Woman Discovers $1 'Paperweight' She Bought Is Actually an Urn and Finds Rightful Owner

When Jessica Roberts visited a yard sale with her son, the two left with a $1 heart-shaped paperweight. But years later, Roberts realized that the item was actually an urn with ashes inside and decided to find the rightful owners.

"A few years ago I was at a yard sale and Braiden saw this heart shaped paperweight looking thing and wanted me to buy it because he wanted to give it to me," Jessica Roberts explained on a Facebook post. "Who can argue with that logic it was only $1.00." But things took an unexpected turn five years later as she came across the item while online shopping.

"I was sitting here looking at random things on Amazon, and I see the same paperweight being sold for $30.00 and click on the picture to see what is so special about it and well its a type of urn for small amounts of human or animal ashes," the young mom continued. Jessica asked her Facebook friends for advice - what should she do with the urn?

The morning after the realization, Roberts opened the "paperweight" to see if there was anything inside. "Upon opening it, I discovered that there were, in fact, remains inside," she said. Jessica snapped pictures of the opened urn and posted them to social media, hoping to find the sentimental object's owner. "Within hours, screenshots had been shared on multiple pages, and it was an amazing outpour of people who wanted to help."

With the help of online supporters and a feature in the local newspaper, it took only a day for someone to reach out to Roberts. "I was contacted by the husband of the woman who had lost the urn," she said. "His wife's family had seen the post and recognized it... Years earlier, his wife had left an abusive partner who had kept her belongings out of spite. Somehow, this urn ended up in my hands..." Jessica returned the item to the family soon after and said she felt "honored" to bring them "a little bit of joy."