Man Sells Rare Chair For $85,000 Three Months After He Bought It Online For $50

Jul 05, 2023

Second-hand items are not new and have been owned by someone else. They include various products spanning different categories, from household items to technological items, clothing, jewelry, antiques, and decor. With the advent of mass production, people feel less inclined to buy second-hand items, but the market for them is still thriving. 

Lovers of pre-owned items patronize them for several reasons, including acquiring vintage items at affordable prices, discovering luxury brands, and saving the environment from the negative impact of plastic pollution, among others.

The practice of reusing old items dates way back in time, but second-hand businesses only became a thing in the 1950s. From then on, the second-hand market has witnessed a progressive increase in popularity over the years. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the second-hand business has experienced towering highs, with more and more people finding the need to declutter their space and make a profit while at it. 

Typically, people will go to charity shops, vintage stores, and consignment stores to shop for preowned items. Still, with the advent of online marketplaces like Craigslist, eBay, Poshmark, and Facebook Marketplace, it has become easy to buy and sell second-hand items from the comfort of your home. What's more, like in traditional second-hand stores, lovers of pre-owned items can discover gems on online marketplaces. 

One such online preowned item lover, Justin Miller, struck gold when a chair he purchased In February 2023 on Facebook Marketplace for $50 turned out to be a collector's item worth $85,000 after it was sold in an auction on June 7, 2023. Continue reading to get the details of the story.

Miller, a designer content creator, uses Facebook Marketplace to search for valuable items for his projects. Perusing the online marketplace was a daily ritual for the digital creator; however, in February 2023, he struck gold when he came upon a vintage chair a Beverly Hills family put on sale. In his first TikTok video documenting the rare find with his teeming followers, he said the chair caught his eye.

"I am not a furniture expert by any means," he said in the TikTok post. "But I have a good eye, and I can tell when something's really unique."

In addition, the seller hinted that the chair, if fixed, would be worth a lot.

"As I was messaging the seller to arrange a time to pick up the chair, she said something along the lines of 'If you repair the chair, it's worth a lot,'" Miller told Today.

On further research, he found that the chair was by Danish designer Frits Henningsen and was one of only 50 the designer made. He also found that other chairs of the same design were in the range of $15,000 for those with reupholstered leather and around $100,000 for those with original leather.

Miller’s first video garnered over 2.5 million views, with several people encouraging him to contact an auction house. Miller did as he was advised and got in contact with Sotheby's. The company arranged for the torn leather chair’s restoration and marked it to feature in their June important design auction.

On June 7, 2023, the chair was placed on auction, and in under three minutes, it was sold for $85,000. In another TikTok video that has garnered 8.2 million views, Miller shared his joyous reaction to the live auction sale of his $50 find.

What do you think of Justin Miller’s rare find? Will you be scanning online marketplaces for valuable finds? What would you do if you stumbled upon a rare second-hand gem? Let us know — and be sure to pass this article on to friends and family members.