The E-Sylum:  Volume 9, Number 50, December 10, 2006, Article 26

1804 DOLLAR DROPPED IN SALVATION ARMY KETTLE?

This is the time of year when media reports of interesting coins
dropped into Salvation Army donation kettles pop up.  Here's one
from the December 7th USA Today:

"Anonymous Santas have been dropping gold in Salvation Army kettles
across the country, delighting the bell ringers who come out every
Christmastime to take in spare change for the poor.

"Whoever does this is very clever about putting the money in the
kettle because we never know what he's doing," says Sue Hennings,
spokeswoman for the Waterloo, Iowa, chapter of the Salvation Army.
"It truly makes it Christmas."

A 1978 South African Krugerrand was found in a kettle in Iowa on
Saturday, and two gold American Eagles were discovered in Vermont
and Florida last week."

"The tradition appears to have started in the Midwest.

The first gold coin was donated in Crystal Lake, Ill., a Chicago
suburb in 1982, says Melissa Temme, spokeswoman for the Salvation
Army. Since then more than 300 gold coins have been donated.

"It was the actual thud that caught my attention," says Capt. David
Worthy, who heads the Salvation Army in Panama City, Fla. "As soon
as I picked it up I knew what it was."

The coin was a 1993 American Eagle with an estimated value of $600
to $900, he says."

"In Denver the Salvation Army was visited by the Grinch, however.

Someone dropped an 1804 silver dollar into the kettle, or so it was
thought, according to Rod Gillis, a numismatic educator at the
American Numismatist Association.

Gillis had to explain to the excited Salvation Army worker who called
him "that there is a very, very slim chance that that was real." He
said all 15 1804 silver dollars minted are accounted for. Had it been
real, it would've been worth up to $4 million."

To read the complete article, see: Full Story

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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