The Washington times., 1902-01-26
FORTUNE IN AN OLD CHEST.
Gold Coins In a Box Bought mt Auc-
tfOn for a Song.

From the false bottom of an old chest
which has been in his family for more
than thirty years. John Mcdonald. Of
Philadelphia recovered on Sunday AFTER
noon collection of 5e3 old English and
American gold coins. valued at upward of
So. 900. Who hid the treasure is a complete
mystery. A few of the gold pieces were
stamped by the first coin presses set 1p
in this country. but most OF them are
English guineas. bearing on one side the
medallion head OF George III and on the
reverse side the English coat Of arms.
McDonald's mother bought the chest
third of century ago in Philadelphia
secondhand store She paid only few
pennies for the plain lumber box. and had
II placed in the cellar of her home. where
it was used as potato bin until recently
It was four feet long by two wide and
three deep.
On Sunday MFR. Mcdonald went into the
cellar and cleared out a quantity OF odds
and ends which had accumulated in tho
course of several years. The old chest
seemed to be in the way. and still Mr.
Mcdonald thought 1t might be useful
some time and had decided not 10 destroy
II. He called his brother into the base
ment and asked his assistance in moving
it from one corner OF the cellar to an
other. why don't you chop the old
thing up and burn it," the brother asked.
"Oh. II might come In handy" said Nc
Donald NO. 1t won't; cut IL up" was
the repl-. We'll. III do it, aad he
started to woTa.
q! took up the az, and my brother went
back upstairs" Mcdonald said in telling
he. usn atad IT..
then went fer the bottom. which seemed
to be remarkably thick. After had spIin-
tered one OF the planks several coins
few out and rolled over the basement
floor. I stopped. picked them up. looked
at them carefully. saw that they were ap-
pareDtly old coins, and they appeared to
me to be gold. Then I got a better light.
and examined the bottom of the chest
carefully. I found that it had false
bottom. You may believe me that I went
to work with will then. and | was not
long in removing the inner bottom. I
took out thirty-two small bags of COIN
The bags were made OF Irish linen which
had once been very strong. but which had
decayed with time and fell to pieces in
my hands. Each bag contained from ten
to twerty coins, there being 563 IN all.
II called NV wife and brother and the
rest of the folks into the cellar. and We
gathered the coins up and took them up
stairs. We examined them. and my wife
thought they must certainly be soma
worthless ole medals. but felt sure tnat
they were gold. On Monday / had them
examined by three experts. and each one
pronounced them genuine old gold coins.
I sold thirty-two OF them for s312, and
have stored the rest in safety deposit
vault. Several men who are informed as
to the value of old coins have estimated
their value at NOT less than S5 QUO. I
think it's pretty nice Christmas present.
don't you?'
One of the English guineas bears the
date of 1874 and the other 1873. The White
Horse emblem of the ancient house OF
Hanover, is included in the coat-of-arms
on both coins, as is also the feur-de-lis
of France. The workmanship is but lit
tie inferior in most respects to the coin
age of today. The milling. however. is
rather crude. 1t is slightly irregular, and
the cerrations indent the Inscriptions
Philadelphia North American.