Found this nondescript tube sitting on a bookshelf among some clutter and other stuff of a recently deceased relative.
This stack of silver coins was under that. My relative had other silver coins but mostly from the 1930s-1960s.
Found a number of US trade dollars.
Here is the reverse.
More trade dollars. Not a big variety of dates.
And the reverse of them.
Some neat Dutch guilders and a franc from the second French Empire (top middle)
As you can see these were quite old as well. The Dutch coin on the top left was minted in the same year that Van Gogh was born.
But this is what stopped my heart for a second. US dollar coins from 1803 (year of the Louisiana Purchase) and 1804 (year Louis and Clark started their cross country expedition)
The country wasn't even 30 years old yet (That's younger than me!). Thomas Jefferson was president and Aaron Burr was VP.
