'I paid £1 for common car boot sale item but it could sell for 80 times more'

A bargain loving Brit has identified a reasonably common item he believes everyone should be looking out for in car boot sales and charity shops, after selling his purchase for 80 times the amount he paid. Reseller, Kev took to TikTok following his sale to reveal all you need to know to emulate his financial success.

"Some of the most unsuspecting items can have the most unexpected value!" he declared in a caption. "I'm pretty sure you will be able to find it at car boot sales and in charity shops," he continued alongside video footage of himself stumbling upon the item on his travels. Kev approached a car boot sale vendor who had a table of tea towels on sale for £1 each - and it was here he would go on to make a huge profit.

Kev took home three of the tea towels, one of which was worth significantly more than the other two.

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"Now you have seen me pick it up, it is a tea towel - and specifically it is a Belinda Lyon for Oxfam tea towel," he revealed.

The works of artist and illustrator, Belinda, became popular in the 1970s as her vibrant designs inspired by animals and nature became commonplace in British kitchens, indeed across a range of products sold by Oxfam.

"I paid £1 for it and it has sold for £80," Kev boasted as he shared a screenshot of his eBay sale, which was listed as a Sir Lancelot and Lady Guinevere design.

He continued: "This isn't the first Belinda Lyon tea towel I have sold, and the other ones have gone for some pretty crazy amounts for let's face it, a piece of linen - but as with so many things in this world, people collect these items and with collections, some items are rarer and more sought after than others."

That proved to be the key to success for Kev, who pointed out that Belinda Lyon's designs are one of the "most important" among tea towel collectors.

He encouraged others to be on the lookout for Belinda's "distinctive" patterns, which he said proved so popular in both the 1970s and 1980s. Kev went on to showcase previous eBay sales of her tea towels, with four recent listings all selling for prices between £42 and £84.

"A lot of them are animal-based, but they all included these very vibrant colours," he advised. "Some of them do have her name on - this one didn't, but you can see on the bottom it does say, 'A design for Oxfam' and that is a dead giveaway when teamed with these colours and this particular art style."

Kev closed by advising that of course, not all tea towels will come with a notable value, but there are "plenty out there worth taking" with any containing Belinda Lyon's name "definitely" a good idea to snap up.

Writing in response, one TikTok user shared his own success story, penning: "I've sold one for £100."

While a second person declared: "Woah! Great find, definitely raiding the tea towels from now on."