Finding money

With my mother-in-law moved to an assisted living place, Priscilla and I have the job of deciding what to keep from the house before next month’s estate sale. There are more photographs than we realized, some of people Priscilla never met and she has no idea who the people are. She recognizes family members three generations back, but not some of the others.

We ran across quite a few old coins, too. About two dozen were in a cigar box with Priscilla’s father’s things from World War II. The coins are mostly from Belgium and England. Paper money is from England, France, Belgium and Germany. Some small pieces of colored paper are occupation bills for Belgium and Germany, Series 1943 and Series 1944. There are two pieces of real German money – a 1937 One Rentenmark bill and an undated Two Reichsmark bill.

Also in the coins was a 1907 British penny. Searching prices on that brought a surprise. One site had a 1907 penny valued at ₤6,000, but all others were in the ₤25 range.

The same thing happened when I searched prices on 14 silver dollars. Prices ranged from $30 to $145, with the dollars from 1880-1922.

Except – One site said the 1921 dollar was worth $145 in poor condition and $6,000 in excellent condition. That site said the 1921 silver dollar was rare.

Other sites, however, said that dollar was among the most numerous minted and was worth around $35.

In another box I found more U.S. coins – nickels, dimes and quarters, as well as two Missouri tax receipt coins. The oldest of the coins is an 1842 dime. There is also an 1853 quarter. The quarter is listed at $200, while the dime is worth $25 or $50 or $250, depending on which site you want to believe.

Of course, I would like to believe the 1907 British penny is worth ₤6,000 and the 1921 silver dollar will bring $6,000. But I’m not betting the house on it.

Priscilla and I will sell the money, both coins and paper. We don’t see any sense in having a thing we cannot use. If we kept the money, what would we do with it, other than show it to relatives and visitors?

That would be bragging. “Oh, you should see the money we found. There is lots of it and it is quite valuable.”