Purchased a new property "Tons of Coins"

[Oddjob]

Whilst in Italy this year, my wife and I bid on a federally seized property in Germany. We normally grab about 10-15 new properties a year so it was nothing new.

This one is just a normal house built 1820 sitting on three acres.

This past week I began chucking whom ever belongings in one of those massive contraction dumping containers. My nine year had asked to come along of course and wanted to hunt the yard.

The yard is just littered with small storage shacks full of all kinds of crap.

The boy hunted most the day Monday and found just odd bits but the following day first off he started running in and out of the house with questions about coins he had fist full of. After a while of chucking the previous hoarders stuff in the dump I just asked told him to bring everything in at once and then we could look it over.

He tells me it is too heavy and he can not. This was a shocker because I swear that kid try to stunt his growth every chance he gets.

We go out side and he has ammo cans full of coins and paper.

But not one German coin thus far. I only ran some water over a few of them so far though. Right now we have 47 5.56 NATO cans of coins. The cans must weigh around 30 pounds each.

Also got a cool looking little can.

Never been all that big on money that did not spend so we always just chucked them in a chest we have if they could not spend.

There is stuff from Canada, US, Italy, Mexico, Brazil and Lord knows where else.

My big question is there something I can just dump these cans in to clean them so we can identify them at least before we build a new chest for coins that do not spend.

One more thing, from the few I cleaned nothing is higher than 1999 and older than 1954.

The neighbours said no one live in there since 2001.

Normally new properties are easy to deal with and we dump everything. But this place still has tractors, machinery just all kinds of crap. In scrap metal alone it would pay for its self, even selling one of the tractors would pay for the house.

Trouble with Fed seized houses is that you only get an add, no picture and the reason it was taken.

Thanks for the help. I am looking for the fastest way possible to clean these all at once if that works. Not exactly a coin fan.

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[Hoppus]

That is awesome! Was all of the coin and paper currency in the container? Or was it also in the yard?

 

[Oddjob]

No the paper was in some old bags in ammo cans. All coins where in the ammo cans too and some where in bags. The little container was in another ammo all alone.

My son also found an ammo can with some rather odd US stamps in it. I have never seen anything like it before. I tried to upload a picture of it but it would not work.

It is the size of a post card, blank white paper. Bottom left corner is printed USPS 1980 and top right corner is 10 cent stamp with the writing under saying Landing of Rochambeau, 1780.

But it is not a stamp it is also printed on the card. Back side has nothing on it.

Who ever lived there before was a hoarder or collector. Inside the house are tons of riffles that all need to be documented by local authorities, also tons of china.

We have already contacted the Federal authorities inquiring as to what happened to the owners. Would be nice to have them take it all away.

We have had a few houses in the past purchased at the same kind of police auction where the previous owners contacted us asking if they could have their things. Legally I own the stuff but it is always nice to have the real owners show up and take it away.

I will keep it posted on what else my son finds out there.

 

[maipenrai]

Why not just sell everything? Keep the coins, sell what you dont want. Kinda weird situation. How big are the cans? Why is it a problem, most would be excited to get something like this. So you have 1410 pounds of coins? Also you have tons of rifles? Why do you need to clean all the coins at once? You would need a cement mixer to do that! Not sure if you are complaining about this new found wealth or what. You seem to have a collection of detectors, what do you hunt for, if your not into coins?

 

[Oddjob]

Why not just sell everything? Keep the coins, sell what you dont want. Kinda weird situation. How big are the cans? Why is it a problem, most would be excited to get something like this. So you have 1410 pounds of coins? Also you have tons of rifles? Why do you need to clean all the coins at once? You would need a cement mixer to do that! Not sure if you are complaining about this new found wealth or what. You seem to have a collection of detectors, what do you hunt for, if your not into coins?

The cans are NATO 5.56 cans. They should be cleaned because my son would like to keep them.

Yes there are more than enough riffles there as well but they will be picked up by Zoll first thing monday morning.

Not exactly complaining I was asking how to clean that many at once, as I do not want the trash cluttering up things. Knowing the location of the owners would be nice. We would not have to be bothered by it.

But I have a cement mixer, so what is the rest of the method in cleaning them up?

I hunt for what ever I am asked to hunt for? I also hunt as a hobby.

 

[Catobra]

Drooling over here-what a great purchase. "just a normal house built 1820 sitting on three acres"-wow-I'd kill (well, not really) to be able to crawl all over that place and you say it like it was nothing : ) Sorry can't help you in how to clean tons of coins, but really cool of you to share. Please let us know what other goodies you come across! Would love to see pics of the property!

 

[arapahoscout]

I would like to see pics of the 47 cans "in situ" full of the coins and bags of currency. Please post when you have a moment.

 

[Oddjob]

Yeah sure thing, when I go back this coming week to keep chucking stuff I will take more pictures.

Will that help anyone in explaining a method on how to clean the coins?

It is odd that there are so many coin collectors out there and no one knows how to clean a coin, don't you think.

To me it is nothing more than a ton of trash when it is filthy, but if it was cleaned then my son would keep them.

I can take pictures of the riffles in the house as well. Would love to keep one or two of those but laws are laws.

 

[arapahoscout]

There are alot of people on here that know how to clean coins properly, just not thousands of them at a time without ruining them value wise. I would suggest a tumbler for bulk cleaning but that will ruin any value they may have, and a standard tumbler will only clean a handful at a time. If I were you, I would sell them all as a lot (left dirty) to a dealer or collector that has the ambition to care for them properly. Can't wait to see more pictures, maybe some pics of the tractors too!

 

[maipenrai]

Yeah, my idea of using a cement mixer, was more of a joke, since probably no one from this site has had the problem you have. We wouldnt even call it a problem! Since you dont know exactly what coins you have, you would probably end up destroying any collector value, by cleaning them in a tumbler. If your son only wants the cans, and not the coins, then I guess you will just have to dump the coins out, but we would really like to see a picture of all those coins.

 

[Charles Spurgeon]

If you have old coins, please, please do not clean them with any kind of cleaners!!!!!!!!!!!!! It would be best for you to take the next few years and document what you have, in case you have something rare....

I wonder, if you absolutely have to, could use a bucket of dish soap and water and see if you could lightly clean them....

Get some coin collecting books and send your son to work figuring out values....

 

[gus]

from the photo it looks like most of the coins are mexican "old" pesos. Fifteen or so years ago the Mexican goverment dropped a couple of decimal points off so where you once had 100 pesos you now only had 1. Doubt they are worth much, at least the ones in the photo. they are no longer used.

 

[stevemc]

You can take them to a bank and get exchange for them, all of them. It should be worth millions. Many thousands anyway. I see many that just the face value is worth a lot, if there are some older or silver, much more. You have a real gold mine here. You could take the worst or dirtiest, and use a rust cleaner or lime remover, and pour them in a bucket, and soak for 5 minutes or so, and pour the liquid off, rinse the coins, keep doing that. They dont look dirty to me.

 

[gus]

old mexican coins that were circulating before oh 1990 (not sure of the date they turned over) are likely only worth their metal content. There was a grace period to change over but that has passed so banks will no longer exchange them. A few years after the changeover various stores were buying these coins for their metal content to melt down. None had silver in them. Now if some of the coins are prior to 1950 then they might have some value other than scrap