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 Replies: 18 / Views: 2,067 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1291 Posts |
I was reading a couple threads on here about "unsearched" coin lots and decided to share an experience I had a couple of years ago. My (at the time) 79 year old aunt, who had been widowed for a couple years, was having problems with her furnace. So she called a local HVAC company out to her home to fix it. When the repairman arrived, my aunt (trusting soul that she is) left the house to go to some sort of event, telling the repairman to leave the bill on the counter and to lock the door on his way out. (Yikes! Would YOU ever do that?!?!) When my aunt returned home later, the furnace was fixed and on the counter where he placed the bill was a heavy box and a heavy bag he had pulled from the ductwork of the house. Inside these two containers were coins, about $425.00 worth in face value! It seems my uncle, unbeknownst to anyone, had been stashing these away for years. (He and my aunt were on BAD terms for the last 20 or so years of their marriage. The theory goes that he didn't want her to get her hands on these coins, and he died without telling anyone that he had been doing this.) At this point, my cousin got hold of me and told me what had been found and asked me if I could go over and make an assessment of the coins. Can you imagine my anticipation? This was going to be the greatest adventure EVER! I was sure I'd find some great stuff and that I could sell it on ebay for my aunt and make her some serious bling and be a hero. Well, I spent about 8 hours going through this stuff and it turned out to be the biggest pile of poop you'd ever hope to encounter. There was plenty of 90% silver (about $3000 melt value, at the time) but almost nothing of collector value. I am not kidding when I tell you that the most interesting thing I found in there were some 1955 Roosevelt dimes. (Well, that's not entirely true. There were also some well circulated $20.00 notes from the bank of Charleston, West Virginia that my aunt made a few bucks on..) You guessed it: my uncle was a horder, not a collector. And it all just goes to prove that even if you can find a legitimately "unsearched" horde, there's no guarantee you'll find treasures in it. Surely, if someone is advertising an "unsearched" group of coins, especially if it's on ebay, you can bet it's not. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
581 Posts |
That is one thing that has always perplexed me. When people talk about or show what their parents/grand parents left them, it is often worn-down, very common coins. In my case, I got a handful of G4 mercs, a couple walkers and a G4 Morgan dollar. Why didn't they save the BRIGHT SHINY ones? But you make a good point. Keys are keys because they are and WERE rare - in most cases. |
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Pillar of the Community
Poland
3201 Posts |
One of the dumber ideas: the repairman may have been a collector and he could have searched through the containters while nobody was in the house..  |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1291 Posts |
DL20K - I considered that at the time that I went through the coins. Due to the dust that had accumulated on the outside and inside the box and the bag, it was obvious to me that they had NOT been invaded. There were multiple rolls of halves, quarters and dimes that had a fine layer of dust on them that would have shown signs of handling if anyone had opened them up before me. If the guy was going to be dishonest, he would have just taken the whole stash and not taken the chance of (literally) leaving his fingerprints all over it.
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Pillar of the Community
Poland
3201 Posts |
Quote:
he would have just taken the whole stash Ah, that's true  Edited by DL20K
01/04/2009 11:03 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
580 Posts |
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When the repairman arrived, my aunt (trusting soul that she is) left the house to go to some sort of event, telling the repairman to leave the bill on the counter and to lock the door on his way out. Does your aunt live in Mayberry? |
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Valued Member
United States
408 Posts |
Coins aside, that's a nice human interest story. Reminds me of a kinder, gentler time when things like that happened regularly. Not many areas of the country where something like that would happen today.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1291 Posts |
mklpatrick: Close! She lives in Footville! (Ohio) tampabaygrampa: Very true!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1291 Posts |
DL20K: Thanks for thinking that ONLY the repairman might do something underhanded and not the guy who appraised the coins. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2661 Posts |
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Reminds me of a kinder, gentler time when things like that happened regularly. Not many areas of the country where something like that would happen today.
Tell me about it. Just this past year we had the satellite tv man come out and hook us up at our new home. I will not disclose the name of the company "DIRECTly", but when he left so did my sons NBA live game for the 360. And we were home with him!! Slick devil he was. I was so ticked off about that and no way to prove he did it. |
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Valued Member
United States
462 Posts |
Tim Stroud, I had a much worse experience with said company. Luckily, I have a "network" alternative in my area.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19931 Posts |
Quote:
My (at the time) 79 year old aunt, who had been widowed for a couple years, was having problems with her furnace. So she called a local HVAC company out to her home to fix it. When the repairman arrived, my aunt (trusting soul that she is) left the house to go to some sort of event, telling the repairman to leave the bill on the counter and to lock the door on his way out. (Yikes! Would YOU ever do that?!?!)
NEVER do that. Whenever you let a stranger in to fix something, stay with them everywhere they go. I was ripped off once by a cable repair guy for over $800 in cash. He was snooping around and found a bag of cash I had hidden, of course he stole it and....after a long ordeal (months) with the worthless police...I was out $800. She's lucky that repair guy was honest. WHEW |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5318 Posts |
Quote:
on the counter where he placed the bill was a heavy box and a heavy bag he had pulled from the ductwork of the house. Inside these two containers were coins, about $425.00 worth in face value! I just admire people like that, and whenever things like that happen--I make a point to let their employer know the trust they established. Not that I leave contractors in my house unsupervised, but I've been surprised when people do things that save me $$$. It's nice to be reminded there are good people out there--not just the "usual suspects".  |
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Moderator
 United States
187654 Posts |
Interesting story.  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10284 Posts |
Around here we find the long forgotten crooks in the air ducts, not coins.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1291 Posts |
Actually, the repairman was the owner of the company, so there were no higher ups to commend him to...but excellent suggestion, KurtS!
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Replies: 18 / Views: 2,067 |
Posted 01/04/2009 10:20 am
