Nebraska Woman's $20 Porch Crock Sells for $32,000

A stone crock that served as a makeshift porch table in Nebraska just became a 91-year-old woman's most unexpected birthday gift ever.

Lois Jurgens originally planned to sell the heavy piece for about $20 at a garage sale. But the crock was too heavy to move, so it stayed put on her back porch where it had sat for decades.

When Jurgens saw a local newspaper ad for an antiques auction featuring Red Wing crocks, her family decided to submit the piece. They still expected it to fetch around twenty dollars.

The crock turned out to be far more valuable than anyone imagined. Produced between 1877 and 1900 in Red Wing, Minnesota, the 30-gallon stoneware piece featured rare details that made collectors take notice.

Its salt-glazed finish, blue butterfly decoration, molded handles, and double Red Wing stamp created an unusual combination. Ken Bramer, the auctioneer with 40 years of experience, said he'd never encountered a similar piece in his entire career.

Before modern refrigeration, families used these crocks to preserve foods like pickles and sauerkraut. This particular example survived more than a century, spending its final decades as outdoor furniture.

Sunny's Take

After Bramer posted photos online, collectors across the United States started calling. When bidding opened on January 10, the price jumped quickly from $1,000 to its final $32,000, purchased by a Kansas collector.

The sale happened to fall on Jurgens' 91st birthday. She couldn't remember exactly how she and her late husband acquired the crock in the first place.

What started as too heavy to haul to a garage sale ended as a five-figure surprise. The story reminds us that treasures sometimes hide in plain sight, even when they're holding up flowerpots on the back porch.

Sometimes the things we overlook turn out to be exactly what we needed.

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