Treasure Hunting

This time it looks like an anonymous donor hit The Salvation Army of Great Houston. Earlier today a Canadian gold coin, valued at around $930, was dropped into a red kettle station outside of a Sam’s Club store.

It was wrapped inside of paper with a tiny note which was also wrapped into a dollar bill. The note only said :A child is born. Jesus!”

From Channel 6 KFDM news:

“”We’ve all been wondering if we were going to receive any gold coins this year. Donations have been slow and we understand that people aren’t able to give as much as they have in the past, but this donation really lifts our spirits and brings the true joy of the holiday season to our Christmas,” says Carr.

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, this year, The Salvation Army of Greater Houston has been aiming to reach some $2.5 million in donations to help fund its many year-round programs and services, which include disaster relief, emergency response, youth programs, senior programs, rehabilitation, financial assistance, counseling, housing and Christmas assistance. This task, however, has not been an easy one.

Red Kettle donations are down 16 percent; while mail campaign donations are registering decreases of 20 percent, in comparison to the same timeframe last year.

“Hopefully this donation will inspire others to give generously,” Carr concluded.’

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Wow… okay, first of all, this is one seriously old coin. Minted only 67 years into time as we know it, this coin is possibly the oldest thing we’ve reported on at TreasureHunting.com.

Second of all: This coin was found by sifting through dirt dug from the side of a mountain where a temple used to be. It’s an unauthorized project in Temple Mount, Jerusalem, begun in 1999, that has caused extensive an irreversible archaeological damage to the ancient layers of the mountain.

40,000 volunteers have participating in this giant sifting project and over 3,500 coins have been discovered in the dirt so far. But while many of them go back to the Persian era, this is the first coin found that was actually minted right there and is the oldest.

This ancient coin does have what looks like fire damage. Experts believe it was the same fire that destroyed the Second Temple in 70 A.D. The coin is worth a “half shekel,” the face is decorated with a branch of three pomegranates and ancient Hebrew letters reading “holy Jerusalem.” On the flip side, the letters say “half shekel.”

Go to Haaretz.com for a picture of this old coin. Reminds us of something made in playdough,… very old and odd looking. What do you think?

- Shaun

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