Massive Collection Bought - Completely Overwhelmed!

My guess is whoever the original collector was is passed on. Some overwhelmed relative cleaning up to sell the house or something. Is the APMEX box yours or was that what those coins were in when you found them? Just wondering because it sticks out to me as being modern were everything else looks like it was collected a long time ago.

That's quite the steal! It's at least $30 face value from the currency alone. Personally I'd feel guilty taking it off their hands for such a small amount.

Alright, so here's an interesting update. After reading a lot of your comments, and after starting to look into the values of some of this stuff, I decided to try and reconnect with the people who sold me the collection.

The house was basically a neighbor of mine about 5 streets from where I live. I went this morning and knocked on the door, and a younger woman answered. Turned out she's the original homeowner's daughter. The homeowner is still alive, he lives in North Carolina now and they were cleaning out the house in order to sell it.

I explained what I had bought (I didn't bring anything with me) and that I thought it was some kind of mistake. She didn't know anything about the coins but she told me she would call me after she spoke with her dad. I gave her my card (I run a business in my town). About 20 minutes ago she called asking if she could buy it back from me, and that her father did not know he still had the coins, and that they never intended to sell it. I told her she could have it for $30 since that's ultimately what I paid, provided I could keep the one Trade dollar I posted photos of earlier in this thread. She accepted, and I'll be dropping it back off later tonight.

It's a good thing, but I'm kind of bummed out! I liked the idea of going through it all and seeing if anything in it was of major value. Oh well. I'm lucky enough to have a LCS near me where I buy most of my ASE coins, so I'll be dropping by soon to pick his brain about Trade dollars.

Thanks for all the comments and replies! Cheers.

You will sleep well tonight. That was the right thing to do. Proud to be a part of this CCF family when I read stuff like this. I hope you also got to keep the golf balls!
Good for you. Good deeds do come back to you. I bet it was hard, but I am impressed. You won't be sorry.

T-B-C: There ought to be some sort of Golden Rule medal you could hang around your neck for that classy decision.
I tend to be somewhat cynical concerning human nature in this modern era of unmitigated greeeeed.
There might be one in a hundred (or 1000) garage sale shoppers who would have made the choice you did. And you are that One.
IMHO this deserves more than one

I've been lurking on this thread since it started and reading with amazement at what you uncovered. I'm sure that the original collector of this material is feeling very fortunate that an honest person happened upon his set.

You are a class act, sir! Glad you are a part of our group of coin aficionados.

Absolutely one of the most honorable things I've seen. Much respect to you. You truly are a class act...