Yard sales can hold both the hidden gems of the world and some of the most useless items ever owned. Luckily for one bargain shopper, a $75 medieval script wasn't the latter, as experts have said it could be worth $10,000.
Will Sideri was at an estate sale in Maine last week when he happened to spot a document with musical notes and Latin writing on it. The paper caught his eye, so he decided to spend $75 on it, according to the Main Monitor.
The investment was a good one as the manuscript, which is said to be 700 years old, is now believed to be worth up to $10,000, according to an expert.
Sideri shared with the Monitor that he contacted his old English professor, who asked a colleague, Lisa Fagin Davis, to examine it.
After looking at the photo of the document marked "1285 AD. Illuminated manuscript on vellum. $75," Davis determined its authenticity. An expert of manuscripts shared with the Associated Press that the $10,000 valuation from Davis was spot on.
Davis, a professor and the executive director of the Medieval Academy of America, shared in an email to Insider that everything lined up when she was determining whether or not it was real.
"Leaves of the Beauvais Missal measure around 295 x 205 mm and have 15 or 21 lines of text, or ten staves of music, in two columns," she said. "An estate sale in Maine isn't even the most unexpected place where a Beauvais Missal leaf has turned up. Will's leaf is, however, the least expensive leaf sold in recent memory. The most expensive was sold a few years ago for $10,000."
The document is believed to have been used in Roman Catholic worship, dating back to the 13th century, Insider reported.
But, anyone interested in buying the script shouldn't get their hopes up, as Sideri told the Monitor he wouldn't be parting ways with it any time soon.
"This is something at the end of the day that I know is cool," he told the AP. "I didn't buy this expecting to sell it."
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