CHICAGO (CBS) — A local man spent just $450 to buy a locker full of valuable items belonging to late Cook County Board President John H. Stroger Jr.

Among the items inside were two Chicago Bulls championship rings.

Chris Amer won the 10-by-10 unit at an auction, where it was put up for bid because of unpaid dues.

“I started bidding on it. There wasn’t too many people interested in the locker. The locker went for like $450,” he said.

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In addition to the Bulls rings, the locker contained gavels, awards including one with President Bill Clinton, pictures, and papers from both the Cook County administration of John Stroger and his son, Todd.

Amer tells CBS 2’s Brad Edwards he is a “storage hunter.”

“Four-fifty was the winning bid, can you believe it?” he said. “It’s such a find. How do you put a price in it? We’re getting a lot of attention?”

Amer says he has tried to contact the Stroger family but has not been successful. He says the items have historical value, and he intends to sell them.

“This is the first time I’ve seen the assets,” said Alez Mazer, President of the BirdDog Group, who has been enlisted to appraise and sell the items from the locker.

Mazer plans to marshal all the assets and auction them off in the coming weeks at the BirdDog Group website.

“As you can see he certainly hit the gold mine here,” said Mazer.

John Stroger died in January 2008, about two years after suffering a major stroke. He had the stroke just after winning had won the Democratic primary for a fourth term as County Board president.

Todd Stroger took his father’s name on the general election ballot in 2006, and served one term before losing the Democratic primary to current board President Toni Preckwinkle in 2010.