never the less, to his surprise, a small white envelope hit the floor.
LeClerc found $127,000-worth of mature bonds inside the desk!
“We found 50s, then we found 100s, 200s, 500s. And then we found a stack of six $10,000 bonds,” LeClerc told WCBV.
When LeClerc looked inside the envelope, he found $127,000 dollars worth of matured savings bonds.
It was nothing short of a miracle that LeClerc had just turned a $126,960 profit on a desk he’d purchased earlier that day.
He said he wasn’t necessarily looking for money or valuables, he was originally just looking for any knobs or handles that might have fallen off and been stored. “I banged the desk forward and when the knob came out the envelope dropped,” LeClerc told Wicked Local. “The first thing I saw was a $500 bond.”
LeClerc didn’t hesitate on what to do next.
He called the auction house and tried to get in contact with the original family.
Thankfully, he got in touch with the son of the man who was the original owner of the desk. As it turned out, the family had been looking for the savings bonds for some time. The desk, along with a number of other items were being auctioned off to help cover the cost of medical expenses and an assisted living facility for his 94-year-old father.
“The family had been looking for them for years,” said Marg-E Kelley, operator of the auction house where the desk was sold. “He was so happy. It could not have happened to a nicer guy.”
LeClerc returned the savings bonds to their rightful owner and said he didn’t regret it for a minute
The family asked to remain anonymous but told reporters that the money couldn’t have come at a better time.
“We love stories like this. It’s why we do what we do,” said Kelley. “It’s going to change their lives, you know? Completely change their lives.”
You’ve just read, Man Bought Old Desk At Auction . Why not read Manager Had To Hire A New Employee.