This section is supposed to be about anything other than coins.
Well, it's about a coin, and I don't know where else to put it.
It's a true story with no end at present.
I hope someday it will have an end.
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The Mystery Coin
I don’t think this true story belongs in the pickel barrell section, or in a sections consisting of funny falsehoods.
It really happened and it continues to happen. Just coincidence? Probably so, but what would be the odds.
Thirty-nine years ago I was both a history teacher at Delta Middle School as well as the Sports Editor of the Delta County Independent. I developed a strong friendship with a man who worked for the newspaper, and also had a daughter in my class.
My friend had learned I was a numismatist, and so one day he stopped by my classroom to show me a coin – the mystery coin he called it. About the size of a U.S. half dollar, it weighed a little less. I did not recognize the language used on either side of the coin. There were some numbers and I honestly don’t think it was a badge or a medal. To me, it looked like Old English.
I told him I would keep the coin, and study up on it for a while and see what I could learn. It was toward the end of the school year, and I lost track of the coin.
The next year we were moved across the track to the old High School building. It had its share of “character†as well ghost stories. No one paid attention to the srories, but interestingly enough, no teacher worked in the building after dark.
My desk, and the students’ desks were all brand new. In face my drawers hadn’t even been opened, although there were small keys taped to the top of the desk. I opened up the “belly drawer†using the new key, and lying in the middle of the drawer was the Mystery Coin.
I remember thinking at the time that I would keep close track of the coin, since it wasn’t mine, and try and find some answers for my friend.
There was no one on the faculty who could help, and my search through books brought no new knowledge. Finally I just decided to return it the first chance I had. The chance never happened as the man and his family moved out of town.
The weeks turned to months, and the months to years as My Mystery Coin just sat in my desk drawer.
As the 19999-2000 school year ended, and I retired, I faced a tremendous task of taking all the stuff home which I had colleced.
I hired four students to help me, and it took four pick-up loads to move my “stuff†from my classroom (the largest classroom in Delta County) to my garage. My desk had been cleaned out, with one clean circle in the middle drawer where a coin had collected dust for years, and was now lost once again.
Just as I was about to lock my classroom door one final time, one of my helpers walked into a little side room and exclaimed “What’s this!!†Lying in the dark, against the wall, was the Mystery Coin.
The Mystery Coin came home with me, and and I had toughts of getting it posted on my computer so “experts’ could see it and make a guess as ti what it was. However the coin was misplaced and once again became a Mystery.
I have always given away more coins that I receive, and have made little kids happy lately giving away the last of the coins I think they might like.
I was working on that task yesterday with a large paper bag brimming full of foreign coins. I peered in, and there it was, found one more time, The Mystery Coin was sitting at the top of the pile.
I hollered for the grandkids to come in and I would show them something special. I scooped down in the bag and came up with probably 200 coins which I pressed against my chest. The kids got close and the great moment arrived. Unfortunately the coins spilled all over the floor, and under the bed and dressers. We started the task of picking them up and the process took nearly an hour.“ Each handful bringing the possibility of the Mystery Coin being found once and for all. It didn’t happen. The Mystery Coin is GONE once again, and maybe for good this time.
I assure you, if I get my fingers on it just one more time, It will get posted, and we’ll find if it’s a great discovery or just a waste of time. But perhaps I’ve had all the chances I’m gong to get, and the Mystery Coin will remain a Mystery forever.
