Interesting Story-Asbury Park NJ

TavernTreasures

I do not know if this was posted before but found it on a local website. Enjoy...https://www.app.com/story/news/local/people/2019/05/20/gold-certificates-asbury-park/3311405002/?fbclid=IwAR34Y11pvTHuaJvInBrHwhmobfkSRO9ZFC32uBaMJhE4wnuLjhtpme0_rmU

ms70

Linder sold the home to Burke Development in the spring of 2013. That deal, she said, also included all of the items cluttered inside.

Heart breaking but IMHO, a deal's a deal.... The seller shouldn't have been so lazy as to not thoroughly inventory what she inherited.

Namvet69

Talk about sellers remorse. Peace Roy

Hemispherical

$3.5 million.

Quite a few parties involved and therefore quite a few law offices.

Taxes? Why not, it’s NJ.

That leaves... enough to tip the gas station attendant filling your car that you can’t do yourself in NJ.

ricko

Wow.... And the article 'seems' to indicate that she had knowledge of the certificates... though likely had never imagined how much they were actually worth. Still, selling a house with everything in it...and not realizing _what___was in it, is always a risk. Cheers, RickO

specialist

WOW, my town is right next door and one of my employees lives n Asbury Park.

Surina is a very old name in coin dealing. Had not seen him round for years. He used to run little auctions. Don't know the other guy. Bet I Know some of the lawyers involved... What a sad story

Timbuk3

OMG, great story !!!

Elmhurst

In WA state, anything left in the house at time of closing becomes property of the new owner.

Sweetpie

The right thing to do is for the new property owner to share 50/50 of the windfall once thru the legal system, as they mentioned they would do.

FYI, the previous owner had heard of the certificates and assumed they are in a SDB somewhere and didnt know there was a safe in the basement.

johnny9434

that's a nice read. thanks for sharing

ACop

I lived on the beach for a few years in AB and LB. Maybe I have a proper claim to them.

ColonelJessup

I've known Tom Surina as a local NJ dealer in (mostly) currency for 40 years, but never heard this one!

One of my previous sig-lines - "Weird scenes inside the gold mine" - Jim Morrison 1969

@Realone (aka, in this case, @RipleyBelievethNot) should consider passing this along to Carl Hiaasen, though the "scary basement" angle would need work to adapt to a Floridian venue. I could see Elmore Leonard's hand embroidering upon it too

JBK

There are so many in this story who didw wrong, but the blame starts squarely with the homeowner who did not bother to go through the house herself. She passed that "chore" onto a third party.

Shame on her. Forget the fortune in rare notes that she knew existed sonewhere, she could not even be bothered to retrieve family photos and heirlooms.

SanctionII

In 2013 my sister and I had to sell my parents home in Denver. My parents bought it in 1966 from a husband and wife who had purchased it in or around 1928 or 1929 from the prior owner who had purchased it new in 1927 from the developer. The home was built on a lot that was wide and deep, with a detached garage and a brick incinerator located at the back of the property. My mother had passed in the 1990's and my father had moved into an assisted living facility in 2012.

My sister and I spent time selling, donating and throwing away many of the contents of the home (after searching same and finding that my father had hidden currency and coins in various locations in the home).

A realtor was hired to list the property for sale and find a buyer. An offer was made and accepted. Escrow was opened and proceeded to a closing. I was the last person to spend a few days in the home before the close of escrow.

The home had various places where things could be hidden, including heating ducts, nooks and crannies in closets, the attic, the basement, behind heating grates, etc. The property had been used as a residence since 1927.

I performed a diligent search of every nook and cranny I could find. I searched heating ducts and behind heating grates. I pulled up carpeting and inspected what was underneath. I looked in the closets and cabinets. I looked in the attic. I also arranged for a guy with a metal detector to show up on a Sunday morning and walk the property with his coil.

I was hoping to find some hidden treasure in the house (i.e. in the heating ducts I wanted to find an old box that contained 10 MS 1927 D Double Eagles ). No such luck as I found nothing in the home

Outside, on the property the metal detecting bore some fruit. Multiple coins were found, including Indian Head cents, and Wheaties dating from the early teens to the 1940's. A few buffalo and older Jefferson nickles were found and in the incinerator a silver Roosevelt dime was found. I gave the dime to the guy with the metal detector and kept the other coins, with my sister's consent. Nothing of note, but sentimental items to be sure.

Speaking with the realtor about the metal detecting finds, he told me a story about a home he helped a buyer purchase in the 1980s.

His client purchased an older, run down home in the Five Points area of Denver for $60,000.00. The home had been built in the late 19th or early 20th century. After the sale escrow closed and the buyer took possession of the property and home located thereon he began to do work on a remodel of the home. While doing this he ended up finding old currency that had been hidden in heating ducts present in the home. The currency was found in multiple places. The amount of the currency that he found was about $60,000.00. Finder's keeper's. The buyer in summary paid $60,000.00 to purchase a home that contained within it $60,000.00 in hidden currency and by doing so got a free house.

I suspect that there are events like the one described above that happen all the time in the USA.

amwldcoin

Supposedly my stepfather hid some gold coins in the house I purchased from my Mom. He talked about them for years but would never show them to me as he had them in a secure place. Damned if I can find them. When we were adding onto the house(MIL suite for my Mom) 4 or 5 years ago we found all the little jewelry do-dads, etc. that were related to my father's family hidden in the wall behind the water heater in the basement.

savitale

Oh, wow. Tom Surina's coin store was in the town I grew up in, Matawan, NJ. I used to go to his store to look at auction lots after school. Getting his catalog in the mail every few months was a much anticipated event for me. I wasn't old enough to bid in the auctions in Freehold, NJ on Saturday mornings so my mom would stay and bid for me. Some of his coins are in my Seated Dime set. I haven't heard that name in almost 30 years. Tom (probably Mr. Surina at the time) always had time for me.

Meltdown

Wow, crazy story. I'd have dug through the entire home and kept family heirlooms, photos and keepsakes. I would have found those bank notes too.