AsSalvation Armyworkers in Oregon were add up up cash donations to their red collection kettle from Thanksgiving weekend last year , they cameacrossan strange gift : A 1927 duple eagle gilt coin , which carries a value of $ 2600 on the aggregator ’s market .
Even more curious : It ’s one of many rarefied and valuable coins being lodge at the Christian Polymonium caeruleum van-bruntiae organisation ’s contribution station across the country in what may be a focussed exertion to make the charity program ’s time of year a lot brighter .
AsSmithsonianreporter Sarah Kuta observe , rarified coins have been turning up in at least 10 different province , making a lone helper unlikely . A South African Krugerrand one - ounce amber coinworth thousandssurfaced in Napa Valley , California ; an Elizabeth II coin with a value of $ 2700 was donated in Washington County , Pennsylvania ; in Fargo , North Dakota , several amber coins worth $ 9800 were retrieved from various bucketful .
In some locations , the unequalled form of unselfishness has become a tradition : Krugerrand coin have beendonatedannually in Michigan ’s Macomb County since 2012 .
The Salvation Army may have to get these coins measure by expert , but sometimes their value is shared by the presenter themselves . In 2019 , a personapproacheda boiler in North Carolina with a heavy coin enwrap in a buck bill . It almost did n’t fit in the coin slot . after , the local Salvation Army office bring a headphone call apprise them that a uncommon 1915 Austrian 100 Corona gold coin had been donated . It was valued at the time at around $ 1500 .
While it ’s possible a internal web of collectors is conspiring to set up holiday sunniness , the donors are more likely aper inspired by press coverage . “ You ’d always hear those stories all over the country of people dropping in gilded coins , ” Matt Lerner of Frederick , Maryland , toldWHAG - television in 2011 . That class , Lerner donated five rare coin totaling $ 9000 .
It can also become a habit . The organisation recentlyprofiledan anonymous donor from Evanston , Illinois , who maintained a stash of gold coin for the express purpose of supporting the radical . When she conk out in 2024 , she left a gilded coin collection worth $ 40,000 to the organization .
The Salvation Army ’s red kettle drivebeganin San Francisco in 1891 , when Captain Joseph McFee emulated a standardized charity scheme he had seen in Liverpool , England . The kettle tally the drive ’s slogan : “ Keep the pot stewing , ” a reference to a need to feed the athirst . In 2019 , more than25,000 kettleswere in process around the U.S.
Rare coins are n’t the only anomaly . The Salvation Army report that jewellery , electronics , and even graphics have been slipped into the containers .
