Treasure hunters regularly comb Goodwill, hunting for bargains, but few get as lucky as Richard “Dana” Moore.
The history buff purchased a tent fragment on the thrift store’s online site that was part of one of the tents used by George Washington in the Revolutionary War. Moore paid $1,700 for the scrap. It could be worth tens of thousands of dollars.
The tent fragment was labeled as belonging to Washington in the listing, which Moore first spotted in 2022. A written note accompanying it said the tent had been part of a display that commemorated the 300th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, Virginia. Moore was skeptical, aware of the high number of fakes on the market, but after a closer look, decided to make the gamble.
He was confident enough to bid $1,700, but says he wasn’t confident enough to tell his wife—and hid the fragment in their home. She has since forgiven him.
After winning the bid, Moore got in touch with Philadelphia’s Museum of the American Revolution the following February to determine if the fragment was authentic. Turns out it was. Specifically, it appeared to be part of the dining tent Washington used. (The rest of the tent is in the Smithsonian collection, but is not on display at present.)
Moore has since loaned the tent clipping to the Museum of the American Revolution, which put it on display in February of this year. (The museum has an ongoing exhibit about Washington’s War Tents.)
While the idea of cutting up a piece of history like Washington’s tent now is unthinkable, 200 years ago a man named George Washington Parke Custis (the father of Martha Washington’s great granddaughter) began cutting away pieces of Washington’s tent as souvenirs and a way to directly connect people with history. This fragment was cut later, but museum officials theorize it could have been for the same reason.
The fragment will remain with the Philadelphia museum until Jan. 5, 2025, when it will be returned to Moore, who is the only known private owner of a piece of one of Washington’s tents in the U.S.
