One’s trash is another’s Christmas treasure.
A thrifted vintage ornament turned into a snapshot in time for one family. In the r/FoundPaper forum on Reddit, a user shared a picture of a shattered glass ornament with a little piece of magic hidden inside.
“My mom has thrifted a collection of Shiny-Brite ornaments. She’s been collecting them basically my entire life, four decades,” the original poster wrote in their post.
“Today, she dropped one and it shattered. Inside, she found a collection of jokes, predictions, and notes from a kid named BJ, all dated from the 60s-70s. I just love the idea of a kid coming back to this ornament periodically to add another note to the collection for some random stranger to find nearly 60 years later.”
The OP shared pictures of some of the found gems inside, which consisted of little pieces of paper that read, “Merry Christmas to the future. ’71.” Another was dated “Dec. 9, 1962.”
One seemed to be a little note to one’s future self: “… you will become happy soon…”
Even an old-school joke made its way in there: “Fred: Hey Joe, who’s the nut that keeps putting these notes in Christmas bells? Joe: I don’t know Fred but (takes?) a nut to read (what?) a nuts wrote.”
If you’re unfamiliar, Shiny Brite ornaments, now highly coveted vintage ornaments, are colorful glass Christmas baubles that were widely popular back in the 1940s and 1960s.
Reddit users flooded the post’s comment section to share their excitement with the OP.
“I’m going to do this with my kids,” one comment read.
“This is so sweet and wholesome!. What an incredible find, due to a drop,” someone else pointed out.
“I wonder if at some point in the past BJ went to add his note and found the box missing, asked his mom about it, and discovered she’d donated them. I bet he’d be tickled they’re still around,” an inquisitive commenter asked.
While some vintage finds transport their owners back in time, others are making people rich.
An Illinois thrifter purchased a decorative plate for a measly $4.99 from a Goodwill store, only to later find out it was a “Chinese export armorial chamfered rectangular platter” from the Qing dynasty’s Qianlong period, around 1775, estimated to be valued between $4,000 and $6,000.
“What makes my plate stand out is the condition — it was never eaten on or used; no scratches. It’s pristine,” the thrifter, named John Carcerano, told Newsweek.
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