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Cash found or lost

DrPeteDrPete Posts: 1,497 ✭✭✭
What's the most money you've ever found or lost at one time (physically lost or found, not profit or loss on purchases).

I once found a $10 bill in the water of Lake Michigan while wading into the water.

Other times I have found small amounts of cash and change in parking lots and on the side of the road.
Dr. Pete
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    I lost $300 GW dollars mailed to PCGS.
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    tmot99tmot99 Posts: 5,238 ✭✭✭


    << <i>I lost $300 GW dollars mailed to PCGS. >>



    That doesn't count.

    I found a wallet with hundreds of dollars, I don't remember the total, but $600+ in it. As I remember, it was a Friday and likely a cashed payroll check. I found it in the parking lot of the McDonalds I worked at. I was just there for lunch, not to work. I turned it in to the boss. Someone eventually did come and claim it. Otherwise, the boss was going to let me keep it if it wasn't claimed.
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    StrikeOutXXXStrikeOutXXX Posts: 3,354 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I found a wallet with over $700 in it once doing foot patrol while in the Military. The Major who I got it returned to insisted on giving me a $100 reward, but the military kind of frowns on that, so politely turned him down. About 2 weeks later, a new set of BDUs with patches and all was sent to my squadron anonymously (I tried to thank him, but he insisted he didn't send them with a sheepish grin).

    I think the most I ever lost was about $20 when I was a kid and those silly Kangaroo shoes with the zipper pouch in the tongue were all the rage and one of them came undone on me.
    ------------------------------------------------------------

    "You Suck Award" - February, 2015

    Discoverer of 1919 Mercury Dime DDO - FS-101
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    dimplesdimples Posts: 1,286 ✭✭✭
    Back when public phones cost a dime. As a kid I always checked the return slot. Well one day the return slot wouldn't open

    ( the kind you pulled out towards you ) I yanked and yanked and bam change came flying out all over the place. total of

    $7.80 I never forget the woman's face on the next phone over as all this change shot out. Ha ha. I treated my friends to

    ice cream cones that day.

    Dan
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    jhusmanjhusman Posts: 1,082
    I found a hundred dollar bill when I was riding my bike home from school in 5th or 6th grade. It was just blowing down the middle of the street. I don't remember what I spent it on, but I do remember finding it.
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    TexastTexast Posts: 1,899 ✭✭✭✭
    I found a hundred dollar bill in a mall parking lot in 1987, and to top it off it was a gold certificate, flipped it the same day for $225.00. Too bad ebay wasn't around then...image
    On BS&T Now: Nothing.
    Fighting the Fight for 11 Years with the big "C" - Never Ever Give Up!
    Member PCGS Open Forum board 2002 - 2006 (closed end of 2006) Current board since 2006 Successful trades with many members, over the past two decades, never a bad deal.
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    I found a wallet that contained approximately 650.00 in 1970 that belonged to a elderly retired woman, I returned it she gave me a 5 dollar tip and I got my picture in our town paper for doing this.
    Retired U.S. Army Paratrooper 1977- 1992 Served Proudly. 100% DAV
    All The Way - And Then Some
    I collect Modern Commemoratives
    and anything Franklin.
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    When I was 30, I returned to my parents house and helped my dad do a brake job, I went downstairs and put on an old pair full mechanic overalls I had used in my youth 10 years earlier to work on my '70 chevelle.

    half way through the brake job, I put a wrench in my pocket and pulled it back out again when Iwas done, but noticed some paper in the pocket. I pulled out 2 $100.00's that I had left there ~10 years earlier when I was working on my clutch. I remember loosing the money back then, and not knowing how.

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    IrishMikeIrishMike Posts: 7,737 ✭✭✭
    We were doing some remodeling in the bank and when we pulled the night deposit vault out there was an envelope with $1100 cash and a payroll check. It had been stuck between the wall and vault for 9 years. I was able to track down the gal who had made the deposit. Instead of being thankful she reamed me and the bank out. I politely explained to her that wasn't my fault, I'd only been there for 5 years. image

    She had been reimbursed by her employer for the payroll check and I cut her a cashier's check for her cash. She was even ticked off that we didn't give her the original cash back (it was in pretty bad shape) and we probably should have with her attitude. image
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    Several years ago I found a $20 bill in the grocery store parking lot--which I kept. Two weeks ago I found an entire purse in my store's parking lot--lady probably put it on the ground by her car while she took her child out of the back seat--turned it into the store office--couldn't just leave it sitting on the ground by her car--I have no idea what was in it.
    Curmudgeon in waiting!
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    flaminioflaminio Posts: 5,664 ✭✭✭
    I've found a $20 bill before. In coins, I recently pulled over $7 in change from a CoinStar reject slot.
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    IrishMikeIrishMike Posts: 7,737 ✭✭✭


    << <i>I've found a $20 bill before. In coins, I recently pulled over $7 in change from a CoinStar reject slot. >>



    Yo Bob how's the payphone searching working out? image
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    CladiatorCladiator Posts: 18,345 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Found a $100 bill when I was a little kid.
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    I once found a pocket bocket book with $60 cash, credit cards , check book etc... A woman placed it on top of her car while loading the grocerys and forgot. About two blocks later down it went. Used the address on the checks to make the return. And yes I accepted a $20 reward. I was younger and work in construction was slow.

    On the flip side lost my wallet in the back of a cab from the airport complete with $100 and my military ID etc.... I must have dropped it after I paid him. Anyway he returned it compleatly intact before I knew it was gone And I threw him a $20.
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    rec78rec78 Posts: 5,933 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I bought an old penny scale (the kind that you stand on and put a penny in to get your weight and fortune). The owned did not have the key so i had to drill the lock. There was over $38.00 in dimes and cents in it. He said that i could just keep whatever change was in it - he probably did not know how many dimes were in it. (i only paid $100 for it) Dimes work in these old scales as well as cents. None of the dimes were silver.
    image
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    saintgurusaintguru Posts: 7,728 ✭✭✭
    OK Peter, you asked....image

    I was in West Palm Beach back around 1983 and I was banging some chick on the beach that I met at The Breakers....and my money clip with $1100 fell out of my pocket.

    Hell...I coulda had 4 pro's at once for that much...image

    How's this for an on-the-money on-topic post?image
    image
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    jmj3esqjmj3esq Posts: 5,421
    I have never lost any cash except the time I had my wallet snagged from my car while at a gas station. I only lost $40. Someone found my wallet later (without cash) and returned it to me.

    I have found $200 cash on 2 occasions. Once on the floor of a casino and one once the floor of a JC Penny store.
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    This probably doe'snt count but here goes,
    Years ago, I was about 16 or 17 sombody stole my wallet. It only had about $10.00 in it but it had My tickets to the Johnny Winter Concert which we were going to see that next day! My brain went into gear so i bought another ticket, went to the original seats that were stolen and sure enough, there was the theif! The police were called, He was taken out and arrested! I got to enjoy the concert in front row seats with My friend by using the original tickets.. The management was very understanding!
    imageCollector Of All U.S. Gold Coinage!
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    saintgurusaintguru Posts: 7,728 ✭✭✭


    << <i>This probably doe'snt count but here goes,
    Years ago, I was about 16 or 17 sombody stole my wallet. It only had about $10.00 in it but it had My tickets to the Johnny Winter Concert which we were going to see that next day! My brain went into gear so i bought another ticket, went to the original seats that were stolen and sure enough, there was the theif! The police were called, He was taken out and arrested! I got to enjoy the concert in front row seats with My friend by using the original tickets.. The management was very understanding! >>




    Johnny ROCKED!! I share your sentiments! The best white bluesman ever. Forget about SRV!
    image
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    WeissWeiss Posts: 9,942 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I used to find money pretty frequently when I was a kid. Walked around everywhere and was always scanning the ground. Lots of $5 bills, a couple of wallets and purses. Nothing huge but pretty regular.

    I mentioned this before, but if you haven't checked with your state's comptroller or treasurer's website, DO IT! They almost all have simple search engines where you can input your name (remember variations, family too!) and find all sorts of lost and forgotten money--security deposits, closed checking accounts, forgotten dividends, all sorts of strange things.

    I never thought I'd find any, but I checked and lo and behold there was $111 waiting for me for commission on an insurance policy I'd sold 10 years ago. Used it to buy this:

    image
    We are like children who look at print and see a serpent in the last letter but one, and a sword in the last.
    --Severian the Lame
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    shirohniichanshirohniichan Posts: 4,992 ✭✭✭


    << <i>We were doing some remodeling in the bank and when we pulled the night deposit vault out there was an envelope with $1100 cash and a payroll check. It had been stuck between the wall and vault for 9 years. I was able to track down the gal who had made the deposit. Instead of being thankful she reamed me and the bank out. I politely explained to her that wasn't my fault, I'd only been there for 5 years. image

    She had been reimbursed by her employer for the payroll check and I cut her a cashier's check for her cash. She was even ticked off that we didn't give her the original cash back (it was in pretty bad shape) and we probably should have with her attitude. image >>



    She had a funny way of showing gratitude.
    image
    Obscurum per obscurius
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    flaminioflaminio Posts: 5,664 ✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>I've found a $20 bill before. In coins, I recently pulled over $7 in change from a CoinStar reject slot. >>

    Yo Bob how's the payphone searching working out? image >>

    I prefer to think of it as "supplemental income" image.
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    One time a while back I was shopping at JC Penny and managed to loose $200. Some loser must have kept it...

    (j/k image )

    I did however have $150 stolen out of my wallet while I was playing hockey - funny thing is that they left me a $20 bill, I guess in case I needed gas money. Must have been the one thief out there with a conscience.

    Most I've ever found at one time is $7 at a Payless shoe store - hooray.
    First get the knowledge, then the coins.

    imageimage
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    OKbustchaserOKbustchaser Posts: 5,570 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I lost my wallet w/ $100.00 in $20.00 bills in it one day. A young teenager found it and was nice enough to return it. When I told him that I didn't have anything smaller than a 20 to give him as a reward he told me to look inside where I found 4 twenties, a ten and 10 one dollar bills!image
    Just because I'm old doesn't mean I don't love to look at a pretty bust.
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    OuthaulOuthaul Posts: 7,440 ✭✭✭✭✭
    $7,500.00 in a bank envelope outside my bank. Turned it in to the bank. They were able to locate the owner by looking through the morning transactions.
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    lkrarecoinslkrarecoins Posts: 2,137 ✭✭✭
    I found a $50 bill at the bottom of the Delaware River (circa 1987) while canoing with friends.

    I bought steak dinners for everyone!!!!!
    In Loving Memory of my Dad......My best friend, My inspiration, and My Coin Collecting Partner

    "La Vostra Nonna Ha Faccia Del Fungo"
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    ColonialCoinUnionColonialCoinUnion Posts: 10,087 ✭✭✭
    In about 1985 I went into a mens' room at O'hare airport and found a very fancy alligator day-planner / wallet combo flled with credit cards and $800 and something in cash. I figure the planner alone was worth a grand back then.

    I found the guy's name and address in it, along with an entry showing that he had taken a flight to Paris about an hour earlier.

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    theumptheump Posts: 634 ✭✭
    When I was at school in Ithaca Ny, I walked up to an ATM machine and right in the withdrawal bin were nine $20's. I thought I had saw someone walk away from the machine so I ran up to them and asked if they had just used the ATM. When they replied no, I knew I could keep that money guilt free as there was no one else around who could have just used the machine.
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    Wolf359Wolf359 Posts: 7,666 ✭✭✭


    << <i>In about 1985 I went into a mens' room at O'hare airport and found a very fancy alligator day-planner / wallet combo flled with credit cards and $800 and something in cash. I figure the planner alone was worth a grand back then.

    I found the guy's name and address in it, along with an entry showing that he had taken a flight to Paris about an hour earlier. >>



    And...?
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    tmot99tmot99 Posts: 5,238 ✭✭✭


    << <i>OK Peter, you asked....image

    I was in West Palm Beach back around 1983 and I was banging some chick on the beach that I met at The Breakers....and my money clip with $1100 fell out of my pocket.

    Hell...I coulda had 4 pro's at once for that much...image

    How's this for an on-the-money on-topic post?image >>



    Didn't you get married in '82? imageimage
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    mgoodm3mgoodm3 Posts: 17,497 ✭✭✭
    I was picking my wife up at work in downtown Portland and somehow my wallet managed to fall out of the car. I didn't realize it until I got home. I drove back downtown and went to the spot that I picked her up and it was still in the gutter there. I found a $10 once.
    coinimaging.com/my photography articles Check out the new macro lens testing section
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    saintgurusaintguru Posts: 7,728 ✭✭✭
    1994, Pal!image

    I held out until I was 39...image
    image
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    << <i>

    << <i>In about 1985 I went into a mens' room at O'hare airport and found a very fancy alligator day-planner / wallet combo flled with credit cards and $800 and something in cash. I figure the planner alone was worth a grand back then.

    I found the guy's name and address in it, along with an entry showing that he had taken a flight to Paris about an hour earlier. >>



    And...? >>




    and he kept it because no one else was around, wait wrong story..

    laughing my A** off over the kid coming back with the change for a tip.... that is priceless....
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    ElcontadorElcontador Posts: 7,740 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Had my wallet picked on a bus in Belém, Brasil. Got the wallet back less the equivalent of US $20 which was stolen.

    Found a $20 bill warming down from a Wednesday night fun run. Treated everyone to beer with it.

    The most interesting money find was when some friends took me to the Casa Alvorada (the residence of the Brasilian President) in Brasilia. I get out of the car, and right at my feet, was a red 10 Real note (worth about $4.50 U.S).

    A little OT, but in Spain, in 1973, I got a 50 peseta note in change dated 1928 with a picture of the painter Velazquez on it. I have no idea if it's worth anything, but I still have it.
    "Vou invadir o Nordeste,
    "Seu cabra da peste,
    "Sou Mangueira......."
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    this really doesn't count but last week the family ordered carryout from Applebees (big mistake... it was horrible) But anyway they come out to your car while you wait. I gave the girl a credit card and off she went. She came back a min. later with one of those leather things with the bill in it as if you were eating in. She tells me that my food will be ready in a min. and leaves. I open the leather thing and it is FULL of cash. She picked up the wrong one to give to me. NEEDLESS to say I was honest.

    When I was a kid in 1970 I found $91.22 in a small change purse in the woods. I kept it and lived like a king for a few weeks.
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    I found $2683.00 in cash at a bank drop. I returned it the next day and they found out who it belonged to. No reward. image

    My youngest daughter found a $20 bill under the table we were eating at in a restaurant. We were also on vacation in Florida and we had to park at one of the community lots to walk on the beach.

    You have to pay to park there so I was at the machine to get my ticket and nobody was around. The lot was almost empty and I was trying to figure out how much money to insert into the machine and my youngest was right beside me and she said, look daddy, a one dollar bill.

    Turns out it was a $100 bill. I looked around and there was nobody around. That was about 4 years ago and she still has it to this day.
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    saintgurusaintguru Posts: 7,728 ✭✭✭
    I'm gonna call her on her cellphone tonight....image
    image
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    << <i>I'm gonna call her on her cellphone tonight....image >>



    OK but she goes to bed around 8:00. She is ten years old...Chester.

    image
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    saintgurusaintguru Posts: 7,728 ✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>I'm gonna call her on her cellphone tonight....image >>



    OK but she goes to bed around 8:00. She is ten years old.

    image >>



    Oh dear.....I'll call the troublemaker instead! image

    8:00?? Geez, man....my 10 yr-old goes to bed at 9:00....
    image
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    << <i>

    << <i>

    << <i>I'm gonna call her on her cellphone tonight....image >>



    OK but she goes to bed around 8:00. She is ten years old.

    image >>



    Oh dear.....I'll call the troublemaker instead! image

    8:00?? Geez, man....my 10 yr-old goes to bed at 9:00.... >>



    lol.....9:00! I hope she doesn't read this and get any ideas. image
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    GooberGoober Posts: 980 ✭✭✭
    Drunks were my favorite as a kid, here's a few different places I loved as a kid.

    1. My parents swamped bar at a few of the local watering holes. Nobody to watch us kids so mom and dad packed us kids up at two in the morning and off we went. We would scour the floor for bar drops. Any given weekend we'd find $10+. A few great weekends over the course of the next few years we found some $50's and a $100.

    2. My best friend's father raced at the local stock car speedway. They had two sections of seating, the family section, and the alchohol allowed section. We'd spend our time under the alchohol allowed section picking up dropped change and cash.

    3. During Victoria's Birthday, a national holiday in Canada, Canadians would flood our area for vacation. Back then it was a huge celebration here locally as well (I live in northwest Montana). We had a full week of celebration called "Canadian Days". After the Canadians retreated back across the border we would ride our bikes over to the local campgrounds and scour the places for loot. You could find it all. Loose money, jewelry, and sacks of beer cans that we'd run to the recycling center were the optimal pick ups, but there were tents, toilets, appliances, gosh you name it, and we found it.

    Prost!

    Why step over the dollar to get to the cent? Because it's a 55DDO.
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    << <i>One time a while back I was shopping at JC Penny and managed to loose $200. Some loser must have kept it...

    (j/k image )

    I did however have $150 stolen out of my wallet while I was playing hockey - funny thing is that they left me a $20 bill, I guess in case I needed gas money. Must have been the one thief out there with a conscience.

    Most I've ever found at one time is $7 at a Payless shoe store - hooray. >>



    I wasn't the only one to lose money by playing hockey. I had $40 taken out of my wallet, but the thief left a $1 bill. I didn't find out until the next day when I had to buy Burger King with a credit card.
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    braddickbraddick Posts: 25,122 ✭✭✭✭✭
    You're going to love this story:

    I was on duty, working in the city of Solana Beach, "C" shift (1800- 0600 hours). This is back in 1998.
    I was driving southbound on Stevens (a pretty busy road between Loma Santa Fe and Jimmy Durante Blvd) to a radio call in Del Mar. It was about 3:00AM, give or take.

    About half way down the road (runs about two miles) there was what appeared to be a small black package in the middle of the street. I kind of wondered what it was when I drove over it, but quickly dismissed it in my mind as being no big deal.
    I finished with the call in about 30 minutes and while driving back the same way I'd come, but heading north this time, again came upon the "package" in the roadway. I stopped and reversed my unit back to the package and picked it up.

    I opened it to discover $5,500.00 in cash along with an Hawaiian driver's license.
    It took awhile to find the owner as there was no local information- but once I did, returned the wallet along with its contents to him. I learned the guy had flown from Hawaii to purchase I car in San Diego.
    He had somehow placed his wallet on top of his rental car at the AM/PM (kind of like a Seven/Eleven type 24 hour mini-mart) and forgot he had done so when he drove off. It took about half a mile for the wallet to work its way off the roof of his vehicle, but sure enough, it did.

    He about wrote the loss off as the stupidiest thing he's ever done when I called him with the good news a few hours later.

    The mystery is how that wallet had sat in the roadway for at least 30 minutes (from the time I first spotted it to my return) and no one else had driven by, seen it, and picked it up!
    I know it was three in the morning, but there had to be at least a dozen cars, even at that early hour, that would have driven that road, easily.
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    DrPeteDrPete Posts: 1,497 ✭✭✭
    Another find, about 20 years ago.

    I had just gone lap swimming (swam about 2 miles or so) and was getting ready to leave the YMCA. On the ground next to my car was a wad of bills, about $47 or so. I turned it in to the desk and they said I could keep it if not claimed in a week. When I checked back, someone had claimed the money, but left me 5 $1's. I still have the money in a box, the money wrapped up with a scribbled note of thanks. The handwriting was very wobbly, likely an elderly person with Parkinson's.

    I still swim regularly, but haven't had any other big finds in quite a while.
    Dr. Pete
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    elwoodelwood Posts: 2,414




    << <i>I was in West Palm Beach back around 1983 and I was banging some chick on the beach that I met at The Breakers.... >>



    Your last name isn't Kennedy is it?



    I did the same thing but it was Jupiter Island (north of PB) in the 79 or 80???image

    Please visit my website prehistoricamerica.com www.visitiowa.org/pinecreekcabins
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    CoinRaritiesOnlineCoinRaritiesOnline Posts: 3,689 ✭✭✭✭
    I lost my beautiful alligator wallet (a gift from my dying Grandmother) with maybe $1000+ in it at an airport in Chicago in the mid 1980's. I was on my way to Paris. The guy who found it contacted me and wanted to "ransom" it. I told him he could sh*ve it. If I ever find out who that guy was....
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    ColonialCoinUnionColonialCoinUnion Posts: 10,087 ✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>In about 1985 I went into a mens' room at O'hare airport and found a very fancy alligator day-planner / wallet combo flled with credit cards and $800 and something in cash. I figure the planner alone was worth a grand back then.

    I found the guy's name and address in it, along with an entry showing that he had taken a flight to Paris about an hour earlier. >>



    And...? >>



    I stuck it in my bag and caught a flight to Oklahoma City and hour later to meet my girlfriend.

    When I got there we boxed it up and mailed it back to the guy with no return address and no contact details for us.

    I presume he got it, and I bet he was surprised.

    In retrospect, we should have called his office or left a message, since he probably cancelled all his credit cards in the meantime. And I bet his trip to Paris sucked.
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    ColonialCoinUnionColonialCoinUnion Posts: 10,087 ✭✭✭


    << <i>I lost my beautiful alligator wallet (a gift from my dying Grandmother) with maybe $1000+ in it at an airport in Chicago in the mid 1980's. I was on my way to Paris. The guy who found it contacted me and wanted to "ransom" it. I told him he could sh*ve it. If I ever find out who that guy was.... >>



    If I had seen this response sooner, I'd have written a more creative answer.
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    DrPeteDrPete Posts: 1,497 ✭✭✭
    I must admit, this has been a fun thread so far and so many honest people and so many with a great sense of humor...
    Dr. Pete
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    FinallyHereFinallyHere Posts: 821 ✭✭✭
    Dave meet John....John meet Dave image
    Mike Printz
    Harlan J. Berk, Ltd.
    https://hjbltd.com/#!/department/us-coins

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