Salvation Army Coin Donor

One of the things my husband and I look forward to every Christmas season is finding out what kind of rare coin a secret donor places in a Salvation Army red kettle. This past Christmas season the coin was placed in a red kettle in Berlin,Vermont. Here is an article about it:

Salvation Army gets $14K coin

December 7, 2006

By DAVID DELCORE Times Argus Staff

Salvation Army Capt. Louis Patrick displays a rare gold coin Tuesday that an anonymous donor dropped in a holiday donation bucket at the Berlin Mall.

BARRE — The Salvation Army's annual Christmas collection was off to a sluggish start until someone dropped a gold coin into one of its signature red kettles at the Berlin Mall over the weekend.

Not just any gold coin either.

The near century-old Indian Head coin was worth $2.50 when it was minted in 1908, according to Capt. Louis Patrick, who has since learned its value has increased at least 100 times and could be worth as much as $14,000.

"I was shocked," Patrick said of the surprise discovery. Needless to say, it has been a hot topic of conversation among his committed cadre of "kettlers" since he spotted the plastic-encased coin nestled in a pile of bills and loose change dumped from one of three kettles at the mall.

"I've heard of this happening in other places, but I've never actually seen it," he said, explaining that while it isn't unusual to come across a World War II-era silver penny or two during the Christmas season, gold coins are a rarity.

"It was an incredibly generous thing to do," Patrick said. "We are very appreciative."

According to Patrick, when he first saw the coin in the plastic case he thought it was an old dime. However, after inspecting the coin under a magnifying glass, conducting a quick Internet search and consulting the latest edition of "Coin World" — a magazine he borrowed from Art Healy, a local coin collector, who volunteers as one of his kettlers — Patrick realized the magnitude of the anonymous donation.

"It's worth anywhere from $250 to $14,000," he said, detailing plans to have the coin appraised.

Patrick, who has carefully inspected the coin that was deposited in a kettle at the JoAnn's Fabric entrance to the mall, said it was in near-mint condition.

"You can see no flaws in it," he said.

Once Patrick has established a value for the coin, he said he would move swiftly to sell it — hopefully before this year's kettle collections come to an end on Dec. 23 so that the money can be used to help fund the local Salvation Army's annual holiday programs.

"One hundred percent of the money will be used to benefit our programs," he said, ticking through a lengthy list that includes the Salvation Army's annual Christmas Castle, as well as the distribution of toys, food baskets and clothing in the run-up to the holidays.

Typically, the kettle collections net roughly $80,000 for the Salvation Army each year, but Patrick said this year's effort, which kicked off in mid-November, was lagging a bit.

"The need is there, but collections had been a little sluggish," he said, citing the recent run of unseasonably warm weather as a contributing factor.

"It's hard to get into the Christmas spirit when its 70 degrees and sunny out," he said. "Now that a few flakes of snow have fallen maybe we'll see more coins dropping into our kettles."

Not counting the gold coin, Patrick said the red kettle collection has raised roughly $34,000 so far. If the coin is as valuable as he thinks it might provide a big boost to the effort.

Although more than 300 gold coins have been anonymously deposited in the Salvation Army's red kettles since the first was discovered in a Chicago suburb in 1982, Patrick said Monday's discovery was a first in Vermont.

"This hasn't happened here before," he said, noting what was once a predominantly Chicago tradition has spread to about a dozen other states over the years with the most recent discovery being reported in Connecticut.

I found the article at this website:

http://rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061207/NEWS03/612070359/1004/NEWS03