Couple who run scrapyard showcase valuable finds to audience on TikTok

A couple who run a junk yard have revealed some of the most unusual – and sometimes valuable – items they’ve found while sorting through trash.

An Edwardian pocket watch, solid silver trophies and a 19th-century military knife are among the interesting artifacts that Melissa and Mark Drabble have recovered from scrap dealer Tin Man Scrap in Buxton, Derbyshire.

The married duo also run Derbyshire Reclamation, where they sell some of the scrapyard’s more valuable finds, sometimes up to £1,000.

The self-proclaimed hoarders share the often simply dumped discoveries on TikTok to their 100,000 followers.

Some items can fetch an impressive sum, such as a vintage BMX bike, which Ms Drabble, 40, had valued at £650.

Another lucrative find was a collection of broken silver trophies – which turned out to be solid silver – which sold for £1,000.

Melissa said, “Mark and I like history, we’re hoarders.

“We see the stuff people throw away and most of it is still usable – we’re shocked by what we find.

“Everything is so old and well made, it’s superior to anything we can buy these days.

“It’s treasure hunting every day.”

The childhood sweethearts met in 1999, before that agreed to start a small business together after enterprising Mr Drabble, 41, started ‘meddling with bits of scrap metal’.

They converted their garden shed into a small metal scrap warehouse before expanding to larger units as the business grew.

The original idea was for people to bring their scrap to be weighed and appraised for Mark and Melissa to take and recycle.

But they found many items too good to be melted down – so they started selling their best finds.

Others keep them for themselves – like an 1980s Raleigh Styler Burner bike valued for resale at £650, but Mark liked it too much to resell.

Sometimes they hold back items that are antiques and they expect the value to continue to increase as the items age.

Melissa said, “Someone once weighed some computer games that were still in the box! For the whole bundle – which was pristine – it was about £300.

“One of the best things we found was a load of crumpled old trophies.

‘Turns out they were solid silver and hallmarked – we sold them for a whopping £1000!

‘We also came across an Edwardian silver pocket watch and Albert necklace complete with a silver fob – we resold that for £180.’

One of their most common finds is old enamel signage – which may look worn, but can still hold its value when it comes to resale.

Melissa said if she resold them they would be worth between £200 and £500 as they are collectibles.

They revealed that they also get “interesting bits and pieces” without a huge price tag – but with a very impressive history.

These include things like old Victorian whistles, trench art from WWII soldiers, and old police badges.

Melissa said, ‘Sometimes it’s not the value of the item, but the history that makes it so fascinating and worth more than the money it would be sold for.

‘We like some of it – our house looks like a museum! The garden also feels that way because there is so much history.

“People like to hear the stories about what it is, so when we find things I look for where they came from.

“It’s nice to know what they did and imagine the person behind them — but you don’t know the real person who used them.”

Melissa said their motivation for doing what they do is to prove that old things still have value — and can be restored rather than replaced with a new one.

She said, “When I buy something, I always try to buy vintage. I like old fashioned and things from the fifties and sixties, it’s great.

“If I can buy an original 1950s cabinet instead of a new one, I will.

“Modern things just aren’t that well made.”