Sometime on Dec. 11 a stranger walked up to the Salvation Army bell ringer at the Smith’s in Columbia Falls and dropped a coin in the donation bucket. It’s something that happens hundreds of thousands of times every day across the country this time of year. But there was something different about this coin.
The mysterious donation was a Liberty Head double eagle gold coin worth more than $1,000.
“We were counting the money after the donation bucket was brought in and one of the coins wouldn’t go through the counting machine and then we realized it was a gold coin,” said Steve Svenson of the Salvation Army.
Although it’s not unheard of for a gold coin to be donated to the Salvation Army – similar stories have arisen this year in Michigan, Wisconsin and California – Svenson said it’s the first time he has ever seen one in his 32 years with the organization.
What’s even more unusual is that it has now happened twice this year in the Flathead Valley. A week after the first coin was discovered near Columbia Falls, a second was found in a donation bucket in Bigfork. The $50 gold piece was discovered on Dec. 19 in a bucket that was staffed by the local American Legion.
“In my experience, to get one gold coin in a season is really rare, but to get two is really off the chart,” Svenson said.
The piece from Bigfork was a part of the U.S. Mint’s American eagle gold line that was first produced in the 1980s. While the face value of the coin is $50, it is traded and sold based on the gold value, which can be hundreds or thousands of dollars.
The Liberty Head double eagle, the same type of coin found in Columbia Falls, was first produced in 1849. The gold coin was produced until 1907 and remained in circulation until the 1930s, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt recalled gold coins from public use to prevent hoarding. Many of the coins were melted into gold bricks and stored at Fort Knox. Collectors covet those that have survived.
Svenson said he took the piece to a local coin and jewelry store and sold it for $1,060, a hefty sum of money that will go toward the Salvation Army’s mission of helping the needy.
“Every once in a while we get some big checks in the bucket, but this one coin has surpassed everything we’ve gotten this year,” he said. “We want to thank the (person who made this donation) for their generosity.”