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Check those desk drawers before you donate...

Out of the Seattle times today.....

Coin collection in donated desk is returned
A coin collection that was found in a desk donated to St. Vincent de Paul has been returned to its owner.

By Susan Gilmore

Seattle Times staff reporter

When Charlie Roberts' sister divorced, she sent him three pieces of furniture, a desk, bureau and bookshelf.

Because Roberts had no room for the desk, he donated it to a St. Vincent de Paul thrift store, which picked it up from his Beacon Hill home earlier this month.

So he was shocked when he got a call from the charity telling him a collector box of coins was found in one of the dresser drawers.

"This was very cool," said Roberts, 50. "It just backs up their reputation as a good group, and I like how they took the effort to track the donor in a short period of time."

Roberts, who doesn't know the value of the coins, said they belonged to his father, who died in 1984. While not a coin collector, he said his father picked up coins as a hobby. Many of them were at least 60 years old and silver, and the stash included some foreign money.

Roberts said he had no idea the coin collection had been hidden in his sister's desk. He said some of the coins are in books, some in sleeves and all are old and dirty.

He said he'll now contact his sister and see if she wants him to get the coins appraised.

Richard Bray, director of donations with St. Vincents, said he is happy the Burien store manager, My Hong Bui, noticed the coin box and found Roberts. "I'm really proud of our store manager for doing the right thing," he said.

Bray said it's not the first time his agency has returned donated items to their owners. Last August, $10,000 was found stuffed in a projector at the Lynnwood St. Vincent store. The store didn't know who dropped off the projector but made a public appeal and the owner was found.

Comments

  • GrumpyEdGrumpyEd Posts: 4,749 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Check those desk drawers before you donate... >>



    And check the projectors too image In case there's 10K stashed in it.
    Ed
  • MisterBungleMisterBungle Posts: 2,308 ✭✭✭

    "...and all are old and dirty."
    -----
    I don't like the sound of this.

    ~


    "America suffers today from too much pluribus and not enough unum.".....Arthur Schlesinger Jr.

  • PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 46,885 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Might be some dreck pulled from circulation.

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
    "Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
    "Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire

  • melvin289melvin289 Posts: 3,019


    "...and all are old and dirty."

    Are they talking about me?

    Ron
    Collect for the love of the hobby, the beauty of the coins, and enjoy the ride.
  • drfishdrfish Posts: 948 ✭✭✭✭
    "all are old and dirty"he plans to polish them nice and shiny before having them appraised....... My wife inherited a similar box from her grandmother -a little over 4 rolls of silver Washington quarters and most interesting two 14-d Lincoln cents(both fakes!)
  • DentuckDentuck Posts: 3,824 ✭✭✭


    << <i>"...and all are old and dirty."
    -----
    ~ >>





    "All these old gold coins, and these funny silver ones with the busty lady on them.... they're all dirty. I need to shine 'em up nice and pretty before I take them in to be appraised."


  • ambro51ambro51 Posts: 13,949 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I personally know a guy who was a builder, him and his partner were working pulling attic floorboards in an old country house they had bought to reonovate....and found a depression era hoard of cash, gold, silver....all the real deal. It was huge, well over 100K face value alone. This was maybe twenty years ago...

    theres still stuff to be found.
  • johnny9434johnny9434 Posts: 29,300 ✭✭✭✭✭
    id be looking at that desk every which way before it went anywhere. im sure the person is very thankful to get it back image

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