New Homeowners Find Forgotten Cache of Rare Coins

South Carolina couple returned them to previous owner
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 18, 2020 2:38 PM CST
Homeowners Find $25K Cache of Coins
The find was worth around $25,000.   (Getty Images/Tony Baggett)

New homeowners in South Carolina who found a forgotten cache of valuable coins decided to do the right thing instead of treating it as a buyers' bonus. James and Clarissa Munford, who are both retired from the Army and now own a catering business, made the find in a Columbia home they bought last month, CNN reports. James Munford says he found the coins, which looked "real old," in the back of a closet drawer and decided to text the previous owner. "I was just thinking, you know, they're not mine,' he says. "They're probably a family heirloom, so I'm gonna go ahead and make sure he gets them back."

The 46 gold Liberty $5 coins and 18 Morgan silver dollars he found, which date from the 1800s, are worth an estimated $25,000, according to the home's previous owner. He says the rest of his coin collection was in a safe and he had completely forgotten that he had stashed some in cases at the back of a sock drawer. He says he didn't know they were missing and would never have known if the Munfords had kept or sold them. "He just thanked me because he said there's not too many honest people out there," James Munford says. (More uplifting news stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X