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Golden kettle gift: $950 coin
By ELLIOTT COCHRAN
Christmas came early for a Montgomery County community service organization after a gold coin worth approximately $950 was placed in a donation kettle Saturday afternoon.
The St. Gaudens Gold coin, worth $20 the year it was minted in San Francisco in 1910, was donated by an unknown passerby who placed the coin in a signature red Salvation Army kettle outside the Wal-Mart on Texas 242.
Montgomery County Salvation Army officials initially were pleased by the discovery, shifting to a state of enthusiastic clamor after an area coin expert authenticated the gold by its weight.
Salvation Army Capt. David Robinson said after years of watching other organizations pluck rare and valuable coins from their donation collections, the organization knew its day would come.
“There have been a few rare or valuable coins found in kettles in the Houston area, and everyone thought Montgomery County could get one any time. When I dumped the coins in the counter tray and heard an extra thud, it was finally our turn,” he said. “We’re going to get some extra money for the coin, but we’re trying to figure out what we’re going to do with it.”
Robinson said the process of what to do with the coin is unknown, but he plans to either sell the coin to a local coin collector or hold a fundraiser to auction off the coin.
With crippling economic conditions gripping the wallets of county residents, the coin came as a timely surprise for the organization, Robinson said.
“Donations in our kettles were down this year, but we didn’t have enough people to work our good locations,” he said. “Last year, we had people at 23 kettle locations a day. But this year, it’s more like 17 or 18 locations daily.”
Robinson said the money from the coin will go toward everything, from funding prescription drug programs to bus tickets, and the money will stay in the community.
The St. Gaudens Gold coin, worth $20 the year it was minted in San Francisco in 1910, was donated by an unknown passerby who placed the coin in a signature red Salvation Army kettle outside the Wal-Mart on Texas 242.
Montgomery County Salvation Army officials initially were pleased by the discovery, shifting to a state of enthusiastic clamor after an area coin expert authenticated the gold by its weight.
Salvation Army Capt. David Robinson said after years of watching other organizations pluck rare and valuable coins from their donation collections, the organization knew its day would come.
“There have been a few rare or valuable coins found in kettles in the Houston area, and everyone thought Montgomery County could get one any time. When I dumped the coins in the counter tray and heard an extra thud, it was finally our turn,” he said. “We’re going to get some extra money for the coin, but we’re trying to figure out what we’re going to do with it.”
Robinson said the process of what to do with the coin is unknown, but he plans to either sell the coin to a local coin collector or hold a fundraiser to auction off the coin.
With crippling economic conditions gripping the wallets of county residents, the coin came as a timely surprise for the organization, Robinson said.
“Donations in our kettles were down this year, but we didn’t have enough people to work our good locations,” he said. “Last year, we had people at 23 kettle locations a day. But this year, it’s more like 17 or 18 locations daily.”
Robinson said the money from the coin will go toward everything, from funding prescription drug programs to bus tickets, and the money will stay in the community.
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