Locals cash in with ‘Treasure Hunt’

STAUNTON — Armed with scales and gem testers and magnifying glasses, Eddie Lambert and his team of four assessed everything from ticking pocket watches to little toy firetrucks.

And more than 200 people came with their boxes and bags and their carts. They passed by the big sign that read “The Great Treasure Hunt,” and they passed through a large doorway, cradling their belongings and hoping for the best.

Lambert works for The Great Treasure Hunt, a company that sends teams across the country to appraise and buy objects of worth. The team arrived in Staunton on Thursday and set up tables to encourage people to come with their precious items.

Since Thursday, Lambert said he’s bought $16,000 worth of items. Usually the best objects come from the northeast United States, he said, something to do with an increased presence of attics and basements above the Mason-Dixon line. But he did point to several good Staunton finds: a guitar worth several hundred dollars, a box of toy trucks, even a World War II Nazi helmet.

“I like seeing everybody’s stuff — that’s how I got in the auction business,” he said. “I’ve been doing it for a long time, and I’ve probably bought about a million coins.”

Lambert said he looks for items from before 1970: watches, clocks, coins, toys, comic books, objects from war, instruments. You name it.

“A lot of imports started in the seventies,” he said. “The only thing that we’ll buy that was imported into this country is The Beatles.”

He likes seeing Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry some, too, he said.

A lot of items draw a lot of interest, he said, but it isn’t uncommon to turn to somebody with the bad news that their items have more emotional value.

One woman walked up to John Lain’s table.

“And this, I found that,” she said, pushing some jewelry across the table, a wedding gift from her grandmother.

“I’m sorry, I just can’t pay for this right now,” Lain said. “With the way the diamond market is…yeah, that’s $15 dollars in gold weight.”

“Well it’s worth more to me sentimentally,” the woman replied.

“I understand, ma’am.”

Lain, a sports memorabilia expert, said he fell into the business of assessment less than a year ago. The company embraced him and taught him everything he needed to know. Traveling around the country is the best part of his job, he said.

For 71-year-old Perueta Sturdivant, of Stuarts Draft, she found her house was full of valuable items. Sturdivant came twice in one day. She sold coins during her first trip and glittering jewelry during her second. By the end of the day she walked home with more than $200, she said.

“He just checked to make sure it was the right weight and gold,” she said of her rings and bracelets. “It was just things I accumulated over the years and didn’t need. I don’t have daughters to give them to.”