Watch the video below…
Loren Krytzer was living in a shack and barely getting by on $200 a month in disability checks. He had lost his leg in a car accident in 2007 and couldn’t work because of it.
Six years ago, he saw a TV segment that would change his life.
The Liona Valley, California, resident was watching an episode of “Antique Roadshow” when he saw a rare Navajo blanket worth $500,000 on the show.
Krytzer was surprised because he had a Navajo blanket that looked exactly like the one on the TV.
Krytzer said that his great-grandfather got the blanket in the 1800s and that it had been passed down through his family ever since.
After his grandmother died, his mother and sister went through the whole house and took everything, leaving only the “dirty” blanket behind.
When Krytzer saw the Auctioneers episode, he took it to a few antique shops, but they all turned it down.
Even though he was turned down, the determined amputee took the blanket to John Moran Auctioneers in 2011 and found out he had hit the jackpot.
Moran and his team told Krytzer that the blanket was worth at least $150,000, and that was being “conservative.”
Krytzer says that when he agreed to auction off the blanket, he prayed for at least enough money to get a better house.
After 77 seconds of bidding, a fierce bidding war drove the price of the blanket up to $1.5 million, which is still the most expensive thing Moran Auctioneers has ever sold.
Krytzer told CNBC Make It, “They had to bring me water and other things and wipe the sweat off my head.”
“I began to breathe too fast because I couldn’t believe it…. Everything went still, and I couldn’t breathe.”
“It was hard to understand. I mean, I’ve always worked hard. When I worked in construction, I never bought anything and never put money away.
Instead, I always rented. I had to buy used cars because I couldn’t afford anything else. I’ve always lived from paycheck to paycheck,” he said.
So, what does a man who is so cheap end up doing with so much money? He bought some stocks, bought a house in California, married his long-time girlfriend who had stuck with him through good times and bad, and bought himself a nice car.
He still thinks that the old, dirty blanket that was in his closet was what saved his life.
Watch the video…