trouvaille

I once found a summer duck's nest within a quarter of a mile of our house, but such a trouvaille would be impossible now as Kidd's treasure.

From My Garden Acquaintance by James Russell Lowell

A jeweler was accordingly summoned, who, by the application of acids and a file, soon proved conclusively to the authorities that the precious trouvaille was a worthless piece of imitation.

From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 15, No. 89, May, 1875 by Various

All the men frankly desired to see the trouvaille at close quarters, and most of the women wanted a peep, though they weren't brutally open about it.

From The Brightener by A. M. (Alice Muriel) Williamson

"My dear, you are a perfect trouvaille," Miss Crawley would say.

From Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

The gown I had already discovered—a trouvaille and genuinely of the epoch; an enticing pink silk with glowing shadows.

From The Nest, The White Pagoda, The Suicide, A Forsaken Temple, Miss Jones and The Masterpiece by Anne Douglas Sedgwick