Baltimore Laundromat Hoard

West Jersey Detecting

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Oct 23, 2006
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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 h
oard, 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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Upvote 62

SultansOfSwing

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Dec 28, 2016
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thats the stuff of dreams right there. more pics as you get them please! if you want, google coin amounts per pound, and you can get an estimate of the amount of coins, and get a face value. then X that by wholesale price and youll get an approximate value. Morgans are x10 face value. halves are 10x. dimes 20x, quarters 8x, etc.

Sorry for your losses as well.
 

Daddio Digger

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Aug 1, 2019
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What an awesome collection of coins!
Seems he could read the future way back when!
Let us know what it tallies up to be in face value, and of course Real value?

Congrats!!
 

david680

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Jun 4, 2014
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thats the stuff of dreams right there. more pics as you get them please! if you want, google coin amounts per pound, and you can get an estimate of the amount of coins, and get a face value. then X that by wholesale price and youll get an approximate value. Morgans are x10 face value. halves are 10x. dimes 20x, quarters 8x, etc.

Sorry for your losses as well.

90% dimes, quarters and halves are currently melting at 12.29 per $1 face, there is no difference in melt value per $1 face by denomination. Silver dollars currently melt at $13.14 each. That's based on $16.97 silver price. However, its not very common to see Morgans at silver value, they generally are $3-4 (or more) over silver value and sell pretty readily at that price.

Interesting haul, look forward to more pics.
 

the_mad_cladder

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Awesome story. Insane hoard. When the dollar takes a dive the value of silver will rise.
 

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civilman1

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Get it out of Baltimore while you can!! Just kidding, Keep us posted Neil
 

DigToChina

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So if I’m reading this story right, the brother let them think the small number of coins was the extent of it while he sat on a couple hundred pound horde of coins taken from the father? I hope it was more above board than how I’m reading but unfortunately wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t.
 

cw0909

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Dec 24, 2006
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So if I’m reading this story right, the brother let them think the small number of coins was the extent of it while he sat on a couple hundred pound horde of coins taken from the father? I hope it was more above board than how I’m reading but unfortunately wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t.

WOW! is right

DIG, im reading it that way too, wonder how much, if any was sold off
maybe look around for receipts too
 

tahomatom

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Sep 3, 2013
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Got rid of the Minelab pointer,
Then got a Garrett. Much better pointer.
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Wow! That is a numismatic dream come true.
 

Oct 5, 2014
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Outstanding amount of coins, what a treasure trove! :occasion14:
 

smallfoot

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Holey Moley!
 

Digger RJ

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Wow!!! Wow!!! Extremely Wow!!! So Cool!!! That’s so Awesome!!!! Glad for You!!! So sorry for their passings, but Holy Cow that’s a Killer Treasure and so Many Stories!!! Very Neat!!!! Enjoy!!!!
 

PullTabPete

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Wow exactly. Sorry to hear about the passing, but I'd be thrilled to spend several days just going through each bag looking for key dates.

That must been awesome to go through the coins at the Laundromat and pull out the goodies for years.
 

PetesPockets55

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Apr 18, 2013
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Amazing story and there is no way you want to unload that for only scrap. You really can do better than that if you have some time to invest.
You have a coin collectors w*t dream there with all the potential for a hoard from the '50's.
Even though the "going rate" for Lincolns is 3-5 cents each, you have a very nice story to go with the coins which will bring a premium.

Definitely keep us posted and best of luck.
 

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