Hoarder Finds Euro Millions Winning Ticket Behind Sun Visor
Some hoarders keep junk ‘just in case it becomes valuable in the future’. This is not something new. And old English fable ‘The Pedlar of Swatham’ dates from 1699. It tells the story of a pedlar from a town now called Swaffham in Norfolk who dreamed of being rich.
Pedlars were poor people who went from town to town buying and selling small items. They never threw their stock away because they believed someone somewhere would pay them a good price. So they were hoarders in a sense, hanging on to hope.
The Pedlar of Swatham Becomes Exceptionally Rich
A dream told the Pedlar of Swatham to go to the City, stand on London Bridge and wait to receive good news. A shopkeeper stopped by, listened to his story, laughed heartily, and spoke these words:
“I’ll tell thee, country fellow, last night I dreamed that I was at Swatham, in Norfolk, a place utterly unknown to me, where me thought behind a pedlar’s house in a certain orchard, and under a great oak tree, if I dug I should find a vast treasure!
“Now think you,” says he, “that I am such a fool to take such a long journey upon me upon the instigation of a silly dream? No, no, I’m wiser. Therefore, good fellow, learn wit from me, and get you home, and mind your business.”
No guesses for what happened next. The pedlar returned to his home in Swatham, dug a hole under the ancient oak tree, found the treasure, and became “exceeding rich”. He rebuilt the village church. There are statues of the pedlar and his dog beside the pews to remind worshippers dreams do come true.
Dreams Certainly Came True for Builder Andrew Clark of Boston, Lincolnshire
It’s strange, isn’t it how we hoard old Lotto tickets ‘just in case they made a mistake and they are worth something’. Psych Central says we hang on to hope because it allows us to “transcend adversity and garner positivity for the days ahead”. Could this be why hoarders are unable to throw away their memories of the past?
Builder Andrew Clark may have fallen in that category. The Mirror reports he had a habit of stockpiling lotto tickets in his van behind the visor. His partner Trisha kept nagging him to check them. Little did he know he was the winner of the Euro Millions November 2018 draw.
It was a whole six weeks before he learned he was £76,369,806.80 richer, and only because his partner’s niece nagged him dilly. However Andrew Clark was not the only person oblivious of the value of his hoard.
We’d Love to Know the Most Valuable Modern Hoard in Britain
On March 3, 2019, The Antiques Road Show told a young lady a piece of costume jewellery she kept out of curiosity was worth £40,000 because it was actually quite a large sapphire. However that was small fry compared to what might have been stashed away last week in the UK.
A report by Current Archaeology suggests hoarding might be part of British culture. They say our ancestors were already hoarding possessions 2,200 years ago. Why else would somebody have buried 50 miniature cauldrons that had no practical use whatsoever? You can bet those are worth something now!
