'Storage Wars' buyer purchases $3,600 locker and finds paintings inside — then he called an art expert

"Old is gold," as you may have heard, is what the popular reality TV series, Storage Wars, has been establishing throughout its 15 seasons. Auctioneers Dan Dotson, in the business since 1974, and his wife, Laura Dotson, have run the show since 2010 and auctioned away several cheap items with intrinsic values worth thousands of dollars. One of the greatest finds made was by Darrell Sheets in the Season 3 finale when he bought a locker for $3,600 and flipped it into massive profits from the paintings inside and a marvelous experience that came with it, per Looper.

Though on the expensive side in contrast to other items that typically range around hundreds of dollars, the locker was worth the price tag and beyond. Sheets, also known as The Gambler, discovered a trove of valuable items inside, including sports memorabilia, worth up to $3,420. On the brink of breaking even, Sheets struck gold as he pulled out several paintings attributed to the famous artist Frank Gutierrez. He was quick to note the inherent worth of the beautiful pieces of artwork, but called in an expert to be sure. The art expert was equally baffled by the stupendous find and revealed that a fair estimate of the painting would be worth a hammering $300,000. “Bam! Being a gambler is not just about winning!” Sheets quipped in the Storage Wars episode shared by A&E TV on YouTube. 

Hands on their head, it eventually dawned on Sheets that the storage unit he purchased had incredible works of the artist stored inside. However, he did not stop there. Instead of selling it for a higher price, The Gambler tracked down the owner, who was Gutierrez himself, and broke the news to him. He even promised to return some of his valuable artefacts as a kind gesture. “Best part is I got to speak to Frank G and I'm giving him back a lot of his personal items, he is a very wonderful man,” he later wrote on X (@DarrellGambler). It’s not all about making profits after all. 

Meanwhile, people in the comments were awestruck and shared their insights. “I have tons of signed, framed jerseys in a storage unit. If something ever happened to me, and it was auctioned off. Boy oh boy, someone would be happy,” wrote one person (@soniscrazy) while another (@XJIcequeen) said, “And to think he paid $3600 for it! And it's legit, the artist himself owned the locker.” However, a critic (@MondoBeno) noted, “Good luck trying to sell those paintings, nobody's buying expensive artworks these days.” Similarly, someone else (@deanarupe73) mocked, “He acts like he knows who Frank Gutierrez is and then asks ‘Is it worth anything?’ Wouldn't you already know if you were a fan?”

Like it or not, Sheets' remarkable find was easily one of the most valuable, with the biggest turnovers on the show. However, another man in 2018 took it a notch up and uncovered millions of dollars in cash, stored inside a safe, which he bought for a mere $480. While he could not run away with the whole amount, the representative for the owners settled for him to keep $1.5 million and return the rest. Storage Wars came under scrutiny in 2012 when star David Hester exposed the reality behind the valuable finds depicted in the show and filed a lawsuit against A&E Television Networks. Hester alleged that the producers intentionally planted valuable materials to create drama, per The Hollywood Reporter. He was later fired from the show.