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A thrift store donation in Canada may turn out to be priceless ancient artifacts
There are many good reasons to wander into a thrift store, including finding good deals and vintage items that nobody else has.
But one thrift store in Canada got a donation that’s so old — it may be ancient. It was a set of jewelry that came from an anonymous donor, which was made up of two medallions and 11 rings.
“The rings did not look like they were in good shape, they just looked old,” said Sandy Parker, manager of The Thrifty Boutique in Chilliwack, British Columbia.
The items looked so old that an employee did some research to see if they had any kind of historical significance.
A ring, one of the artifacts that were donated to Simon Fraser University for study.Sam Smith/SFU
“You feel like it could be special. We do have an advantage today with Google Images and all that sort of thing. But it doesn’t do everything we need,” Parker explained.
A few months of digging resulted in no real clues, so the store put the set up for sale for $30. Shortly thereafter, a customer noticed the jewelry set and echoed the staff’s initial thinking. So, the thrift store employees sent an email to the archaeology department at nearby Simon Fraser University (SFU).
“I don’t normally respond to these kinds of emails,” said Sabrina Higgins, an associate professor of global humanities and archaeology at SFU. “We get a lot of emails, where people ask us to give them an evaluation on objects. This one was intriguing to me, though, because it came from a thrift store, which is not something I’ve ever experienced in my career.”
Sabrina Higgins, SFU associate professor, Global Humanities and Archaeology, and Barbara Hilden, director, SFU Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, examine the rare artifacts that have been donated to SFU for study.Courtesy of Sam Smith/SFU
After conducting some initial, visual analyses, Higgins and her colleagues believed the items may very well be ancient. The thrift store then donated them to the university for further research.
“There are some really, really, really good forgers out there who know how to make things look ancient,” said Cara Tremain, an assistant professor in the archaeology department, who is part of the team examining the pieces. “But it didn’t look, to me, like these were deliberately made to look old,” Tremain, an expert at identifying forgeries, said.
Despite being donated together, Higgins thinks some of the items actually came from different time periods.
“My earliest estimate is probably the 4th or 5th century CE, and then you know, up into the medieval period,” Higgins said.
The complete set of artifacts donated to Simon Fraser University for study.Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology/SFU
The team is also trying to figure out where the items came from.
“They’re very likely from the region that once encompassed the Roman Empire,” Higgins added, “but whether or not all of them come from somewhere in the Balkans or somewhere in Northern Europe, that’s unclear because a lot of this material culture was really translatable across those regions.”
To nail down those details, Higgins said they need to do more research and testing. They’re even recruiting students to help with that by designing a new course around the items at SFU. Tremain is also leading the course and said students will learn how to tackle the ethical questions surrounding this work, too.
An individual ring artifact pictured.Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology/SFU
“Why did we decide to accept [these items]?” Tremain posed. “And then how can we retrace the steps of the provenance by really not knowing anything about them?”
In fact, Higgins said, as archeologists and museum professionals, her team has a duty to make sure that artifacts like these are returned to their country of origins.
“If we were able to repatriate those, that would be, I think, the best outcome that this course could have,” she said. “And it would probably lead us to an entirely different course in which we would teach the students about repatriation processes and how we engage in that on the ground, and actively doing it.”
The new course is set to start in September of 2026.
The post A thrift store donation in Canada may turn out to be priceless ancient artifacts appeared first on The World from PRX.
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By There are many good reasons to wander into a thrift store, including finding good deals and vintage items that nobody else has.
But one thrift store in Canada got a donation that’s so old — it may be ancient. It was a set of jewelry that came from an anonymous donor, which was made up of two medallions and 11 rings.
“The rings did not look like they were in good shape, they just looked old,” said Sandy Parker, manager of The Thrifty Boutique in Chilliwack, British Columbia.
The items looked so old that an employee did some research to see if they had any kind of historical significance.
A ring, one of the artifacts that were donated to Simon Fraser University for study.Sam Smith/SFU
“You feel like it could be special. We do have an advantage today with Google Images and all that sort of thing. But it doesn’t do everything we need,” Parker explained.
A few months of digging resulted in no real clues, so the store put the set up for sale for $30. Shortly thereafter, a customer noticed the jewelry set and echoed the staff’s initial thinking. So, the thrift store employees sent an email to the archaeology department at nearby Simon Fraser University (SFU).
“I don’t normally respond to these kinds of emails,” said Sabrina Higgins, an associate professor of global humanities and archaeology at SFU. “We get a lot of emails, where people ask us to give them an evaluation on objects. This one was intriguing to me, though, because it came from a thrift store, which is not something I’ve ever experienced in my career.”
Sabrina Higgins, SFU associate professor, Global Humanities and Archaeology, and Barbara Hilden, director, SFU Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, examine the rare artifacts that have been donated to SFU for study.Courtesy of Sam Smith/SFU
After conducting some initial, visual analyses, Higgins and her colleagues believed the items may very well be ancient. The thrift store then donated them to the university for further research.
“There are some really, really, really good forgers out there who know how to make things look ancient,” said Cara Tremain, an assistant professor in the archaeology department, who is part of the team examining the pieces. “But it didn’t look, to me, like these were deliberately made to look old,” Tremain, an expert at identifying forgeries, said.
Despite being donated together, Higgins thinks some of the items actually came from different time periods.
“My earliest estimate is probably the 4th or 5th century CE, and then you know, up into the medieval period,” Higgins said.
The complete set of artifacts donated to Simon Fraser University for study.Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology/SFU
The team is also trying to figure out where the items came from.
“They’re very likely from the region that once encompassed the Roman Empire,” Higgins added, “but whether or not all of them come from somewhere in the Balkans or somewhere in Northern Europe, that’s unclear because a lot of this material culture was really translatable across those regions.”
To nail down those details, Higgins said they need to do more research and testing. They’re even recruiting students to help with that by designing a new course around the items at SFU. Tremain is also leading the course and said students will learn how to tackle the ethical questions surrounding this work, too.
An individual ring artifact pictured.Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology/SFU
“Why did we decide to accept [these items]?” Tremain posed. “And then how can we retrace the steps of the provenance by really not knowing anything about them?”
In fact, Higgins said, as archeologists and museum professionals, her team has a duty to make sure that artifacts like these are returned to their country of origins.
“If we were able to repatriate those, that would be, I think, the best outcome that this course could have,” she said. “And it would probably lead us to an entirely different course in which we would teach the students about repatriation processes and how we engage in that on the ground, and actively doing it.”
The new course is set to start in September of 2026.
The post A thrift store donation in Canada may turn out to be priceless ancient artifacts appeared first on The World from PRX.