Overnight Millionaires: People Who Got Rich Quick

What They Did: Owned a collection of Picasso’s early works
Overnight Earnings: $80 million*

Pierre Le Guennec is a French electrician born in the 1930s. During his many years working in Paris, he spent a lot of time installing alarms at Pablo Picasso’s studio. In exchange, he ended up with over 270 of the legendary artist’s early sketches.  

Pierre Le Guennec @alchetron/Twitter.com

When Le Guennec came forward with the treasures he was sitting on back in 2010, forty years after he was originally gifted the works from Picasso’s wife, they were appraised at $80 million for the lot. After contacting Picasso’s family to authenticate the art, they accused him of theft and had them seized by the government. 

What They Did: Found a rare Velvet Underground recording
Overnight Earnings: $155,000*

Warren Hill, a Canadian record collector, came into the find of a lifetime at a New York City yard sale. The recording he found was the very first by the Velvet Underground, featuring different versions of songs that went on to become part of the cultural canon.

Warren Hill ©CP/Paul Chiasson/AP

The recording was taken at a studio in New York in the spring of 1966. The album that went on to debut in 1967 to much acclaim, The Velvet Underground and Nico, was recorded months later in Los Angeles. Hill’s find, which cost him 75 cents, earned him a whopping $155,000.

What They Did: Found Vince Lombardi’s sweater at a thrift store
Overnight Earnings: $43,000*

Sean and Rikki McEvoy, partners and owners of a vintage clothing store of their own, made an incredibly rare find while doing some routine thrift shopping. They came across a sweater that was later traced back to football legend Vince Lombardi. 

Sean and Rikki McEvoy ©/

The real kicker is that they bought the sweater for 58 cents, thinking it was old and worn out but had potential and could be patched up. They only began to realize who it belonged to when they happened to be watching a documentary about his football career and spotted the familiar sweater. 

What They Did: Discovered rare stones
Overnight Earnings: $3.4 million*

Saniniu Laizer, a miner in Tanzania, became a very rich man after finding two large chunks of Tanzanite, one of the rarest gemstones on Earth, that happen to only be found in his country. The stones come in a variety of colors, from red to blue to green to purple. 

Sanuniu Laizer @scoopwhooppins/Pinterest

The two rough stones of Tanzanite were sold to the country’s mining ministry for a whopping 3.4 million dollars. Laizer plans to use the money to build a school and a shopping mall in the center of his town. He understandably threw a massive party to celebrate his finds.

What They Did: Won a casino’s contest
Overnight Earnings: $1 million (to both Kevin’s)*

A man by the name of Kevin Lewis happened to win one million dollars as part of a random contest put on by a casino in his local Cinncinati, Ohio. But the story doesn’t end there–the casino soon realized they selected the wrong Kevin Lewis. 

Kevin Lewis @nprpins/Pinterest

They had given the money to a man of the same name who hadn’t entered the contest, and so in order to rectify the situation they had to give another million to the correct Kevin Lewis. It sure was a lucky time to be named Kevin Lewis!

What They Did: Found Ansel Adams’ photography negatives
Overnight Earnings: $200 million*

Rick Norsigian bought a box at a Fresno yard sale that ended up containing negatives thought to belong to the iconic landscape photographer Ansel Adams. Since then, Norsigian has been using the negatives to make prints, and sell them. 

Rick Norsigian @dailymirror/Pinterest

Ansel Adams’ trust took Norsigian to court, trying to disallow him of selling the prints. After a lengthy legal battle, Norsigian finally acquiesced, continuing to sell the prints but no longer attaching the Adams name.  

What They Did: Discovered oil on his property
Overnight Earnings: $52.6 million*

A rancher and North Dakotan through and through, Oscar Stohler ranched in the same area for most of his life. When prospectors came to dig for oil, he didn’t believe they would find anything valuable, but he couldn’t gave been more wrong. 

Oscar Stohler @legacycom/Pinterest

The Stohler and his wife became overnight millionaires when they struck barrels upon barrels of liquid gold on their property. Despite the change in circumstances, they continued to live on the same ranch in their small town, driving the same old pickup truck. 

What They Did: Found a Jackson Pollock painting
Overnight Earnings: $2-$9 million (almost)*

Teri Horton made a unique find at a thrift store that changed the trajectory of her life, and made her the subject of a documentary called Who the $&% Is Jackson Pollock?. Horton, a truck driver, bought a painting she thought was a never-before-seen Jackson Pollock.

Teri Horton ©u/spicyprincess1621/Reddit

While she struggled to have the work authenticated, several collectors approached her wanting to buy the piece. Offered $2 million and $9 million, respectively, Horton could have died a very rich woman, but she held out, seeking $50 million, and never saw the fortune she believed she deserved. 

What They Did: Founded Groupon
Overnight Earnings: $10 million*

Andrew Mason might not be a household name, but Groupon, the company he founded, sure is. Mason created Groupon, an online coupon company, and the start-up took off like wildfire, becoming one of the greatest Silicon Valley success stories of all time. 

Andrew Mason Groupon ©Evan Lorne/Shutterstock.com

While he regretfully turned down offers to buy Groupon for much more, he eventually sold off the company for a respectable $10 million, and kept 46 shares, ensuring that he could continue to profit off of his brainchild in the years to come. 

What They Did: Invented Super Glue
Overnight Earnings: Unknown

While it’s unclear exactly how much Harry Coover profited off his game-changing invention, he certainly changed the course of his employer, Kodak’s history as well. Super glue immediately became a hit once released, with its myriad uses making it an indispensable product. 

Harry Coover @CBS Sunday Morning/Youtube

After introducing super glue to their lineup, Kodak’s profits soared from $1.8 billion per year to a whopping $2.5 billion per year. This can all be credited to Coover, who came up with the extremely sticky substance that’s been holding our belongings together ever since.

What They Did: Found an original baseball card, and then won the lottery
Overnight Earnings: $350,000 (total)*

Berenice Gallego’s story is proof that sometimes lightning does strike twice. The owner of a vintage memorabilia shop with her husband, came across an old baseball card that she thought nothing of, that is until people began clamoring to buy it. 

Bernice Gallego and Jay Leno Beckett/Twitter.com

She took it off the market and had it appraised only to discover that she was the owner of the very first ever baseball card, worth at least $100,000. Not only this, but she later went on to win the lottery, earning an additional $250,000.

What They Did: Won the 2010 World Series of Poker
Overnight Earnings: $8.9 million*

Jonathan Duhamel is one of the greatest poker players of all time. The game completely changed his life too, as he earned $8.9 million from winning his first World Series of Poker back in 2010. Since then, he’s won multiple other tournaments.

Jonathan Duhamel ©flipchip/Wikimedia Commons

His winnings to date total more than $18 million dollars. While many dream of striking it rich at a hot poker table in Las Vegas, Duhamel’s millions come from luck, sure, but also a heck of a lot of skill, and one great poker face. 

What They Did: Self-published novels as e-books
Overnight Earnings: $2 million*

While most writers toil in obscurity for decades, never reaching a wider audience or striking it rich from their work, Amanda Hocking got the timing exactly right to make millions. As a hobby, Hocking wrote young adult novels, 19 of them to be exact, but never expected them to take off as they did. 

Amanda Hocking @WELTPins/Pinterest

In the early days of e-readers, Amanda Hocking decided to self-publish her works as e-books, rather than print copies. The digital books began to sell like hotcakes, and Hocking made a whopping $2 million from her writing. 

What They Did: Invented Play-Doh
Overnight Earnings: $3 million (in sales)*

Joseph McVicker is an inventor who created one of the most popular children’s toys of all time entirely by accident. The toy was originally created as a product used to clean wallpaper, but with a clever pivot, it became an instant classic. 

Joseph McVicker ©/

A company was created in 1956 to exclusively sell the colorful clay-like toy, and by 1958, the company was already bringing in $3 million in sales. In 1998, Play-Doh was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame.