Thursday, August 24
at 7:08 p.m.
From the Turtles Treasure Chest1
My grandmother passed away a few years ago, in Vancouver. But before moving there, she lived here, in Toronto. During one of our last visits in her apartment, she took me aside and placed a small, red, cellophane bag in my hand.
"This is for you." She said. "Some of them used to belong to my grandmother." The bag was filled with coins.
I remember thanking her, taking them home, and placing them in a box that use to store all such things; I never really took the time to look through all the coins carefully.
A couple of days ago, while looking online for a good way to clean pennies, I read something on a site that mentioned Brasso as a good all-round product to use for such things.2 This discovery, and the effectiveness of the Brasso, prompted my to go on a polishing spree of sorts. It was then that I remembered the bag my grandmother had given me.
From the cursory glance that I had taken when I received them, I knew that there were a couple of Indian Rupees from around the turn of the century. I sought those out - one dating from 1906, another from 1890 - and polished them first. And then, as I was looking through the rest of the coins with my sister, we found it - a quarter rupee from 1840.3
I'm not sure how much it's worth, or for that matter, if it is worth anything. But regardless, it's a wonderful feeling to be able to hold a piece of history in your hand.
I'll upload some pictures of the coins to my Flickr account in a bit. I wanted to upload some pictures, but I haven't managed to take any clear ones as of yet.
My grandmother passed away a few years ago, in Vancouver. But before moving there, she lived here, in Toronto. During one of our last visits in her apartment, she took me aside and placed a small, red, cellophane bag in my hand.
"This is for you." She said. "Some of them used to belong to my grandmother." The bag was filled with coins.
I remember thanking her, taking them home, and placing them in a box that use to store all such things; I never really took the time to look through all the coins carefully.
A couple of days ago, while looking online for a good way to clean pennies, I read something on a site that mentioned Brasso as a good all-round product to use for such things.2 This discovery, and the effectiveness of the Brasso, prompted my to go on a polishing spree of sorts. It was then that I remembered the bag my grandmother had given me.
From the cursory glance that I had taken when I received them, I knew that there were a couple of Indian Rupees from around the turn of the century. I sought those out - one dating from 1906, another from 1890 - and polished them first. And then, as I was looking through the rest of the coins with my sister, we found it - a quarter rupee from 1840.3
I'm not sure how much it's worth, or for that matter, if it is worth anything. But regardless, it's a wonderful feeling to be able to hold a piece of history in your hand.
- 1When I was around twelve or thirteen, a family friend gave me a box of Turtles as a Christmas present. But instead of coming in the regular cardboard box, these Turtles came in a tin "Treasure Chest". I've used it ever since - once the chocolates were finished - to keep all my 'treasures'.
- 2These were too far gone for the usual salt and vinegar.
- 3The most interesting thing about this coin (to me, at least) is the "East India Company" written on it. The newer coins all make reference to the "British Empire."
