A man who collected coins in a giant piggy bank for 70 years finally allowed it to be opened, and the internet came along for the ride.
Reddit user Crimsonkitsune333 shared a post to r/pics on September 28, showing the enormous jug filled almost to the brim with silver and bronze coins.
They wrote: “My grandpa saved his change in this glass jug for 70 years, and is finally letting me count it!”
The internet loves a good opened-piggybank story, and this was no different, as it racked up over 28,000 upvotes as users pleaded with them to share updates.
And crimsonkitsune333 didn’t disappoint, as just a day later they shared another photograph: the giant jar now empty, and the coins and notes spread out in a plastic container, ready to be counted and sorted.
Reddit u/Crimsonkitsune333
In the update, they wrote that the final weight of the coins alone was a whopping 152.5 pounds. To put this into context, the average weight of an adult woman in the U.S. is 170.8 pounds, or 199.8 pounds for an adult man, according to the CDC.
They explained in a comment they carefully wrapped the jar in duct tape to “contain the mess” in case it shattered.
They then “wrapped it in a moving blanket and loaded it on a hand truck. In the garage, we lay the bottle on its side, lifted the bottom with a block underneath, and tilted to slide the coins out.”
And if Reddit users were interested before, this time they went wild, with the post to r/pics rocketing up to 53,000 upvotes. Plenty urged them to keep an eye out for quarters from before 1965.
These days, quarters are coated with copper and nickel, with the inner core made from pure copper, according to the U.S. Mint. Before 1965, however, quarters were made of silver, meaning they are now worth much more than 25c.
Finally, on October 4, the Reddit user shared a final update: “The 70 year old coin jar has been sorted and counted.”
Revealing the final total was $2,052.76, photographs of the haul showed a multitude of coins, as well as other items that had found their way into the jar over the decades: paper clips, tickets, buttons, candy wrappers and even a fruit sticker.
Altogether, they had deposited 5,708 quarters, 3,909 dimes, 2,360 nickels, and 7,8733 pennies into a counting machine, and kept any vintage, unusual or foreign coins they found, which they added to the official total. It took them a week to sort the vintage or unusable coins by hand, before putting the rest into the machine to be counted.
Reddit u/Crimsonkitsune333
Reddit users were seriously impressed, with one writing on the final post, which scored 17,000 upvotes, “OP is awesome for this update. Very interesting stuff. I’m curious if you’ve found vintage coins.”
“Appreciate you keeping us updated,” another wrote, while one praised the updates and joked: “This jar of coins has kept me up at night.”
In a comment, they revealed the oldest coin was a 1928 wheat penney while the newest is a 2023 dime, “so almost 100 years of coins.”
They found one silver quarter from 1951, and dozens of nickels from pre-1965, two silver dimes and one mercury dime.
Some of what Reddit user r/crimsonkitsune333 found in the glass jar, according to a comment:
“1 British pound coin, 1 British penny, 1 German 5 pfennig from 1950, 1 Brazilian 5 centavos, 1 Barbados 10 cent, 1 Spanish 10 centimos, 1 Belgium 5 francs coin, 1 Canadian twoonie, 1 Canadian 25 cent, 1 Canadian 10 cent, 2 Canadian 5 cent, and 12 Canadian pennies.
“1 Garden State Parkway token, 2 Sports Park USA tokens, 1 batting cage token, 5 nails, 3 pins, 2 paper clips, 1 piece of plastic, 1 metal bit, 1 safety pin, 1 piece of wire, 1 button snap, 3 buttons, 1 piece of decorative wood, 1 wood chip, two plastic clothing tags, 3 pieces of candy wrapper, 1 fruit sticker, 1 cloth scrap, 1 plastic zipper pull, 6 different washers, and various lint/thread/paper bits.
“The oldest coin is a 1928 wheat penny, the newest is a 2023 dime, so almost 100 years of coins. We also found 77 wheat pennies from 1928-1958: the vast majority from 1956, 54 nickels from 1940-1964, One silver quarter from 1951, two silver dimes from 1963 and 64, one mercury dime from 1942, 26 horribly disfigured pennies that the machine wouldn’t count, 1 horribly disfigured quarter that the machine wouldn’t count,1 silver dollar from 1979, and 33 Sacagawea golden dollar coins.”
While they don’t yet know how much the vintage coins are worth, Crimsonkitsune333 said in a comment that her grandfather, now 91, was “shocked” at the amount already gathered, as he “thought it would be less than $1,000.”
They added in another comment that her grandfather “wanted to know the total before he passed,” but joked he may also have just “wanted me to stop asking” if they could open the jar.
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