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91-Year-Old Nebraska Woman’s Rare Porch Crock Turns Out To Be $32,000 Treasure

A fun story; here’s just a bit of it:

Crock Life

Lois Jurgens never paid much attention to the hulking stoneware crock sitting on her back porch in ​​Holdrege, Nebraska.

Her late husband Dick had moved it from the family shed years ago when they built their home in this south-central Nebraska town of around 5,000 people. She asked him to put a board on top so she could use it as a table next to the grill.

“Dick did the grilling, so that’s what he used to put the tools,” Jurgens told Cowboy State Daily, describing how she stashed extra fuel tanks inside.

That was about the extent of her relationship with the massive vessel that had weathered decades of indifference from Jurgens.

Last summer, she considered putting it in a garage sale for $20. Her son thought about hauling it to a community sale, but it was too heavy to lift.

“It just stayed on the porch,” Jurgens said.

Birthday Surprise

On Jan. 10, auctioneer Ken Bramer stood before nearly 300 people at the Phelps County 4-H building and dropped his gavel at $32,000 for the weathered piece of pottery.

It was Jurgens’ 91st birthday.

She wasn’t there to hear it but instead volunteering at a funeral at her church that morning.

When she arrived later that afternoon, Bramer spotted her in the crowd and stopped the auction.

“Lois, could you come up to the front?” he called out.

He told the crowd this was the lady who owned the crock. Then he asked her what she thought it brought.

“Well, I hope you got $100,” she told him.

“We did just a little bit better,” Bramer replied. “We got $32,000.”

Bramer’s wife and son grabbed hold of her as she went weak in the knees. They walked her to the stage and sat her down beside the crock for a photograph.