Coin Cache Found In Pennsylvania

Oct 27, 3:27 PM (ET)

WINDBER, Pa. (AP) - Talk about throwing away money. Piles of old coins were found in a long-abandoned home, including thousands that the owners had apparently thrown down a hole in the wall.

Jeff Bidelman said he was helping the family clean out the house after the death of the owners, who had not lived there for two decades.

He was dragging a bag down the steps when he noticed the hole in an upstairs wall.

"The old woman said when she was a kid, there were always rumors that that's where they put their coins," Bidelman told the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat, "They used the hole in the wall as kind of a piggy bank".

Within minutes of tearing down the first-floor wall below the hole, Bidelman was wading in piles of old coins.

After sorting through the coins, Bidelman found some minted as early as 1793.

The family's name and the exact location of the home in Windber, about 10 miles southeast of Johnstown, has not been disclosed.