David J. Whitcomb was in for a surprise after making some arrangements to the attic above his newly bought law office. After buying the property for his venture way back in December 2020, Whitcomb had left the attic untouched until recently when his friend went over to change a lightbulb. But what he found after was astounding beyond comprehension.
When Whitcomb was notified that something was out of place by his best mate, the two of them continued to inspect what was hidden there. There was an access panel and a few stacked chairs that helped them climb up and investigate further into the mystery that lay above them.
Engulfed in complete darkness, Whitcomb couldn’t figure out from head to toe what was around them. Trying to shine some light on the matter, Whitcomb whipped out his cell phone and turned the flashlight on. Returning some light from its tainted shiny edges, he found a few frames stacked against each other.
The following day, Whitcomb took more than 12 hours into exploring the hidden antics and what they actually meant. He found out that all the artifacts are at least 100 years old dating way back into the 1800s and early 1900s. Browsing through all the items, he found glass negatives, photography equipment, and much more pictures hidden there.
Though most of the items there were unidentifiable, Whitcomb mentioned that he found the most prized artifact in the form of a framed portrait containing the suffragist leader Susan B. Anthony. Based on research, he found out that the image was probably taken in 1905 by James Hale as part of his work.
He also suspects that most of the faces present within the portraits were most likely that of other women activists of that time. Still many remain unidentified and are still under investigation to get the matter to hand. He had also employed the assistance of a renowned photographer in Geneva.
He also tried tracing the origin of previous owners who had the New York City building. But it was a dead end as the whole thing was a mystery and there was no way to track it back to its original owners as it was left empty for a long time.
One Source Auctions owner Aaron Kirvan joined hands with Whitcomb to try and figure out the source as well as the worth of the artifacts that they found. Based on initial research and rough estimations, Kirvan stated that it would be impossible to gauge the value of all the products that were found. But a hopeful estimate would be that they could bring in about $100,000.