Oops! Fortunes that have accidentally ended up in the bin

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Oops! Fortunes that have ended up in the bin
Oops! Fortunes that have ended up in the bin



Have you ever had that spine-chilling moment where you realise you've thrown away something that was actually really important?

Well you're not the only one. Some people have lost their most expensive and prized possessions this way.

LitterBins.co.uk have put together a list of the most toe-curling mistakes people have made - from losing their life's savings to missing out on their lottery windfall.

Harry Potter and the Fortune's Gone

Nigel Reynolds was the first journalist to ever interview JK Rowling and, as a thank you, he received a first edition copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. It turns out Reynolds was convinced the book would flop and made a Sirius mistake, throwing it in the bin. He must be kicking himself now because first edition copies of the famous book sell for up to £50,000 these days!


Wheelie big mistake costs Grandma life savings

An elderly lady from Lancing in West Sussex made a serious mistake when she accidentally threw a carrier bag containing all £12,000 of her life savings in a wheelie bin. Her daughter contacted the manager of the landfill site in the hopes of retrieving the fortune, but sadly the money was already buried under thousands of tons of rubbish.


Blundering binmen £10k bespoke kitchen

Electricians removed £10,000 worth of bespoke kitchen units in South Tyneside so they could access the wiring. After they had finished working on the house, they realised the units they had left outside had been 'collected' by the local binmen, who had mistaken them for rubbish. Maybe not their brightest moment!


Fool throws gold in garbage

A doting husband in America gave his wife a surprise she'll never forget for their 23rd anniversary, when he accidentally threw out $50,000 (£34,318) worth of her gold jewellery. The man from Canoundra would only identify himself to the media as 'Geoffrey'. Let's hope the same thing doesn't happen if they make it to their 60-year diamond wedding anniversary!


Modern art masterpiece they literally thought was rubbish

A cleaner working at an art gallery in Italy was a little too thorough when she threw away a modern masterpiece by artist Paul Branca. The 'sculpture', which resembled two dustbins, was supposed to encourage visitors to consider the environment and was valued at a staggering $15,000!


$5m diamond dumpster

Diamonds might be the brightest stones of all, but the staff who accidentally threw $5m worth of them in the bin must have been more than a little short-sighted! A lucky security guard found the treasure, but his luck quickly ran out when he was caught trying sneakily to sell them on the black market.


$200k Apple of My i

One of Steve Jobs' first ever computers, the 1976 'Apple 1', somehow ended up at a recycling centre in California. It was sold at auction for $200k and the managers of the recycling centre have been trying to track down the woman who brought it in so that she can claim her half of the fortune!


Hitler's Kryptonite found at recycling centre

One of the British government's top secret 'Enigma' code cracking machines, used to bring an end to WWII, was dumped at a recycling plant. As one of the single most important pieces of modern history and valued in excess of $10,000, it remains a mystery why anyone would have thrown it out!


Million dollar hard-drive hunt

In 2009 IT worker James Howells from Wales received 7,500 bitcoins, which he stored on his hard disk. Years later, having already thrown the hard disk, convinced it wouldn't be worth anything, the bitcoins' value rose to £4 million! Howells searched the landfill site, but alas, this was one hard disk the computer wiz was never able to recover.


Las Vegas' biggest losers

A couple living in Las Vegas who always played the same numbers would have won $915m if not for the wife's lack of patience. After writing down what would be the winning numbers, she lost patience while she was waiting in line and tore up her ticket, choosing to buy a quick 'lucky dip' ticket instead - that's a massive fortune up in smoke!

You can see the full infographic on Litter Bins here!



              Wetherspoons worker scoops £4 million on his dinner break
Wetherspoons worker scoops £4 million on his dinner break

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