Buried treasure
An Austrian plumber recently followed his curiosity during a property renovation and uncovered a hidden chest filled with gold coins that date to before WWII and are worth an estimated $2.4 million. Read the story here.
This got us wondering. Have you ever come across any buried treasure or unexpected finds while on the job? We'd love to hear your stories.
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How about this? (although the hidden treasure inside here is only trash bins)
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Here's one of my favorite hidden surprises from a big ol pre-war building. This long lost bathroom used to be the fireman's bathroom from back in the day when they had coal boilers and firemen tending it 24/7. It's a little beat up nowadays, but those fireman had a really nice private bathroom with a marble walled shower and a window for fresh air via sidewalk shaft vent!
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Not me and not buried.
A 19 year old in Oregon walked into a Salvation Army type store (just happened recently) and looked through a pile of jackets. Another customer had an LA Lakers jacket in his hands but tossed it back in the pile so the young guy snapped it up.
he bought it for $3.00 + Tax=$3.07
Turns out it was Wilt Chamberland's warm up jacket from the 1972 playoffs
He had it auctioned for $86,000
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was there a fire or is that just coal dust? it looks like the hidden treasure there is asbestos.
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Early in my HVAC career I did service oil burners (badly, but made them work).
Cleaning out the chimney thru the floor level clean out door, the helper found what appeared to be a cash box. The ash and soot was about 2' deep in the opening.
The box was rusted shut and really heavy. I called the owners to come downstairs for the opening.
Now these 2 old brothers were not the original owners of the house.
The builders of the house in the 20's were part of the family that owned the local bank. The bank was one of many that closed in the 1929 crash……..and there were stories of missing money!
One of the 4 brothers involved actually went to prison for embezzlement. It was said that someone had to go so he took the fall as was the only unmarried brother.
I was thinking, what could weight this much as we broke the latch open.
The inside was full of soot which when dumped out revealed a black brick. Actually it was just a soft red brick. Determined to find the treasure I took a hammer and broke the brick into several pieces……and it was still just a red brick…..just a damn brick!
The two old brothers just went back up to their baseball game.
This was apparently the valuables/cash hiding place in the house. Why the brick inside? Perhaps to press down any papers put there for safe keeping.
Anyway the missing bank money was never found, as was the case of many losses of the 29 crash.
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Disappointment😎😎
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One thing I did come across was while drilling in a basement for wiring.
The bit hit something sitting on top of a beam and threw it out onto the floor.
It was a 1922 Liberty head silver dollar. It had fallen down a wall grill of an old gravity air heating system.
This had been my Grandmother's house that her spoiled son was now living in.
Grandma was gone and the son had squandered her small estate.
I figured this was the only thing that would be passed down to the next generation.
So it sits in my closet to pass on again. It is only if fair condition and has a scar where the bit hit it. So not really worth a lot.
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That's just decades of dust. It that bathroom hasn't been in use for many decades.
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The long sweep 1/16th bend? At the top of the picture. Try to find one of those today.
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Gutting a bathroom in an old three family house we found a .45 hand cuffed to the galvanized waste arm for the sink. Boss got the gun and the hand cuffs I got the story.
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We've come across rifles, pistols, and money while installing hvac systems in rarely accessed attics.
The best discovery was a bowling ball bag filled with gold & silver coins. It was in an abandoned fireplace above the damper; the bag was there for decades. The new homeowners had purchased the house from a widow whose husband died in a motorcycle accident.
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