Money found on the ground

DrPete

There was a previous post on this topic from five or more years ago and I can't find it. I'll restart it here as there are many new people on the boards.

Tell a story of your most interesting or valuable find of money. I'll start off with a couple of examples:

I once found a $10 bill in about 1 foot of water in Lake Michigan while walking on the beach (Michigan side).

Another time I found about $35 in the parking lot at a local YMCA; I turned it in and the owner rewarded me with 5 $1 bills which I still have about 30 years later.

kiyote

My dad used to claim (along with 2 of my uncles) that he found a $100 bill floating in Lesourdsville Ohio amusement park lake-- this would have been around 1940.

steveben

i find money on the ground all the time. the most i ever found was a $20. it was in a crowded sports arena and i watched about 10-12 people step on it before i could pick it up.

pocketpiececommems

I found a $100 in a pile of leaves under a bush while walking.

secondrepublic

how about this -- my wife lost a $100 bill on her way to the spa. seriously. anyone finds one on the north side of Chicago, send me a PM.

edited to add: I did find a $20 in a bar one time, so I'm only down $80.

Yukoncornelius1

When I was a teenager I once found a $100 bill I had stuck in a bunch of play money, I thought I had lost it a year earlier so needless to say I was very happy when said bill turned up.
A couple days ago I found an 1870-S seated dime in a mixed bag of bullion and coins in flips I thought I had lost a couple years ago so again I was joyous over finding my long lost dime.
Back to the topic at hand I did once find a $20 bill laying on the ground in a parking lot at a shopping mall and have found numerous small change laying on the ground, also have raided the coinstar reject bin a few times so I guess that counts too.

ajman

A few years ago me and a buddy of mine were in Vegas for the weekend and on the way out of the hotel one day I saw a folded up $20 bill on the ground right near the entrance. I nervously looked around, saw nobody near, and stooped down and pocketed it.

jmb

Not on the ground, but in the ocean.

Me and a friend were snorkeling in Barbados, a couple hundred feet from the beach and we found over $100 floating under water.

CoinRaritiesOnline

<< <i>Not on the ground, but in the ocean.

Me and a friend were snorkeling in Barbados, a couple hundred feet from the beach and we found over $100 floating under water. >>




Wow -- that must have been surreal. Was it in $20's?

Broadstruck

Best find was about a decade ago when exiting the mall from xmas shopping... Found 7 folded $20 bills that the wind had wedged under my driver side front tire.

jmb

<< <i>

<< <i>Not on the ground, but in the ocean.

Me and a friend were snorkeling in Barbados, a couple hundred feet from the beach and we found over $100 floating under water. >>




Wow -- that must have been surreal. Was it in $20's? >>



It was surreal, especially with all the fish swimming around also. It was mostly smaller bills. We figured somebody went swimming and forgot they had hidden their money in their trunks.
We had a nice dinner.

2manycoins2fewfunds

I found a pack of $100s once that I had forgot I had hid a year or so earlier.

ModernCoin

I'll admit that I'm borderline obsessed with finding cash on the ground. It really started for me in my early twenties when a friend of mine would always find a few bucks on the ground at nightclubs when we went out (she even found a $20 in front of me). Since then I look down just as much as I look around whenever I'm somewhere crowded that people (particularly drunk people ) spend money. I probably have found cumulatively $200 to $300+ dollars on the ground at fairs, bars, concerts, downtown streets, etc. over the last 15 or so years. I've even found a $20 sitting in the tray on an ATM machine twice now . I've never found anything higher than a $20, but hopefully 2012 will be the year.

golden

I once found a $10 while mowing the lawn and a $5 while I was getting on the light rail at the Baltimore airport.

SaorAlba

Best find, when I was about 7-8 I found an 1878 gold sovereign in a parking lot - but it was subsequently taken from me by a family member. Next best find, a year later I found a $100 on the floor of a department store - same outcome - taken by a particular family member who tended to pilfer such finds.

Other than those I have found $20's a few times and small wads of Hryvnia notes in Ukraine, it is hard to find bills on the ground in Ukraine because they are a lot of money - coins are another matter, find them all the time.

pocketpiececommems

I would guess that you could find a bunch if you walked the parking lots after Pro-football or Major League baseball games. Especially after night games.

MsMorrisine

when I was pre-elementary, we'd go to a small mall with a fountain in it.

around the fountain were bushes.

we'd clean out the bushes of all the misses. Lots of coins, no paper. No vacuums were used in these repeated cleanings, and we didn't go into the water.

SmEagle1795

I found a $20 sitting in an ATM tray a while ago, but most of my finds have been smaller. I've accumulated $171.80 in my life (I've kept a running total of every cent I've found since childhood). The best places to find them were payphones and vending machines - my biggest score was $5.25 in a vending machine and I still haven't the slightest idea how they managed to get that much change in there. For ages after that find, I had frequent dreams about finding handfuls of coins in vending machines.

I did manage to get my 10 year old self thrown out of a store once for checking their machines. Upon reflection, I may have had a problem back then... but it was easy money!

Broadstruck

<< <i>I once found a $10 while mowing the lawn >>



Me too right after I mulched it!

Mercury

A few years ago I took the family on vacation to Disney World in Florida. We were there when they opened the gates of Hollywood Studios in the morning and everyone took off running for the rides. We were walking behind the running masses and when we rounded the corner toward Tower of Terror and Rock n Roll Roller Coaster there was a wad of money on the ground. My oldest daughter picked it up and handed it to me. It was $300 or $400 dollars in mostly twenties. We turned it in to the lost and found. I keep having images of some Dad who brought his kids there and then lost all his money. It just did not feel right keeping it. Who knows if the right person ever found it but I feel good about doing the right thing and taught my daughters a good lesson.

Mercury

anoldgoat

When i was about five years old I found a shiny penny on the sidewalk. I noticed everything on the 'front' was doubled. I thought it counterfeit. Seeing a bubblegum machine a few feet away I thought I'd try it. It worked, I got a small handful of gum and plastic toys. Then I took off running thinking I just did a bad thing. About a year later my older brother pointed out the same coin in a blue book. It was worth $25. I guess I did do a bad thing.

ebaybuyer

i personally have never found anything over $20 laying on the floor at one time, but when i was about 7 or 8 i was christmas shopping with my mom at a well known department store, we were standing at the checkout, i remember her picking something off the ground, when we got into the car, she showed me, it was a bank envelope, one side was black from being run over by cart wheels, the other side was white, and inside was five brand new bennies. someone may have lost out on their christmas that year, but im guessing they were more careful with thir money afterward. years later i "found"a fat wallet sitting on a counter while i was picking up some pictures (this was back when you would drop off a roll of film and go back in a few days for the pictures) yeah i grabbed the wallet, went to the restroom and counted out 2300$ in hundreds and fifties. my conscience told me to turn the wallet in at the service desk. ive often thought i did the right thing, but ive also wondered what the person at the service desk did with it

mayor1

I once found a $100 bill in my pocket----still can't figure out how my wife missed it!!

Weiss

Obviously a common theme among this particular population

July of last year I stopped at a grocery store to grab a soft drink with my nephew. Coming out of the store I found this on the ground:



Now I'm all about "the conversion". So we jumped into the car and drove straight to my dealer. Slapped the $$ on the counter and asked what he'd give me for it.

This is what he offered:



Finding a few bucks on the ground? We all do it occasionally. But finding obsolete silver? Now that's special. And the value today is what, $18 and change? Even better

notwilight

When I was about 5 or 6, so it would have been about 1962, before Branson Mo became Branson, Mo, it was just a wide place in the road on a near a manmade lake or 2. We were in the area on a family trip (about 100 miles from home). We went down to the old wooden dock before breakfast. The boards looked 100 yrs old and had the 1/2" cracks between them for washing off the fishguts. I looked down between the cracks and picked up an 1882 silver dollar that was edgeways on top of the supporting member. I remember it was 1882 because my dad commented that it was just 2 years after my grandfather was born. Don't know what happened to it over the years but it got misplaced, probably while I was in college.

--Jerry

johnny9434

i found $45 at the carnival one time. that was way cool

ModernCoin

<< <i>I looked down between the cracks and picked up an 1882 silver dollar that was edgeways on top of the supporting member. I remember it was 1882 because my dad commented that it was just 2 years after my grandfather was born. Don't know what happened to it over the years but it got misplaced, probably while I was in college. >>



Didn't you spend it on a Wonka bar ?

10 seconds into video, Charlie finds silver...

Egger

The best, are the ones that look like a $100 Bill, only when unfold it, it's a bible message...


I found one of those in a mall when I was in High School, Threw it in a urinal for the next guy

RedSoxinNYC

I've been living in NYC for 5 years now and have found close to $400-$500 in cash during this time. The most I found at one time was $80, last year, in a dirty envelope just sitting on a sidewalk. I kicked the envelope for the heck of it and out popped 4 $20 bills. I've found bills just sitting on sidewalks, in atms, on streets etc. Also have found jewerly: rings, bracelets, etc.

mrpaseo

Finds thus far this year... (found that day / total found this year)

3 JAN (.17)
.06 6930 floor
.05 under VM
.08 Desk in scrap pile
.01 6929 Laundry room floor
.02 6931 Hall/LR floor

8 JAN 12 (.04/.21)
.04 change return at self check out at walmart.

17 JAN 12: (.77/.98)
.01 Staff duty desk
.20 soda machine second floor BN
.55 MP soda machines
.01 MP classroom stuck to shelf

22 JAN 12: (.10/1.08)
.10 Theater floor

24 JAN 12: (.62/1.70)
.50 under soda machines MP
.01 bay floor MP
.11 barracks hallway floor

31 Jan 12: (.73/2.43)
.01 Barracks laundry room fl
.35 MP under soda machine
.01 6390 entrance door jam
.25 HHD Soda machine (under)
.11 on SD desk, been there since last Tuesday.

6 FEB
.01 Ground outside of shoppette

I started keeping track on 17 Dec 11 but these totals are only for this year. I'm hoping to find larger quantities but as it stands the largest denomination found this year is .25 cents and the largest amount at once is .55 cents.

Keeping my eyes open,
Ray

yellowkid

I found a dollar on my way home from seeing the "3:10 to Yuma" (the original) at the Saturday matinee. On Monday after school I went to the five and dime and bought some Manoil toy soldiers,then to the newstand for a couple of comic books, and I may have had enough left for an ice cream cone. Does this date me???

Elcontador

I found several fat wallets over the years. The most recent one I took to the parking garage employee, unopened. The other one I found at a post office, years ago. I opened it up, found the owner, drove over, and refused any reimbursement.

My biggest find was a $100 bill at the gym parking lot several years ago. I was the last one out of there, the place already closed. I saw a crumpled bill on the ground, and thought I found a dollar.

My most interesting find was a 10 real note in front of the Presidential Palace, in Brasilia.

I found a 1/2 Swiss franc on a run locally.

My strangest find was a new 50 lipa (Croatian) coin while in Kotor, Montenegro. Croatian money is not-convertible in Montenegro, so the locals ignored it.

I find money all of the time. Usually coins, though I found two crumpled up dollar notes while walking to a continuing education seminar last week.

291fifth

The last time I found a piece of US paper money on the ground was in 1996. I was out in Los Angeles on business and was staying at the Hampton Inn near LAX. I went out to the parking lot in the morning and got into my car. As I was about to close the door I looked down into a small puddle of water and spotted a $5 bill. I quickly grabbed it and put it on the carpeting to dry. By the time I got to my appointment it was dry and into my wallet it went.

Coinosaurus

I found a 200 peso (then about $25) note when diving in Mexico about 10 years ago.

cladking

Many years ago I got back to my parents car after a long shopping expedition to the Village
Mall in Gary, Indiana when I realized I had lost two neatly folded $20 bills. This was two weeks
profit frommy paper route and it just made me sick. I knew there was no real chance of finding
them but retraced all my steps anyway. I was almost at the end while walking through the mon-
key wards store when the very edge of the bills could be seen projecting out from under a counter.

It's remarkable luck they got kicked there early or they'd have surely been gone.

copperhunter

If you really want to cash in on finding change on the ground....you can scour underneath the drive throughs at various fast food joints. Leave a little space between your car and drive through window, open the door and look. You can often find several quarters, dimes, nickels at a time from all those who mishandle the coin exchange. I have not done this personally, but I have read about a couple who did this religiously and claim to have found over $500 during a year's time!

RichR

I also live in Manhattan and I've found close to $400 in separate incidents in the last couple of years:

The first time, I found $40 in a small puddle on the sidewalk outside our building...and get this, about a month later I found almost $200 in nearly the same location on another rainy night. Me thinks that a Chinese food delivery kid was severely beaten when he got back to the take-out place after that one. To this day, on a rainy night, I always look over in that area for my "money puddle"!

And then last year, I'm walking home with my wife one night when a $20 bill blows past on the sidewalk...and I almost jump in front of a cab to grab it...and then another and another...until we snagged at least six of them. By that time my wife and I were running up and down both sides of the street looking for more!

And a PS...when I was about 5 or 6...I SAW a woman drop a $20 bill in a K-Mart and didn't say anything until she left and then ran over and picked it up. Now here's the kicker, I got a spanking from my father (who I was with) for not telling the woman that I saw her drop her money (and returning it to her)...and for being a "thief". And right then, I knew coin collecting was the thing for me!!!

jdimmick

When I was younger about 16, we used to look around the parking lots late (about 1am)at night after the stores closed. Found $15.00 once , about the time I held it up to show a buddy who was looking also, 3 black guys in a car hollered out at me and said come over here and let me see that money, I started going the other direction when all of a sudden they began to chase us. We all took off and I was so scared I climbed up the ladder at the back of a fast food resturant and hid for several hours.

I found a $50 bill in the hallway at my high school once

I have found 10-20 on several occasions over the past few year.

I did find a $100 bill not too long ago after a buy at the store. WE had bought a modern type set in a fancy box from a customer , about a week later, i went to sell it and I noticed the foam backing inside the case was coming loose, and the guy wanted us to fix it before he bought it. I was about to glue it and looked in there and there was a fresh new $100 bill. (yes I kept it)

ModernCoin

<< <i>If you really want to cash in on finding change on the ground....you can scour underneath the drive throughs at various fast food joints. Leave a little space between your car and drive through window, open the door and look. You can often find several quarters, dimes, nickels at a time from all those who mishandle the coin exchange. I have not done this personally, but I have read about a couple who did this religiously and claim to have found over $500 during a year's time! >>



I do this nearly every trip and have it down to a science . I try not to eat fast food as much these days, but I'll always quickly open the door and grab whatever change can be picked up in 10 seconds or less. By far and away the best place to find change is at change only toll booths. Before I put the ePass in my car I used to (when no one was behind me) slow down about 10' before the basket and look at the ground while rolling slowly. There were times I would find $2 to $3 in change, but typically I would find fifty cents to a dollar. Eventually though I got tired of having to deal with paying at each stop and since time is money I went ahead and bought the pass. I miss the days of making money at each stop, but flying through toll booths without stopping is worth it ...

RichR

<<I try not to eat fast food as much these days, but I'll always quickly open the door and grab whatever change can be picked up in 10 seconds or less. >>

I just lean into the drive-thru window and grab as much out of the cash drawer as I can in 10 seconds or less!!!

golden

<< <i>I once found a $100 bill in my pocket----still can't figure out how my wife missed it!! >>

bidask

I found $10,000 on the ground once.

.
I notified the authorites but no one ever claimed it.

SaorAlba

Oh, I have a crumply 5 euro note that I found on the ramp of the Boryspil Airport in Kyiv a couple of years ago. We were flying to Amsterdam, and I can only imagine that some euroesque type person lost it. I asked the people around me if it was theirs, but no takers. So I still have it.

curly

I found a twenty dollar bill on the Strip in front of The Flamingo in Las Vegas. I also found a ten dollar bill in a pile of melting snow in a parking lot.

HoledandCreative

I would have preferred the $10k find. I found $2 1/2 in the street around 50 years ago. I kept it.

JupitarCoins

<< <i>Best find was about a decade ago when exiting the mall from xmas shopping... Found 7 folded $20 bills that the wind had wedged under my driver side front tire. >>



I'm surprised that you noticed the money under the tire. Looking at the right place at the right time!!

JupitarCoins

<< <i>A few years ago I took the family on vacation to Disney World in Florida. We were there when they opened the gates of Hollywood Studios in the morning and everyone took off running for the rides. We were walking behind the running masses and when we rounded the corner toward Tower of Terror and Rock n Roll Roller Coaster there was a wad of money on the ground. My oldest daughter picked it up and handed it to me. It was $300 or $400 dollars in mostly twenties. We turned it in to the lost and found. I keep having images of some Dad who brought his kids there and then lost all his money. It just did not feel right keeping it. Who knows if the right person ever found it but I feel good about doing the right thing and taught my daughters a good lesson.

Mercury >>



That is a very honorable thing you did!!!

tightbudget

The most I've ever found was $60 in the form of 3 twenties lying in the middle of a road on my way to a train station. The benefits of walking with your head down!

aj2525r

A couple of years ago there was a thread about finding money on here. Up to that point the most I'd ever found was someone who left about $5 in quarters in a stack at the wash place for cars.

That night while walking my dog I found a $20 on the sidewalk.

Sometime a little later I was in a grocery store and noticed money laying on the floor by the entrance. It was $37. I figured someone missed their pocket and lost it. I turned it in at the service desk and was pretty sure the person behind the counter was going to wait until I was out of sight and pocket the money. I felt stupid for giving it to them but in early 2008 the California economy where I lived was so bad there was little traffic on the roads. I mean noticeably less traffic every time I drove through Santa Maria. I'd walked past two different people looking for plastic bottles to recycle for a few cents in the parking lot and a couple of people going through trash cans for recyclables.

I live in Texas now and hope things are getting better for folks in California.

ClosedLoop

I found $20 on the ground in some grass two days ago while at work..

CoinMiner1

Before my wife and I had kids we would take really long walks together around town and play this game: whoever found the most money on the ground over the weekend wins!

We became really competitive over the forty or fifty cents that would typically be the difference between the two sums, though sometimes less than a dime.

I've found a twenty a couple times.

I lost 500$ another time.

Guess I better keep looking for change on the ground to make up the difference...