“This Was The Best Investment I Have Made”: Late Piano Teacher’s House Turns Out To Be A Hoarder House With 400K Worth Of Treasures
“Hi! I’m Alex Archbold, and I’ve been buying and selling antiques since I was 9 years old. From basements to scrapyards, I’ll look just about anywhere I can to find lost antiques and collectables,” the antique hunter from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, says during the intro of his YouTube channel.
“Sometimes I’ll go big and buy everything,” says Alex, and that’s exactly what he recently did by purchasing all the contents of the house that belonged to a late piano teacher, Bette-Joan Rac.
More info: Curiosity Inc. | Instagram | YouTube
Alex Archbold is an antique hunter from Canada who has a YouTube channel with almost 400k subscribers
Image credits: Curiosity Incorporated
“Growing up with little money and facing bouts of homelessness as a child, finding little treasures to resell helped bring in extra money, and fed my passion for learning about history,” Alex told Bored Panda. “My wife and I opened an antique shop almost 5 years ago in Edmonton Alberta Canada called Curiosity Inc. I carry a wide range of products, but we always look for the cool, unique, and unusual whenever we can.”
This past December, Alex purchased all the contents of the house that belonged to a late piano teacher
Image credits: Curiosity Incorporated
“I first met Madame Rac a couple of years ago when I was invited to look at her 1964 Cadillac in her garage, which hadn’t moved in decades. I never was inside her house as she said she had to tidy up first, so we signed the paperwork in the yard. From then on, I would run into her at coffee shops and we would have chats and say hi,” Alex told us.
“She was a bright flower, dressed very colorfully with a big smile. I was told she didn’t have much money, so at the time I was hopeful that the money from the sale of her car may help her out a bit. She was a patient and fun piano teacher, I’m told. And a very well-travelled lady. Going to Hawaii every year for vacation,” the guy added.
The former owner of the house, Bette-Joan Rac, passed away at 76 years old on November 18, 2020
Image credits: Curiosity Incorporated
The guy paid $10,000 for the contents of the house with the hope that the stuff he’ll find there will get him the money’s worth. He was pretty doubtful, though. “I was told she had a modest income and so I wasn’t expecting much,” Alex shared with us. “When I saw the inside of the house for the first time, I was a bit shocked at the state of the home as she was a very nicely dressed lady.”
Alex bought all the stuff for $10,000 in hopes to, in the end, be able to get his money’s worth
Image credits: Curiosity Incorporated
“It was in an extreme state of hoarding. In fact, the only reason I bought the contents was because I thought it might be a fun adventure for our YouTube channel and at very least, I would get a grand piano. It was impossible to see what was in the house because of how full it was at the time. Places were piled up to the ceiling,” said Alex.
However, the hoarder house turned out to be a real treasure chest
Image credits: Curiosity Incorporated
“Little did I know that the eccentric piano teacher I had met was, in fact, a millionaire!” said Alex.
The first day exploring the house, Alex and his team were emptying out some leaflets in the front room when a few little silver bars fell out of them. And that’s how the process of looking through every single book, magazine, newspaper and even shoe began. The treasures were hidden in the most unexpected places.
Throughout the house, Alex was able to find loads of pure silver dollars
Image credits: Curiosity Incorporated
“Our most impressive finds included wallets full of cash, a 100-ounce silver bar, and bags full of gold and diamond rings,” Alex told us.
The whole journey of looking through the stuff was documented in multiple vlogs that you can find on Alex’s YouTube channel.
Cash hidden in the most unexpected places
Image credits: Curiosity Incorporated
100-ounce bar of silver
Image credits: Curiosity Incorporated
Silver and gold jewellery
Image credits: Curiosity Incorporated
Designer clothes
Image credits: Curiosity Incorporated
The first auction, held online by Edmonton’s Kastner Auctions, resulted in sales of over $250,000. “We invested $10,000 in buying the house contents as is, and we will have sold $400,000 after all is said and done after three auctions of the contents and treasures… This was the best investment I have made to date!” Alex shared with Bored Panda.
Madame Rac’s piano will live inside the café that Alex is opening beside his antique shop
Image credits: Curiosity Incorporated
The whole treasure hunt was documented and posted on Alex’s YouTube channel in the form of multiple vlogs
Looks like she was a fun lady.
This is what happened in my grandmother's house. My mother found $20,000.00 in cash just hidden around the house - like in a bucket full of dirty rags under the sink, she'd stuffed about $5000.00 in there. There were also four different safes that had to be drilled out and had things in them like a LOT of gold and diamond jewelry, a set of solid silver tableware, a quart jar full of silver dollars and so on and so on and so on..... ...///... It took a FULL YEAR to empty that house and six full sized construction dumpsters to get rid of the garbage. Every scrap of paper, every heat vent, open bit of duct work, rafter, attic, toilet tank...and so on and so on had to be searched. It was a nightmare of hantavirus risk, dust, and various filth.
My Grandmother told my dad that there was money hidden all over her house and he was to find it after she died. WE CANT FIND IT. 6 months of looking, me opening EVERY paperback romance novel, my step-mom going through thousands of sewing patterns. We have no idea but we'll keep looking as we sort everything in the house she lived in since 1950.
I think your grandmother was pulling your leg. She's having the last laugh while you are all desperately searching for that money. Might even be her way to ensure you're still coming home.
Try around the tub where it meets the walls. My Grandparents learned that one in the Great Depression.
If there are heating ducts on the ceiling or up on the walls, take off the grates and look in there. Check to see if there are loose parts in the lining of the fridge. Look behind bookcases . Feel the bottom sides of all of the furniture. Turn over couches and upholstered chairs (she could have put money inside the upholstery and stapled it closed again). Pull out all of the drawers on dressers and desks and look behind them and on the undersides of the bottoms. Do the same in the kitchen. She might have crammed money behind the drawers or underneath them. Pull EVERYTHING out of every drawer and cupboard and go through the containers. Lift up the corners of all of all of the carpeting and look between the floor and the carpet. Check the baseboards on all of the walls - many people take down a section of baseboard and shove money behind them under the walls. ...///... There are so many places...you'll have to empty every box and shelf in the joint.
My mother tucked money inside magazines - it takes forever checking these things.
We had a very close relationship with my Grandmother as she lived near us growing up. She may be messing with us but it was not in her personality to joke like that. She very seriously told my dad that when he was getting her paperwork in order the last few months when she knew she was going to die. We had a lot of warning, and she was ready to go. We spent a lot of that time labeling her photo albums with any names she could remember. I even found a box of all her WWII penpals when she worked with the USO and got lots of stories about her "War Boyfriends" lol
Are there any aunts, uncles, or other family members she might have also told? Family friends? Family will act differently than you think they are normally when it comes to inheritances... even when there is little to inherit financially. After my FiL died, (leaving a 1940's, 650 sq ft, 2 BDRM "dream" house and contents on a quarter acre lot), SO's sister and her husband accused SO of taking some money from their estate sale pot to buy lunch for everyone. SO used our money, so the answer was no. She wouldn't have done it without asking everyone first. But... WTF if SO had done it? How petty.
I know some people sewed them into the linings of their clothing
Alex had like 2 months to empty this hoarding house piled floor to ceiling, and he did it! Most viewers were like, no way, what have you done, Alex! But he was able to empty that place without just dumping everything. It's sad how people decline mentally as they age, and end up like that. What were they thinking when they hid money?
I bought a house like that once. It took months to empty it, we probably used like six or seven dumpsters. I sold a lot of antique furniture from there but nothing valuable like gold or diamonds.
I love this. I think to honor Madame Rac, he should use some of that money to help underprivileged kids learn how to play the piano.
Eh... It's his money though. He should be able to do what he wants with it. Whereas, if you see those billionaires, they should donate money to kids :)
Alex has already helped a homeless man escape homelessness and another escape near homelessness. He also gave money to the family of the woman who owned the first hoarder house he bought when he didn't have to and he brought both women who hoarded to the consciosness of the public. He's done plenty of charity already. So, I think that it's okay if he decides what to do with the money he gets from this find. You can decide to do good deeds on your own rather than spend someone else's money.
Why? If she wanted it, she could have done so while alive.
Looks like she was a fun lady.
This is what happened in my grandmother's house. My mother found $20,000.00 in cash just hidden around the house - like in a bucket full of dirty rags under the sink, she'd stuffed about $5000.00 in there. There were also four different safes that had to be drilled out and had things in them like a LOT of gold and diamond jewelry, a set of solid silver tableware, a quart jar full of silver dollars and so on and so on and so on..... ...///... It took a FULL YEAR to empty that house and six full sized construction dumpsters to get rid of the garbage. Every scrap of paper, every heat vent, open bit of duct work, rafter, attic, toilet tank...and so on and so on had to be searched. It was a nightmare of hantavirus risk, dust, and various filth.
My Grandmother told my dad that there was money hidden all over her house and he was to find it after she died. WE CANT FIND IT. 6 months of looking, me opening EVERY paperback romance novel, my step-mom going through thousands of sewing patterns. We have no idea but we'll keep looking as we sort everything in the house she lived in since 1950.
I think your grandmother was pulling your leg. She's having the last laugh while you are all desperately searching for that money. Might even be her way to ensure you're still coming home.
Try around the tub where it meets the walls. My Grandparents learned that one in the Great Depression.
If there are heating ducts on the ceiling or up on the walls, take off the grates and look in there. Check to see if there are loose parts in the lining of the fridge. Look behind bookcases . Feel the bottom sides of all of the furniture. Turn over couches and upholstered chairs (she could have put money inside the upholstery and stapled it closed again). Pull out all of the drawers on dressers and desks and look behind them and on the undersides of the bottoms. Do the same in the kitchen. She might have crammed money behind the drawers or underneath them. Pull EVERYTHING out of every drawer and cupboard and go through the containers. Lift up the corners of all of all of the carpeting and look between the floor and the carpet. Check the baseboards on all of the walls - many people take down a section of baseboard and shove money behind them under the walls. ...///... There are so many places...you'll have to empty every box and shelf in the joint.
My mother tucked money inside magazines - it takes forever checking these things.
We had a very close relationship with my Grandmother as she lived near us growing up. She may be messing with us but it was not in her personality to joke like that. She very seriously told my dad that when he was getting her paperwork in order the last few months when she knew she was going to die. We had a lot of warning, and she was ready to go. We spent a lot of that time labeling her photo albums with any names she could remember. I even found a box of all her WWII penpals when she worked with the USO and got lots of stories about her "War Boyfriends" lol
Are there any aunts, uncles, or other family members she might have also told? Family friends? Family will act differently than you think they are normally when it comes to inheritances... even when there is little to inherit financially. After my FiL died, (leaving a 1940's, 650 sq ft, 2 BDRM "dream" house and contents on a quarter acre lot), SO's sister and her husband accused SO of taking some money from their estate sale pot to buy lunch for everyone. SO used our money, so the answer was no. She wouldn't have done it without asking everyone first. But... WTF if SO had done it? How petty.
I know some people sewed them into the linings of their clothing
Alex had like 2 months to empty this hoarding house piled floor to ceiling, and he did it! Most viewers were like, no way, what have you done, Alex! But he was able to empty that place without just dumping everything. It's sad how people decline mentally as they age, and end up like that. What were they thinking when they hid money?
I bought a house like that once. It took months to empty it, we probably used like six or seven dumpsters. I sold a lot of antique furniture from there but nothing valuable like gold or diamonds.
I love this. I think to honor Madame Rac, he should use some of that money to help underprivileged kids learn how to play the piano.
Eh... It's his money though. He should be able to do what he wants with it. Whereas, if you see those billionaires, they should donate money to kids :)
Alex has already helped a homeless man escape homelessness and another escape near homelessness. He also gave money to the family of the woman who owned the first hoarder house he bought when he didn't have to and he brought both women who hoarded to the consciosness of the public. He's done plenty of charity already. So, I think that it's okay if he decides what to do with the money he gets from this find. You can decide to do good deeds on your own rather than spend someone else's money.
Why? If she wanted it, she could have done so while alive.