How big/small is your town?

[gritsar]

I've got a better one. I used to own an auction business with my ex husband. We did an estate auction at a farm and ex's uncle bought an wooden barrel partially full of rusty ol' nails. When his uncle got the barrel home he dumped all the nails out because he was interested in the barrel, not the nails. The barrel had a false bottom and more than $30,000 fell out. Ex's uncle was a crazy old man that was always getting into trouble with law - mainly for driving his tractor down the highway after his driver's license was suspended for DUI - but he returned every penny of that money to the rightful owner (the heirs of the farmer).

 

[Fierlin1182]

Epic story! Good on you for returning the money!

(I personally don't know if I would've had the resolve

)

Ah, they hide it in all places. I found a whole load of dollar coins in my mother's room... you guessed it, in a box under her bed!

 

[gritsar]

DH's mother and brother both passed away in 2005. We've been living in this house (the family farm house) since 2006. We're still finding jars of coins tucked away in the weirdest places. DH thought he knew every single nook and cranny in this house, but apparently his brother knew more.

 

[Fierlin1182]

Ah, places with history. I'd like to own an old house one day, never know what you could find. The shiny new concrete shells don't leave many creative places to stash cash.

 

[mississippifarmboy]

Cool Gritty. I never knew you had been in the auction biz.

At one estate auction I called many years ago we had two rings going, the good auctioneers were selling the household and furniture while I was stuck selling the contents of several barns and sheds on the property.

We were running teams of two auctioneers so that we could go non-stop for the 9+ hours it was going to take. When I was on break and working the table, we were selling bins, buckets, old drawers and other containers full of nuts, bolts, old nails, small parts and such. They were bringing a couple bucks each up to around 10 bucks on better boxes.

I had grabbed an old dresser drawer full of nails and tack. A lot of it was in old medicine bottles, tiny paper sacks and snuff cans. I was sorta parting through it just out of habit, looking for any goodies I could call out that might make it bring more. One of the small metal snuff cans was super heavy. I asked my help who had helped me set up the auction what was in it. He just shrugged and said "I have no idea, I couldn't get it open, probably lead fishing sinkers".

I figured he was right, but put the lid of the snuff can against the edge of the table and hit it a couple of times with my hand until I pried the lid off.....

It was crammed full of $20.00 gold pieces!

I went up to the house and showed the heir to the estate what we found, he just shruged and said to sell them too. So we made an announcement they were just found and would be sold at a certain time that afternoon, made a few quick calls to known local coin buyers and sold them.

The first one brought over $4,000.00!!! They sold from around 700 to over 4,000 bucks each. If I hadn't opened that tin someone would have bought the whole box for under $20.00.


I wonder what they would be worth in today's market?

 

[EggyErin]

I would LOVE to find some hidden treasure around here. I have to make my own - coins in the piggy bank.

Suches doesn't even qualify as a town; we're a "community." Gas station/store, P.O., K-12 (80 students), and of course, a real estate office, the better to sell off those farms and riverfront property.

We have a great volunteer fire department. In the summer we have lots of part-timers who come to their mountain cabins, but the winter separates the wheat from the chaff.

Nearest town is a long 1/2 hour away. Only two roads, one is curvy, the other is REALLY curvy. Wear your Sea Bands if you come visit!

 

[speckledhen]

Mineral Bluff, GA

In the zip code, there are about 4000 people, but in the actual city limits of Mineral Bluff, I think there are only about 150 people.

 

[redhen]

Quote:

How com ei never find cool things like that...
*sniffle..sniffle.. noone loves me*

 

[Henicillin]

The happenin' burg of East Nassau, NY, had a population of 571 back when the 2000 census was conducted, which is probably close to what it is now.

As for finding things around the house, the only thing we've found - or learned - is that this place was built either by the lowest bidder or by a talented amateur. Some of the construction features are bizarre at best (gotta love it when you pull up a carpet and find roofing tarpaper underneath). There is no hidden treasure in this joint, that's for certain!

 

[Fierlin1182]

Quote:
Wow yeah, that buyer must've hit the jackpot!

Great story, great find.