Better Than Al Capone's Vaults!

Above, first day of issue $2 bills. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The following reminded me of this:

From Wikipedia:

The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults is a two-hour live American television special that was broadcast in syndication on April 21, 1986, and hosted by Geraldo Rivera. It centered on the live opening of a walled-off underground room in the Lexington Hotel in Chicago once owned by noted crime lord Al Capone, which turned out to be empty except for debris. Thirty million viewers watched, making it the "highest rated syndicated special" in history.

Geraldo Rivera may have come out empty, but I sure didn't today.

For years, since my parents passed away, a strongbox has been stored in my former L.A. apartments and in my home in Jamestown, New Mexico.

The strongbox key has been missing, so I could not open it to see what was inside. I had no idea what was in it. But it was heavy. My late mother probably didn't know what was inside either.

Today, I took it down to a Gallup locksmith I know and had him open it.

Well, it turned out to be loaded with some junk. But, along with the junk (like ink pens), were pieces of jewelry, several watches, foreign coins and U.S. coins. 

Above, 16 Franklin half dollars, one walking liberty half dollar and 20 1964 JFK half dollars. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

It's the U.S. coins that got me excited. Inside were 16 Franklin silver half dollar coins, one walking liberty silver half dollar, 20 1964 JFK silver half dollars and a stack of first day of issue $2 bills from the Hawthorne (CA) post office. The JFK half dollars looked to be in AU (almost uncirculated grade) or pretty darn close to it. These are composed of 90% silver. There's other U.S. coins that were in the strongbox, but those aren't worth all that much, maybe face value at best. There were also about a half dozen World War II steel pennies.

Yes, this treasure trove is a lot better than what Geraldo Rivera came up with in 1986 with Al Capone's Vaults. 

Yes, I hit paydirt today!