An old family blanket changed Loren Krytzer's life. After losing his leg in a near-fatal accident, the 53-year-old former carpenter from California was jobless, and had been living off disability checks. But then he saw a Navajo blanket, nearly identical to the one his grandmother had passed down to him, on an episode of Antiques Roadshow. It was valued at around $500,000. So Krytzer took his blanket, which had been sitting in his closet for years, to an auction house. He'd hoped to make enough money to buy a house, but when the heirloom sold for $1.5 million, he was shocked. The sale "gave me a new lease on life," Krytzer told CNBC. He has since bought two homes and married his longtime girlfriend. Christina Colizza
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