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V14 2011 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 14, Number 6, February 6, 2011, Article 24

FAKE 1804 DOLLAR DROPPED IN SALVATION ARMY KETTLE

It's become quite a fad to drop gold coins in Salvation Army kettles, and newspaper accounts of their discovery are old hat. But here's something different - a fake rarity. -Editor

Salvation Army 1804 Dollar He tried not to get his hopes up, but Salvation Army Whittier Corps Maj. Charles Gillies couldn't help it.

You couldn't blame him for imagining what good deeds his nonprofit charity could do with a potentially valuable 1804 silver dollar coin. It was discovered among the thousands people plunked into the local Salvation Army's kettles over the Christmas holiday.

"We have a hillside behind our emergency shelter that could be expanded with a new retaining wall, along with new landscaping to fit the area," Gillies said Thursday inside the Long Beach Convention Center, where the Long Beach Coin, Stamp & Collectibles Expo was being held.

After taking the coin to an expert appraiser at the show, , Gillies was told - rather quickly - that his coin was in fact a fake.

Had it been real, it could have fetched anywhere from $4 million to $6 million, the experts said.

"I expected it would be," said Gillies, who was only slightly disappointed. "I mean, how weird that would have been - that an authentic coin worth millions of dollars would end up at the bottom of one of our kettles? It's what I was expecting.

"But I was still hoping," he quickly added, grinning.

So what would possess someone to do that? Were they planning to take a multimillion dollar tax deduction for their "donation"? This just wastes the time of people involved, with no benefit to the Salvation Army's mission. Was it done simply to generate publicity? -Editor

To read the complete article, see: 1804 coin found in Salvation Army kettle found to be a fake (www.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_17287221)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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