What's the largest sum of money you've ever found?

[GuitarDaddy]

I never found anything of value, but we had a 14yo kid in my suburb find $76k in a brown paper grocery sack at a local park a couple of years ago that made all the papers. He first found a $100 then another and another then he saw the sack.

His family called the police when he got home with it and reported it, and I forget how long he had to wait but no one claimed it and he got to keep the cash.

 

[CZroe]

My mother found a very old cannon covered in brush in Puerto Rico or USVI or something when she was a kid (she lived on a lot of islands). It's not like she could carry it home herself, so she told some adults about it and they went and took it for themselves.

 

[gaidensensei]

Cool stories bros. Especially liked the reads from finding huge loads of money. They just make your day. Most valuable (not money) thing I've found was a $50ish watch, but in terms of cash -- $20 in fourth grade. Pocketed that bad boy and bought me some treats.

At what point of $ would you consider that the money has to be returned to someone?

 

[zinfamous]

$3200

Yep, a bank envelope of 32 crisp $100 bills.

Found in the pocket of a filthy, mud-soaked pair of pants, abandoned on the concert ground after the New Year's 2000 Phish concert at Big Cypress.

 

[Krazy4Real]

$20. I found it on a sidewalk back in high school or college.

 

[lxskllr]

My mother found a very old cannon covered in brush in Puerto Rico or USVI or something when she was a kid (she lived on a lot of islands). It's not like she could carry it home herself, so she told some adults about it and they went and took it for themselves.

I read(heard?) a story once where a lot of old canon have a high platinum content. At the time, platinum was considered a waste product from the mining operation, and not desirable. That canon could have been worth a fortune.

 

[Daishiki]

I forget the exact amount. It was either $100 or $140.

 

[Red Dawn]

$1,100 in an envelope in the middle of the street.

 

[Minerva]

$600 in a manilla envelope in a parking lot. Clearly someone's paycheck cashed but it had nothing with it to identify it. I put it away for a few months and scoured the papers, etc. and did not see anything related to lost money so it went into savings.

I suppose a large inheritance does not count.

 

[D1gger]

I found a wad of old bills in a parking garage. Face value was about $800.00 but some of the bills were WW2 vintage and may have been worth more. I turned it in at the nearest police station, and never heard another word about it.

 

[skyking]

A $20 downwind and over a fence from the coin changer at a car wash. Obvious what happened there.

 

[JulesMaximus]

$20

 

[SparkyJJO]

20 bucks.

But then again, it was my own that I had misplaced a few months back

 

[Leros]

I watched $20 fall out of someone's backpack at a busy crosswalk. I bent down to pick it up and couldn't find them in the crowd afterwards. I ended up keeping it. I felt bad, but I tried my best to return it.

 

[datalink7]

Around $55,000.

 

[3chordcharlie]

Around $55,000.

That was mine, I dropped it.

But like most of ATOT, I quickly realized that taking the time to pick it up would cost me money.

Because I make so much of it.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

$50 ci = $62.50 us

 

[ManyBeers]

Cash(100.00 bill) found in Garden City parking lot San Jose, Cal.
170.00 in small purse. Salt lake City

Three times in my life I have lost my wallet and it was returned unscathed one time.

Last August I was in Jackson Hole, Wy. and had stopped on my way home to Salt Lake along the Snake River to relax and watch some people fish and launch their drift boats. After sitting for about an hour I got up to leave when I realized my wallet was gone. After frantically retracing my steps exactly and asking the few people who were there if they had found a wallet I deduced that it was probably dropped at the Wendy's I had eaten at 1 1/2 hours earlier in Jackson Hole. I realized the chances of my wallet still being there after that much time was low but I had to make sure so I headed back to Jackson. Luckily for me one of the women who worked there had been sweeping the floor when she noticed my wallet. Everything was in it including the 110.00 cash. I tipped her 50.00 bucks and left there greatly relieved.

Backing up about 35 years to 1975 when I was visiting a friend who lived in San Bernardino, Cal. I was packing my stuff on my motorcycle to head home to San Jose, Cal when I realized my wallet was gone. I have no clue when or where I lost it or if it was ever found. It contained 80.00 cash.

Still living in San Jose sometime in the 80's I was doing my clothes at a local laundromat when I stepped out of the place for a few minutes. Don't remember why. When I returned to where my stuff was I realized my wallet was gone. Apparently I had left it in the laundromat near my things instead of putting it in my pocket when I left the place. There were only two women in the place at the time and I asked both of them if they had seen it. They hadn't. I'm assuming I got ripped off but the wallet only had 10.00 in it and my drivers license so the damage was minimal.

I have also found three wallets in my life and I have returned all three myself and unscathed.

While working at Bud Summers' Beacon gas station on Camden Ave. in San
Jose, Cal along about 1973 I found a wallet laying on the ground which contained
140.00 cash in it. After informing my co-worker of my find I offered to split the money with him or else give the wallet back intact. I wasn't going to take the money if he didn't want it. So 10-15 minutes later the guy who lost it came back and I returned him his wallet and he tipped me 10 bucks which I kept. He was
heading up north for a weekend hunting trip and said if he didn't get his money back he would had to cancel his trip.

Still living in San Jose and driving up Highway 9 above Saratoga Springs
around 1999-2000 and on one of the many 20 mph hairpins along this road I notice a wallet right in the middle of the road. It contained 17.00 cash in it and belonged to a girl who lived in Cupertino which I found on her drivers license within. I found her phone number inside, called her, and delivered her property
to her. She offered no reward.

Last March-April I was walking home along 700 E. just north of 2100 S.
in Salt Lake City(my current home city)when I see a small purse on the curb
as if someone had dropped it while entering/exiting a vehicle. The wallet belonged to a student and contained 170.00 in it. I couldn't find any home
phone number in it and there were a couple of addresses so I simply drove
out to what I thought was the most likely one. She no longer lived there.
I tried to call the school but this was on the weekend and I couldn't talk to anyone
who new anything that would help me. After rummaging through everything in her purse I found a pay stub for a Park City restaurant and called the number on it. Well the girl did work there but she was not in that day.

The woman who answered the phone at the restaurant took my phone number and would see to it that the girl whose purse I had found would contact
me so we could make arrangements to return her property. After a few minutes
the girls roommate called me and asked if it would be OK if she came to retieve
the purse and I said yes it would be. It turns out I had found her purse right in front of there house which is about two blocks from where I live. I was offered no reward.

I always return found wallets myself if at all possible. I trust me.

 

[Wyndru]

I found a 20 spot on the ground once. That was the largest.