Renovator Finds Treasure!

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A story from today's paper:

Man finds treasure above ceiling boards

By JASON HALSTEAD, QMI Agency


WINNIPEG - Fred Murray was hoping for a renovation rebate on the old house he bought, he just didn't think it would come in the form of old coins, shinplasters and other currency from over 100 years ago.

Murray, who runs his own stucco business, bought an Elmwood bungalow last spring and was spurred to renovate by the federal government's Home Renovation Tax Credit.

It was when he ripped out ceiling panels in the 750-square-foot home's basement that he realized he'd be supplementing that funding with some older money.

In addition to Canadian currency -- ranging from regular and commemorative coins to paper money, including the 25-cent bills commonly known as shinplasters to $100-bills -- the collection also included foreign cash from Weimar Germany, 1920s China and the United States, stamps from numerous countries and clippings from Winnipeg newspapers.

"If it pays for the house, it's a bonus," said the 54-year-old.

While Murray said he knew nothing about collectible currency or stamps before his demolition find, he's now a little more up to speed. However, he's not interested enough to hold onto the collection and plans to ship it off this weekend to an Eastern Canada auction house.

He said he has no idea what he'll get for the collection but plans to put it right back into the renovations.

From older neighbours, Murray found out the house was built by a German immigrant named Albert Schmidt -- whose identification he also found in the rafters -- in the 1940s. He lived in the home until sometime in the 1970s.

It was apparently Schmidt who meticulously stashed the collection above ceiling boards between rafters in the basement, Murray said.

"He spent years and years putting this together. I get hold of it and I'm getting rid of it," Murray said.

Murray said coins were packed in cloth bags, pill bottles and tin cans while the bills and stamps were stored in paper envelopes.

Murray said the basement rec-room had been renovated at least three times previously, but in each case new panelling was tacked on over the existing ceiling, leaving the treasure undiscovered.

"That was good for me," he said.

Lucky him. Why can't this happen to us? 

I've done some renovating in the past couple of years.
Nothing found in my attic or the walls so far except substandard wiring and plumbing.
You won't know until you start tearing out your walls and see what you find? 

Every place I've ever lived in gets a thorough search. Moneywise, I've only found rolls of pennies that were stashed in the rafters as well as the coins that had fallen into the floor vents. But, in one house, I found a wooden crate in the attic that was full of old toys from the 40's and 50's. The neatest one was a rare German tin wind-up cop and motorcycle still in the original shipping box. I sold it at auction for $2500.00.

I would like to see what the guy in the article found!

does anyone know what auction house?

Have not been lucky enough to find anything like that, i have not lived in my house that long and have not looked inside the attic yet... who knows maybe i might find something, something more than just spiders and webs.

In 1983, when I was 9, we moved to a new house.  Hidden high on a shelf I found a pickle jar full of silver quarters from 1910-1968.  They were all well circulated common coins.  But a nice find nonetheless.

Later on I discovered that my parents and brother were raiding the jar when they needed change for parking meters or bus fare - that was infuriating!   

In 1983, when I was 9, we moved to a new house.  Hidden high on a shelf I found a pickle jar full of silver quarters from 1910-1968.  They were all well circulated common coins.  But a nice find nonetheless.

Later on I discovered that my parents and brother were raiding the jar when they needed change for parking meters or bus fare - that was infuriating!   

Did parking meters even accept those quarters?? I know that most coke machines and public phones will spit out the silver quarters as they dont seem to recognize them. Still a pretty good find nevertheless. Even well circulated, those quarters dated 1968 and before are all worth more than face value today thanks to their silver composition. Too bad you couldn't keep them.

I know that most coke machines and public phones will spit out the silver quarters as they dont seem to recognize them.

OK, I have to ask... how would you know?   

Is there something wrong with using public phones and buying things from vending machines?

Is there something wrong with using public phones and buying things from vending machines?

No.

These stories do occasionally happen. I was called by my credit union one day...about 5 years ago to look at some money that was discovered in a home that was being refinished on the inside. There was around 80,000 in cash that had fallen out of the ceiling. All the notes were 1954's. Because of the way they were stored...the entire lot was in varying stages of decay. The manager new I was a collector and had asked for my opinion on the validaty of the notes. The  person who found the money was extremely happy to hear that I stated they were quite legal. Too bad  there was so much decay....might have been worth something otherwise. As an addition to this....i gutted an old farm house and the only reward I found...in a wall , was a broken rake. Just doesn't seem right to me.