Man bags chair that could be worth $50,000 for just $50: 'I can tell when something's really unique'

Thrifting is a great way to discover some amazing and unexpected pre-loved pieces and that's precisely what happened to TikTok user Justin Miller. He came across a vintage chair listed for $50 on Facebook Marketplace and upon examining it further, he discovered that the piece could be significantly more valuable. Miller has experience as a design producer for TV shows and spends hours checking out the Facebook marketplace, reports My Modern Met.

Miller—who goes by @miztermiller on TikTok—explains in a now-viral video that the chair "could be worth upwards of $100,000. This is not a drill. This is not a clickbait. This is real life." He then shows the picture of the original listing of the chair and a short video clip of the chair. He clarifies, "I'm not a furniture expert by any means but I have a good eye and I can tell when something's really unique. So I did some research when I saw the listing and here's what I found."

After doing some Google search, Miller found that the chair maker was called "Fritz Henningson" and it was designed in 1935. He then shows two listings of the chair which he suggests are "refinished" and were listed for $9634 and $15263. He goes on to show a third chair that was put up for sale, saying: "This amazing black one was estimated at $40,000 to $60,000 and down below it says that it sold for $60,000."

Finally, he finds a listing for the exact chair he managed to grab for just $50. "And these ones which are exactly looking like mine, mind you it's a pair. Sold for $223000 which is $110,000 each," says Miller in the video. "I know mine's not worth $100,000 because it definitely has seen better days, there are some condition issues but I know a place that can repair all of this. Like leather repairs are crazy, they can make it look like none of this ever was there."

He concludes, "I've found some marketplace finds but this is my best today and it is beautiful. And it would look so good in my home but money talks. I'm selling it and I know I'm not gonna get anywhere close to $100,000. But even if it's a few thousand, it's worth my time."

The video, which went viral with 2.3 million views, is captioned: "Can’t believe I just found this amazing designer chair on Facebook Marketplace for $50! Could be worth $100,000." People were thrilled for Miller and had some suggestions for him. @elpnb521 commented, "Do not touch or repair anything until you talk to an expert on this item." @guyeats wrote, "Better to sell this 'as is' because if you don’t restore it properly it will hurt the resale value. Great find btw." @_.mastersplinter._ expressed, "Congrats bro, amazing find. Don’t sell yourself short when something is rare. Hold off until u get top dollar."

In a follow-up video, Miller shares that there were only 50 of these chairs made so it is a "very rare collector's piece." Miller also spoke about the seller of the piece and said that she already knew that the chair was valuable and "she just wanted to get rid of it." He added that the house that it got picked up from was in Beverly Hills and was from a rich couple.

He also updated that a big auction house called Sotheby's was ready to put up the chair for auction."Since it's an auction they don't know how much the chair will go for but they gave me an auction estimate of anywhere between 30 to 50,000. They think it will sell in the higher end of that."