Another 'gold' season for Salvation Army
Toolbox
By David Delcore Times Argus Staff - Published: December 6, 2007
BARRE – The Salvation Army's annual red kettle drive has once again struck gold in central Vermont.
For the second straight year an anonymous donor dropped a rare gold coin into one of the red kettles at the Berlin Mall, according to Capt. Louis Patrick of the Barre-based Salvation Army.
No one was more surprised than Patrick, who viewed last year's welcome deposit of a gold coin, which eventually sold for almost $3,000, as a unique occurrence.
"I was absolutely totally shocked," Patrick said of the Tuesday's unexpected discovery. "I considered it a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing."
Turns out he was wrong, and he's got another century-old Indian head gold coin to prove it.
The date on this year's coin, which was discovered in the red kettle outside the local Wal-Mart, is 1909, according to Patrick, who noted a nearly identical coin was found in a kettle just down the mall corridor in front of Jo-Ann's Fabrics last year. Although it was worth only $2.50 when it was made, that 1908 coin was sold to a local collector for $2,750 last Dec. 31.
"Here we go again," said Patrick, who is making arrangements to have the latest coin assessed at International Coins & Currency in Montpelier in anticipation of selling it and applying the proceeds to an annual kettle collection that nets in excess of $40,000.
Patrick said the coin is in mint condition.
"It's just as good as last years, if not better," he said.
According to Patrick, the coin's plastic packaging was identical to the one discovered a year ago.
"If it wasn't for the date you'd think it was the exact same coin," he said.
Although the coins may be different, after inspecting the packaging and the handwriting, Patrick said he is confident the came from the same generous collector.
"There's no doubt in my mind it's the same individual," he said, who suspects the coin may have been wrapped in a $100 bill that was found in the same kettle.
"It's a possibility," he said. "That was a lucky bucket."
The donations couldn't have come at a better, according to Patrick, who said Monday's snowstorm put a detectable dent in collections.
"Monday was a hard day for collecting and we were hoping we would do better on Tuesday and lo and behold there it was," he said. "It was something that just brightened our day."
The kettle drive, which started Nov. 12 and runs through Dec. 24, had netted about $17,000 before Tuesday's take was tallied.
"This (coin) is going to help," predicted Patrick, who said he now has answer for people who have been pestering him about whether he'd found a gold coin again this year.
"Yes," he said.
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