A few years ago, my DH's family was having an auction to get rid of his oldest aunt's stuff. They gave me a few things, not exactly what I wanted, exactly, but a few things. One box I bid on had some blankets in decent shape--big box. I intended to use the blankets for linings in some simple quilty things I was making for my GS. When I got it home, you'll never believe what I found in the bottom of the CARDBOARD box. Two very old (probably near 100 years old) baby gowns that belonged to my MIL's two older sisters.
No way of knowing how many years those two dresses were in the bottom of the box but they were very splotchy about the same color of tan/gold as the cardboard. After a few rounds in Oxy-clean they came out almost perfectly. AND I'M NOT GIVING THEM BACK. I had to pay for them, so they are mine. Besides, I don't think anyone in the family would put any value on them.
These auctions are my form of "Storage Wars" entertainment. I think I mentioned this a year or so ago, but a gal at our church won a trunk load of fabric for a $7 bid. She gave it to our church group. A lot of it went for the nearly 100 blankets we sent to tornado victims last spring. We're still playing with all the goodies in that haul. Bunches of spare quilt blocks that are making great table runners and such.