Bobbypins
Hero Member
- May 31, 2008
- 503
- 134
- 🏆 Honorable Mentions:
- 1
- Detector(s) used
- Whatever gets the job done
- Primary Interest:
- Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
Being in Okinawa, coin collection/bullion stacking is rather difficult. Most things I have to buy online and have shipped here, or pay higher prices from the only English-speaking coin dealer around. Not a big deal really, and I've accumulated a little pile of PM's that I'm happy about.
One of my resources that I use is a local website that GI's and Americans use to buy/sell normal items on. Most stuff is common household items (baby clothes, appliances, and misc stuff).... But on rare occasions, someone sells some silver coins or gold.
A few days ago, an ad came up on the website where someone was selling 21 Franklin half dollars. My thinking immediately turned to a broke family who needed a few bucks to make it to payday or something. The asking price was fair at $200, so I jumped on it as I like to add to my 90% pile when I can find something below melt.
After a few emails working out the details, I met the guy yesterday. He was a younger Airman in the USAF, and I expected as much... so far I was pretty much right.... but that was about to change.
He told me that he wasn't a coin collector at all.... In fact, his Father-in-law had given these coins to him. As it works out, his Father-in-law works here in Okinawa as a heavy equipment operator... running excavators and such for construction projects.
On one particular project, (as this guy tells me), he was moving dirt with the excavator, and scooped a big pile of dirt up... and as he got it out of the ground, these half dollars started falling off the bucket of dirt.
He immediately jumped off the equipment and found the few that fell and then found the rest of them rolled up nicely in what was described (to me) as a fine Japanese fabric.... probably a silken sash.
The Father-in-law gave them to him and said, "I can't do anything with them", and just gave them to his son-in-law.
Apparently the guy didn't have any need of them either, so after he posted them on the website, they finally got turned over to me.
I immediately started thinking about the story, and how odd that 21 half dollars rolled neatly in a sash... only amounted to $10.50. What an odd number of coins. The young GI quickly offered the solution.... as the cache ACTUALLY had a lone Walking Liberty half... that he kept from the listing. He thought it odd that this one older coin was in the lot, and decided to keep it thinking that it was worth more. He said the date was 1945, so I know that it's not really worth anything other than melt.
I'm in the process of trying to obtaining that last coin from this cache.... but so far, I haven't heard back from the guy.
Most of the coins were dated 1958, but had a nice mix of early 50s in there too. Whether or not the story is truthful, I found it interesting and wanted to share it with you. Post WW2 Okinawa was the perfect environment for saving money during the occupation period. And given the emphasis that the Japanese put on saving money, I actually believe this story to be true.
One of my resources that I use is a local website that GI's and Americans use to buy/sell normal items on. Most stuff is common household items (baby clothes, appliances, and misc stuff).... But on rare occasions, someone sells some silver coins or gold.
A few days ago, an ad came up on the website where someone was selling 21 Franklin half dollars. My thinking immediately turned to a broke family who needed a few bucks to make it to payday or something. The asking price was fair at $200, so I jumped on it as I like to add to my 90% pile when I can find something below melt.
After a few emails working out the details, I met the guy yesterday. He was a younger Airman in the USAF, and I expected as much... so far I was pretty much right.... but that was about to change.
He told me that he wasn't a coin collector at all.... In fact, his Father-in-law had given these coins to him. As it works out, his Father-in-law works here in Okinawa as a heavy equipment operator... running excavators and such for construction projects.
On one particular project, (as this guy tells me), he was moving dirt with the excavator, and scooped a big pile of dirt up... and as he got it out of the ground, these half dollars started falling off the bucket of dirt.
He immediately jumped off the equipment and found the few that fell and then found the rest of them rolled up nicely in what was described (to me) as a fine Japanese fabric.... probably a silken sash.
The Father-in-law gave them to him and said, "I can't do anything with them", and just gave them to his son-in-law.
Apparently the guy didn't have any need of them either, so after he posted them on the website, they finally got turned over to me.
I immediately started thinking about the story, and how odd that 21 half dollars rolled neatly in a sash... only amounted to $10.50. What an odd number of coins. The young GI quickly offered the solution.... as the cache ACTUALLY had a lone Walking Liberty half... that he kept from the listing. He thought it odd that this one older coin was in the lot, and decided to keep it thinking that it was worth more. He said the date was 1945, so I know that it's not really worth anything other than melt.
I'm in the process of trying to obtaining that last coin from this cache.... but so far, I haven't heard back from the guy.
Most of the coins were dated 1958, but had a nice mix of early 50s in there too. Whether or not the story is truthful, I found it interesting and wanted to share it with you. Post WW2 Okinawa was the perfect environment for saving money during the occupation period. And given the emphasis that the Japanese put on saving money, I actually believe this story to be true.
