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Couple discover 1950s suitcase packed with $23,000 hidden in the walls of their home while renovatin

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    AUandAGAUandAG Posts: 24,539 ✭✭✭✭✭

    shhhhhhhhhhh.

    bob

    Registry: CC lowballs (boblindstrom), bobinvegas1989@yahoo.com
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    TommyTypeTommyType Posts: 4,586 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Any collector value in those bills? Seems like there's at least a few dollars over face there.

    Easily distracted Type Collector
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    jmbjmb Posts: 593 ✭✭✭

    It's a lunch box and yes quite a few of those bills are worth more than face. Hope they didn't just deposit into the bank.

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    BAJJERFANBAJJERFAN Posts: 30,992 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @jmb said:
    It's a lunch box and yes quite a few of those bills are worth more than face. Hope they didn't just deposit into the bank.

    Even depositing them should raise some suspicions because of their age.

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    BarndogBarndog Posts: 20,458 ✭✭✭✭✭

    if true, that's cool. Some people are stupid AND lucky.

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    crazyhounddogcrazyhounddog Posts: 13,817 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Some people have all the luck. Yeah, I woulda kept my mouth shut.
    Why talk about it? Why bring the media in on it????????? :#
    The bitterness of "Poor Quality" is remembered long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.
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    goldengolden Posts: 9,069 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @crazyhounddog said:
    Some people have all the luck. Yeah, I woulda kept my mouth shut.
    Why talk about it? Why bring the media in on it????????? :#

    Yes!

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    WalkerfanWalkerfan Posts: 8,976 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Barndog said:
    if true, that's cool. Some people are stupid AND lucky.

    Reminds me of an old expression:

    'The dumber the farmer......the bigger the potatoes.'

    “I may not believe in myself but I believe in what I’m doing” ~Jimmy Page~

    My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947)

    https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/

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    thebeavthebeav Posts: 3,755 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Yes, that is indeed a 'lunch' box.......Who would call that a suitcase ?
    Great notes though, looked pretty cool.
    I want to get myself one of those "Earl Scheib" paint-jobs on my car at 29 bucks.....

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    Finders, keepers.

    Good deals with: goldman86 mkman123 Wingsrule wondercoin segoja Tccuga OKCC LindeDad and others.

    my early American coins & currency: -- http://yankeedoodlecoins.com/
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    BarndogBarndog Posts: 20,458 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I still doubt the story
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    BarndogBarndog Posts: 20,458 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Or at least its veracity
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    Cougar1978Cougar1978 Posts: 7,640 ✭✭✭✭✭

    The 50's and 100's especially if Gem CU worth much more than face. I believe many would keep it quiet and not blab.....

    I would keep it quiet, wb worried about some prior owner or heirs making claim, finders keepers for me....

    So Cali Area - Coins & Currency
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    BLUEJAYWAYBLUEJAYWAY Posts: 8,051 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Soon to become known as the "Lunch Box Hoard". Sale coming soon to an Amazon site near you. ;)

    Successful transactions:Tookybandit. "Everyone is equal, some are more equal than others".
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    gripgrip Posts: 9,962 ✭✭✭✭✭

    taxa's...?

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    JeffMTampaJeffMTampa Posts: 3,263 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I found a rat skeleton in a wall when I was renovating my old house. Not as good a find.

    I love them Barber Halves.....
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    DNADaveDNADave Posts: 7,239 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I want to know more about the banana :p

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    oih82w8oih82w8 Posts: 11,906 ✭✭✭✭✭

    You never know what you will find in the walls of houses/buildings.

    oih82w8 = Oh I Hate To Wait _defectus patientia_aka...Dr. Defecto - Curator of RMO's

    BST transactions: dbldie55, jayPem, 78saen, UltraHighRelief, nibanny, liefgold, FallGuy, lkeigwin, mbogoman, Sandman70gt, keets, joeykoins, ianrussell (@GC), EagleEye, ThePennyLady, GRANDAM, Ilikecolor, Gluggo, okiedude, Voyageur, LJenkins11, fastfreddie, ms70, pursuitofliberty, ZoidMeister,Coin Finder, GotTheBug, edwardjulio, Coinnmore...
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    rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Really interesting... and a gold certificate?? Wow.... and this should NEVER have made the news.....Cheers, RickO

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    leothelyonleothelyon Posts: 8,365 ✭✭✭✭✭

    There's so much more to this story. All bills were from 1928-1934 but the newspaper is dated March 25, 1951. House was built in the 1940's. Someone installed a drywall ceiling in the basement after the house was built. Was there an assess ceiling door to the money or was it intentionally sealed up in the ceiling with drywall? Bank robber loot, hit money, a payoff of some kind. Are the bank notes numbers in any kind of sequence? If someone didn't want to be caught/connected to this money, why not just burn it? Unless they thought it could be used again in the underworld of mafia crime. Yeah, I think there's something very bad connected to this money.

    Leo :#

    The more qualities observed in a coin, the more desirable that coin becomes!

    My Jefferson Nickel Collection

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    panexpoguypanexpoguy Posts: 1,239 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I recall a similar story from here in Ohio a few years back. A handyman hired to do some work in a home found a stash of old currency in the house he was working on. He and a buddy took the cash and were discovered after going around town buying things, including a new pick up truck, with the old currency. I am thinking it was over $100k face value but I am not sure.

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    ashelandasheland Posts: 22,694 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Same here, if that was me, it wouldn't have made the news. :D

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    bestdaybestday Posts: 4,220 ✭✭✭✭

    Story looks legit.... undisturbed dust on all of case .. but dumb people will now have to cough up taxes on their find..LOL

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    OldEastsideOldEastside Posts: 4,602 ✭✭✭✭✭

    WOW.........Earl Scheib painting cars for 29.95 in 1951...........He was still charging the same in the late 70's

    Steve

    Promote the Hobby
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    johnny9434johnny9434 Posts: 27,521 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @TomB said:
    Very cool, but I would not have told a soul about the find.

    the irs is on there way over now :'(

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    BLUEJAYWAYBLUEJAYWAY Posts: 8,051 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Interesting tidbit from a Google search that I did not know. Fingerprints can be lifted from paper currency. Wonder if this will be attempted with this stash to possibly establish a connection with someone.

    Successful transactions:Tookybandit. "Everyone is equal, some are more equal than others".
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    Bob1951Bob1951 Posts: 268 ✭✭

    Boy some people sure are stupid. I would kept it a total secret and would have sold a few notes at a time to dealers at shows for cash or trade on coins or bullion. Then just add the coins to my collection-NO one would have known. The person who put them there is likely deceased by now. I may have also just bought a few more notes so dealers would think that I have been collecting for years and then sell them all. There are many easy ways to hide such findings.

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    Bob1951Bob1951 Posts: 268 ✭✭

    @BLUEJAYWAY said:
    Interesting tidbit from a Google search that I did not know. Fingerprints can be lifted from paper currency. Wonder if this will be attempted with this stash to possibly establish a connection with someone.

    Maybe so but I don't think very many people were finger printed in 1951. Very low chance of finding a connection here.

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    messydeskmessydesk Posts: 19,704 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Should someone be unwise enough to try, are national bank notes technically even redeemable at face value?

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    messydeskmessydesk Posts: 19,704 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @OldEastside said:
    WOW.........Earl Scheib painting cars for 29.95 in 1951...........He was still charging the same in the late 70's

    Steve

    Looks like he could use some Kreml.

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    LanLordLanLord Posts: 11,681 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @TomB said:
    Very cool, but I would not have told a soul about the find.

    That's what I did when I found $23,000 in the walls during a home renovation! Kept quiet about it.

    Wait, what? oh doggonitall!

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    ashelandasheland Posts: 22,694 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Bob1951 said:
    Boy some people sure are stupid. I would kept it a total secret and would have sold a few notes at a time to dealers at shows for cash or trade on coins or bullion. Then just add the coins to my collection-NO one would have known. The person who put them there is likely deceased by now. I may have also just bought a few more notes so dealers would think that I have been collecting for years and then sell them all. There are many easy ways to hide such findings.

    Very good point. Some people apparently like giving 40% away. :(

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    BackroadJunkieBackroadJunkie Posts: 3,745 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @thebeav said:
    I want to get myself one of those "Earl Scheib" paint-jobs on my car at 29 bucks.....

    No up, no extras!

    I used to see those commercials all the time during reruns of Superman. Maybe Flash Gordon. There was even a shop close where to where I used to live, and I remember the infrared lights that used to bake the finish on the cars...

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    coindeucecoindeuce Posts: 13,472 ✭✭✭✭✭

    The stash was found in basement rafters, above a dropped ceiling. Where did the OP read that it was in a wall ?

    "Everything is on its way to somewhere. Everything." - George Malley, Phenomenon
    http://www.americanlegacycoins.com

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    BackroadJunkieBackroadJunkie Posts: 3,745 ✭✭✭✭✭

    "All bills were from 1928-1934"

    This came from bootlegging, doncha know. It was hidden because it was illicit money.

    Final worth was $23K, so maybe it was $8-10K in bills? Now, if I had found $100K in bills, I'd gladly show off (and pay taxes) on $10K of it, so when I sold off some of the other bills, I wouldn't attract any attention. Just point to the news story, and say it was from that stash! Just sayin'...

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    originalisbestoriginalisbest Posts: 5,915 ✭✭✭✭
    edited October 21, 2016 4:20PM

    Really cool story, and what collector wouldn't want to have this happen? Tho like barndog, I have my doubts. Seems a little too pat to be true. Regardless, if true, they would've done better to disperse quietly -- maybe selling off at shows, trading for gold coins at shows, what have you. But, that's coming from a collector; we all would have an interest and knowledge base in either keeping them, or exchanging for coins/selling at shows, etc. The average person finding such a windfall might not have clue 1 as to how to go about it.

    May it someday happen to me! ;)

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    jmbjmb Posts: 593 ✭✭✭

    @messydesk said:
    Should someone be unwise enough to try, are national bank notes technically even redeemable at face value?

    Yes, they are.

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    cladkingcladking Posts: 28,350 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @TomB said:
    Very cool, but I would not have told a soul about the find.

    Now days they'll be lucky if the cops don't confiscate it as drug money.

    Tempus fugit.
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    Coins101Coins101 Posts: 2,602 ✭✭✭

    The only thing I found remodeling the basement of my first house was a couple mummified mice and one 1947 silver quarter (between the staircase and fireplace).

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    morgansforevermorgansforever Posts: 8,428 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I wouldn't have said a peep, now they have a lawyer involved, thank goodness for that, smh.

    World coins FSHO Hundreds of successful BST transactions U.S. coins FSHO
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    WalkerfanWalkerfan Posts: 8,976 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @morgansforever said:
    I wouldn't have said a peep, now they have a lawyer involved, thank goodness for that, smh.

    Yes, he will take a larger portion than the government.

    “I may not believe in myself but I believe in what I’m doing” ~Jimmy Page~

    My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947)

    https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/

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    mannie graymannie gray Posts: 7,259 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I agree with most posters here. I would have brought them to a show, blown them out and turned the money.
    Really unwise to spread the news about it.
    I don't understand the upside to doing that.

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    rheddenrhedden Posts: 6,619 ✭✭✭✭✭

    The other risk in disclosing the find is that it seems likely the money was stashed long ago due to criminal activity. The finder could lose the whole lot if it gets connected to a bank robbery, money laundering, etc. After the government finds a reason to confiscate the entire $23k, the finder still has to pay his/her lawyer.

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