Baltimore Laundromat Hoard

[West Jersey Detecting]

My sister in law's father owned laundromats and vending machines in Baltimore dating back to the 1950s. He pulled many coins out of circulation and used to brag about all the silver that he had, but nobody ever dreamed of what he was sitting on.

About 10 years ago my SIL's father passed away and and the story of how he obtained all these coins died with him. At the time of his death 125 Morgan and Peace Dollars and a bunch of other assorted silver coins were found in his Baltimore apartment. We were under the impression that was the entire hoard, and we were thrilled. Little did we know this was just the tip of the iceberg!

Unfortunately last month my sister in law's brother passed away suddenly. My brother has been assigned the task of cleaning out her late brother's apartment (also in Baltimore). Soon after he started he began texting me photos saying he came across more than 200 lbs of coins in sacks and bags! It appears that there are approximately 10,000 Wheat cents, loads of Indian Heads, hundreds (maybe thousands?) of Barber, Mercury, Standing Liberty coins, a few Franklin Halves and HUNDREDS OF MORGAN AND PEACE DOLLARS. So far he's found one gold 2.5 dollar coin. My brother is not a coin guy so I've been helping him ID the important dates and I'm sending him a Red Book for reference. I'll update as I find out what's in all the sacks and bags.

Click on the photos to see the coins in the full size photo! Enjoy!

 

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[Joe-Dirt]

HO-LEE-SHEEEE-IT!!!!!!!!! No wonder I can’t find an SLQ

 

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[xr7ator]

FAN HOARD TASTIC! If that 1889 Morgan has cc on the back, or the 1916 dime is a D, or that 42 merc is a 42 over 1......... FUN!

 

[Plumbata]

Wow awesome haul, very interesting thanks for sharing!

It brings to mind the Lebanese grandfather of a close friend who operated tons of laundromats in my hometown in the 50s-70s before moving up into real estate. He hoarded all the silver coins he could after '64 and made a fat stack in '79-'80 when the Hunt Brothers tried to corner the silver market, but kept plenty of coin hidden away in his big old house in the belief that it would surpass that price someday. In the late '90s some sort of eminent domain forced-sell situation occurred and he enlisted his sons and grandchildren to tear apart the house looking for silver stashed by himself and his children who were also avid silver hoarders. My friend found several socks hanging from wires inside walls full of mercury dimes, but the main prize they were looking for but unable to recover was about 2,500.00 face value in silver coin that gramps buried then sealed under a poured concrete floor in the basement. His memory wasn't great by then and he didn't recall where exactly the treasure was so they busted holes and poked around but couldn't find it before they had to make way for the builders, who wound up covering the basement hoard with a parking lot!

 

[West Jersey Detecting]

FAN HOARD TASTIC! If that 1889 Morgan has cc on the back, or the 1916 dime is a D, or that 42 merc is a 42 over 1......... FUN!

No, No, and no. I was all over it!

 

[West Jersey Detecting]

Wow awesome haul, very interesting thanks for sharing!

It brings to mind the Lebanese grandfather of a close friend who operated tons of laundromats in my hometown in the 50s-70s before moving up into real estate. He hoarded all the silver coins he could after '64 and made a fat stack in '79-'80 when the Hunt Brothers tried to corner the silver market, but kept plenty of coin hidden away in his big old house in the belief that it would surpass that price someday. In the late '90s some sort of eminent domain forced-sell situation occurred and he enlisted his sons and grandchildren to tear apart the house looking for silver stashed by himself and his children who were also avid silver hoarders. My friend found several socks hanging from wires inside walls full of mercury dimes, but the main prize they were looking for but unable to recover was about 2,500.00 face value in silver coin that gramps buried then sealed under a poured concrete floor in the basement. His memory wasn't great by then and he didn't recall where exactly the treasure was so they busted holes and poked around but couldn't find it before they had to make way for the builders, who wound up covering the basement hoard with a parking lot!

Now that's a shame!