Sydney treasure hunter’s incredible finds, unearthed among dumped items and rubbish

Leonardo Urbano has made a small fortune by taking a unique approach to his furniture collection hobby.

Other people’s trash has proven to be Leonardo Urbano’s treasure on an almost daily basis for the past four years, earning the hospitality worker tens of thousands of dollars.

When the 30-year-old first moved to Sydney from his native Italy several years ago, he began collecting furniture, household decor and other items of interest to fill his empty apartment.

But chance discoveries of valuable goods, which he sold for some extra money, inspired the restaurant worker to ramp up his efforts during the Covid pandemic when tough restrictions impacted the hospitality sector.

“I had more free time, so I went out on my bicycle every day and found so much stuff,” Mr Urbano told news.com.au.

Leonardo Urbano was amazed by how much perfectly fine stuff people throw out.

Council clean ups can be treasure troves for those with a keen eye.

As well as regular council clean-ups, he would scope out hard rubbish collection areas of larger apartment buildings, which proved to be a trove of goodies.

“Computers, vintage clothing, nice furniture, designer items – it’s amazing what you can find,” Mr Urbano said.

Whether moving house or spring cleaning, Sydneysiders seem to throw out a lot of stuff that’s otherwise perfectly usable – and in some cases rare or valuable.

“I found a couch on the side of the road that was [by] a vintage design brand. They’re very popular and very expensive and can sell for $15,000.

“It needed some repairs but I sold it to someone for $2500 and he restored it.”

This designer couch needed some love, but Leonardo found someone keen to restore it – who paid him $2500.

Mr Urbane once found a striking antique glass epergne – a fancy table centrepiece – among items dumped for a council clean-up and had a feeling it could be valuable.

He was right. A near-identical design was recently sold by an auction house for almost $2000.

He once came across a hot pink Kartell Colonna stool, which sells for anywhere between $700 and $1000 depending on the retailer, and while it had some chips on it, Mr Urbano colour-matched it at a hardware store and repainted the top.

And then there was the artwork by Dapping Liu – a nude that’s part of a series, from which other pieces have sold for upwards of $3000.

This piece of designer furniture required only minor repairs.

Those pricey finds inspired Mr Urbano to target some of Sydney’s more affluent neighbourhoods, where he has found everything from sought-after furniture to expensive clothing and accessories from the likes of famed brands like Fendi, Prada and Mulberry.

In one rubbish pile, he even found a men’s Rolex watch.

“Double Bay is good,” he said of the affluent inner-eastern enclave. “I definitely check out the rich areas because you can some good stuff. For those, I rent a van.”

Large furniture items are common. Often the desks, dressers, tables, couches and chairs only need a good clean to make them usable.

In other cases, some more involved repairs are required but there are plenty of people online willing to take on the task.

As well as selling valuable items, Mr Urbano furnished “about 99 per cent” of his apartment with whatever he needed that was found on the street, from a couch and dining table to a desk.

A collectable table centrepiece proved to be particularly lucrative.

A collectable table centrepiece proved to be particularly lucrative.

One of his favourite finds was an elaborate stove top coffee maker from the 1960s, designed in his home country, that still worked fine.

“It’s a beautiful design and it’s worth quite a bit of money because it’s a collector’s item.”

Incredibly, Mr Urbano has also found thousands of dollars in cash – actual money, as well as in its plastic form via unused credit on gift cards or charged Opal cards.

“There is so much money that ends up being thrown out.”

This retro 1960s stove top coffee maker is Leonardo's favourite find.

He has found designer clothing and accessories that can fetch big money online.

Over the years, he estimated the value of the treasures he’s found to be about $100,000 in total.

“But I donated or gave away a lot of the things I found,” he said. “I would keep some things, sell some things, and then put things on Facebook marketplace for free or give it to my friends.”

Leonardo has furnished almost all of his apartment with street finds.

Leonardo has furnished almost all of his apartment with street finds.

Children’s toys and clothing are common finds and Mr Urbano collects and cleans them up before listing them on ‘paying it forward’ groups on social media for no cost.

Even after the pandemic settled and his work life returned to normal, he would still spend a lot of time venturing out to explore Sydney’s suburbs.

“I work mostly at night, so during the day I will go around and find lots of stuff. I started to make little videos to put on social media for fun.”

Almost 14,000 people follow him on Instagram to see what he’ll discover next.

“Hopefully it inspires people to reuse and recycle,” he said. “But also, now they know, they’ll see these piles of stuff everywhere and maybe find something for themself.”