Storage Wars buyer found some paintings inside his $3,600 locker. Then, an expert told him its real value

Over the years there have been some incredible discoveries on the reality show "Storage Wars." Over its 15 seasons, the cast has found items worth millions of dollars from cold hard cash to antiques. However, very few of those come close to the scale of the discovery made by Darrell Sheets in season 3. Sheets who picked up a locker for $3,600 found paintings from a renowned artist worth hundreds of thousands of dollars inside it. 

One of the biggest scores of Storage Wars

Over a decade ago, in the season finale, Darrell "The Gambler" Sheets and his partner, picked up a storage unit for $3,600. The amount was quite large amount given the average cost of a unit on the show.

The two were desperate to flip the unit and make a profit. As they looked through the items, they found some sports memorabilia, and valuable items worth $3,420, coming close to breaking even.

It was then that they pulled out several paintings that seemed to be from artist Frank Gutierrez. The artwork of the renowned Mexican artist and photographer immediately stood out to Sheets who called in an expert for a fair evaluation.

The art expert acknowledged the remarkable find and noted that there was a large part of Gutierrez's work stored in the unit. When asked about the value of them all, the expert took a moment before revealing it could be worth a whopping $300,000. Sheets was shocked and overjoyed to learn that he had just flipped his $3,600 unit for hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

After some investigative work, Sheets shared on X that that he had tracked down the owner of the unit and it was no other than Frank Gutierrez himself. He said that he had spoken to the artist and was in the process of returning some of his personal items found in the locker. 

Other Big Finds

While Sheets' find is considered one of the biggest, there was another buyer who found much more. In 2018, one man spent $480 on a unit only to find a safe full of millions of dollars. 

Unlike Sheets, the buyers weren't able to keep the money as they were approached by people who represented the family that owned the locker. In the end, the buyers reportedly settled for a million dollars and gave everything back. 

However, the show has also been embroiled in controversy. Back in 2012, Storage Wars star David Hester filed a lawsuit against A&E Television Networks, contending that the show was rigged and that he was wrongfully terminated for speaking up. 

Hester alleged that the show's producers planted items of memorabilia and other valuable items inside units to stage big finds and make the show more dramatic. 

He claimed that one of the show's biggest finds, a pile of old newspapers announcing the death of Elvis Presley, was planted in the storage unit to make it dramatic, as per The Hollywood Reporter. He alleged that he was fired from the show after he complained about the "fraudulent staging."