At Christmas time around here, there are reports of some gold coins being found in some Salvation Army kettles.
Maybe a random act of kindness?
30 years ago, when I was in high school, I got a job as a bagboy at a local grocery store. We had a terrible winter starting shortly after I got the job, and alot of customers would ask for grocery pickups.
So bagboys like me would push the cart outside the front door and wait for the customer to pull up, then we would load their groceries into their cars. We weren't allowed to take tips, in fact, there were signs in the store that said "Please no tipping, it is our pleasure to serve you".
But lots of these ladies would give me 25 cents or 50 cents after I put the groceries in their car. At first I tried to refuse the tips, but they always acted insulted, and it was awkward when I tried to stop them, so I eventually would just pocket the coins and hope my manager never saw me.
One snowy night, I got a pick up with just a couple bags in the cart. A lady pulled up in a light blue Nova and opened the rear passenger side door for me to place the bags on the seat. As I placed the last bag on her seat, she handed me a couple coins.
Heading back toward the store entrance, where it was well lit, I glanced at the coins. There was a dime, a nickel, and a dime size coin that looked a little different, but I didn't get a good look at it then. I thought is was some Canadian coin.
Later, when I was on break, I pulled my change out of my pocket, and took a better look at that coin. It was gold!
It was some Russian gold coin from the early 1900's. I still have it. I have no idea how it ended up being given to me as a tip. Maybe the lady gave it to me accidently and would have returned to the store later trying to track it down. But I sure wasn't going to say anything to my manager because I was afraid I'd get in trouble for taking tips.
The coin is in pretty good condition, which makes me think that the lady wouldn't have been carrying it around as a good luck piece or something. Gold is pretty soft and will wear quickly if carried in your pocket with change and keys and the like.
I've heard stories that in the early days, when there were a lot of gold coins being used as every day money, people would carry their gold coins in leather coin pouches, and after some time, would burn the pouches to recover the gold dust which would permeate the material after a time.
So I don't think the lady would have been carrying that coin all the time.
I guess I'll never know for sure how she ended up giving me that coin.
