QUERY: PUZZLE BOOK PUZZLE - PROBE OR PRESERVE?

I enjoyed the most recent E-Sylum, as always. I have a quandry on my hands, and perhaps readers can provide some guidance. In my collecting of coin albums, I'm frequently drawn to peripheral items that are similar in format but have a different function. At least, their purpose is not numismatic. Such an item is the one seen in the attached photos.

I purchased this children's money saving puzzle book on eBay as the sole bidder. It is copyright dated 1941, and I paid just $20. I bought it for the book alone, which appeared to be in much nicer condition than the ones I've encountered before. In so doing, I completely overlooked the possibility that there were actually coins hidden beneath the puzzle pieces, though this was the book's original purpose. The seller made no mention of coins being included, and other bidders seemingly overlooked this prospect, too, as it certainly would have sold for more to someone seeking a treasure trove.

When I received the book I was immediately struck by how heavy it was for mere cardboard. As I removed it from the shipping mailer, I heard a rattling sound. Only then did it strike me that the book did indeed contain coins. Assuming that each puzzle piece covers the appropriate denomination of coin, the book contains 20 cents, 12 nickels, 13 dimes and one quarter dollar. I'm itching to know what coins lie underneath the paper squares, but it's likely that the only way to retrieve them is by tearing the squares from the cardboard pages, ruining the collector appeal of this attractive, vintage book.

The whole scenario sounds like just another come-on of the type so often devised by deceitful eBay sellers, but I'm still wrestling with the question of what to do. One clue was offered when a loose square dropped a nickel onto my desk. Instead of a coin that would have been circulating in the early 1940s, it turned out to be a 1957-D in AU condition. This suggests that its slot, the last one filled on the nickel page, was not plugged until the late 1950s. But it still leaves the prospect that the dimes and the quarter are silver, and all of the coins probably were circulating no later than 50+ years ago.

This is like finding out that a valuable portrait was painted using a sheet of $1000 notes as the canvas. What should I do?

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web