Ever since we bought our home a few months ago, we’ve been hoping for a secret stash of something. Cold hard cash would be nice; a pile of human bones, not quite. The house has been around for quite a while so it is not completely insane to believe that at some point in its nearly 85 year history that someone could have buried a little treasure. On Sunday, Joe found a treasure.
While Joe was busting up a workbench in our garage, he noticed one of the wood planks was loose so he tugged on it. He then found a small cigar box covered in dust. The strange thing was that the workbench had no drawers of any kind, either on the front or the back. Whoever hid the cigar box had nailed it shut. It’s lucky Joe actually found it.
Inside, he didn’t find cash but another kind of treasure; photographs, handwritten letters, official bank notes, and receipts. He even found a letter from the New York Police department regarding a death. All of the contents dated back to the turn of the century. Much of what we found is unreadable (by us) because it appears to be in a Cyrillic language, not sure if it’s Greek or perhaps even a Slavic language.
We would love to go through the box and understand a little more about what it might be and why someone would go to such lengths to hide it. However, this brings up an interesting question. If you own a very old home and find something of value - cash, antiques, or a box of treasures like this - what do you do? Would you notify the previous owner?
Tell us what you would do.
yes, definitely try to get it back to the owner’s family! (but ask me again if we’re talking about wads of cash or something!)
Hi,
could you tell me how can you make the image on the top of lastest post?
PS: that would be popular if you write kind of learing how to coustomize the theme you are using.
I couldnt find these kind of blog design lesson.
Hope you have good Xms
Hi GooMoo,
Do you mean the header image where we used plywood and on this screen wood? I found out how to customize it by going to the designer’s website and selected the theme I used for this blog. It’s called the morning after. you can find out how to customize more here: http://themasterplan.in/themes/the-morning-after/
just scroll down to usage and customization, then header and background images. also, the forum on that site is an excellent place to learn more. I hope I answered your question.
WOW! Can’t wait to hear the history behind this “find.” In a multi-cultural city like SF, perhaps you could find someone to translate the items. And, yes, how awesome it would be to be able to contact the original owners (descendants) and find out the real scoop. Ataboy, Joe, for following your curiosity!
Thanks for commenting Marilyn. I’m curious if it makes a difference to anyone if you know the family would have little interest in the find and would possibly throw away the box.
Would it change anyone’s mind about handing it over to them?
If it’s in any of the Slavic languages, I could translate the letters for you. Just let me know should you need me :)
Cheers
Obviously it’s been a while since I’ve checked out your site…I would definitely hang on to that stuff…find a way to display it in a way that would show honor and respect for it in your new home…maybe a shadow box of some kind? There’s a show on HGTV that highlights old homes, their history, and the treasures from the past that people find. (The name of the show escapes me at the moment)…but they show how the owners do some research and often do trace the history of their homes back to some of the family of the original owners. They often have a special place of honor in their home for a treasure such as the one you found, keeping it with the original house.
Very cool find!!!
Kristi
I think you’d make some people very happy if you were to contact the old owners of the house…
If the house is really old and has had more than one owner over the years, it will probably take you a while to track the right owners down, and/or their family. But in the end, I think the contents of that box, however much of a novelty it may be to you, will end up meaning much more to them than it does to you…
Then again, if the box was that well hidden (nailed shut) and there’s a letter of death in there, it may be really bad news to give to someone. Nevertheless, I don’t think it’s up to you to decide whether the news is good or bad… Sometimes even bad news is well received if it provides closure.
So to answer your question, I would probably track down the old owners and give them the box. However, I don’t think you are in any way obliged (even ethically) to do anything with the box other than keep it to yourself. You bought the house and that means you bought the box too. One could reasonably assume that if the box meant that much to them, they wouldn’t have left it behind… (Assuming of course that the person who knew of it’s whereabouts was still alive when they moved out - that’s the only caveat…)
DM
PS - I found your blog through the designer’s site. I love what you’ve done with it. I’ll be changing my site over to the TMA theme sometime next week (after upgrading to WP 2.5 and hopefully after TMA 1.3 is released). I’m already in the process of preparing for a ton of customizations. Your site looks great!
I think you’re right DM about giving it to the family. A few of our neighbors have urged us not to because they family never came here to visit the man who used to live here before he passes away. They think the family wouldn’t care at all to have the box returned to them…but that’s not for us to decide. I’m going to try and track them down over the next few weeks. I’d like to scan some of the contents before giving it away.
Good luck with your customization! I haven’t altered much but have enjoyed the theme!
Cheers,
Sarah
I think that this is the prefect opportunity to do a little historical documentary. I would first learn all that you can about the documents and all and see if the Historical Society can help you in determining the time.
Then I would trace the house history back to the original owners. Your previous owners could have never know about this at all. You own the documents know it is up to you to do what you want with them.
Maybe you could take a clue from, Amelie…
I would scan the documents and post them on the blog. They might mean a lot to somebody but odds are that they don’t have any significance. Maybe you can fill a cigarbox of your own stuff and hide it in a wall. Might I suggest adding a riddle. My favorite: You throw away the outside, cook the inside, then eat the outside only to throw away the inside. What am I?