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Thursday, August 16, 2012

Funny Money

Auctions can pay off in the oddest ways.
Settle in for this wacky tale . . . .


But first, we interrupt our regularly scheduled blog post to bring
a special greeting to our son-in-law Josh, who is celebrating his
birthday far, far away in the strange and alien land of Los Angeles.
Josh and Alida
December 2011 at That Old House

 Happy Birthday, dear boy.
Enjoy!  Eat cake.  Lots.  For us.  Love, Mom and Dad.

************************************
And now back to our regularly scheduled blogging . . . .
On Saturday, at an auction in Hunterdon County, New Jersey,
Howard and I bid on and won a whole raft of things.


Including this cute little teapot,

which came in a box lot with these Majolica style 
luncheon plates and cups and saucers.

What with one thing and another,
I didn't get a chance to unwrap them all until last evening.


Out came the teapot lid from its newspaper shroud.

And then the pot.  
I noticed for the first time a little chip in the spout.

Eh, that's okay.
I've got chips of my own, so who am I to judge?  

Then I noticed what was inside the pot.

Yeah.


I couldn't believe my eyes, either.


Money.
Folding money.  Paper money.  Greenbacks.
Bucks.  
Singles, 20s, even some 50s.

$403.00 to be exact.

Now you'd think that finding hundreds of dollars stuffed into a little teapot you'd bought in a $5 box lot would be exciting.  But no.  Instead, it is weird.  And a little panic-inducing, as in, "Oh my gosh, I've stolen someone's money!"

I called the lady who used to own the teapot.  She was quite surprised, as she thought she had cleaned out all of her stash spots.  Apparently not!  I'll send her a check for the $403, before I am tempted to spend some of it on ... hmmm ... dishes?


But it makes a nifty tablescape, doesn't it?



Oh, all right.

One of these days I'll do a tablescape with these cute pieces,
that doesn't look as if it's been put together by Scrooge McDuck.


You know, you can't make this stuff up.


I had company while I took these pictures.
Woody, our visiting pup, saw something round and bright,
and thought I had unwrapped a tennis ball.  Sadly, no.

He was a little incensed about this.


So he went and got one of his (many) personally chosen tennis balls,
and patiently waited for me to stop the human nonsense,
and start the serious business of fetch.

Which of course, I did.
I hope you found something, or someone, fun to play with today!
Cass

15 comments:

  1. No reward? :0(
    Darling dog visiting you. (((hugs)))Pat

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  2. Cass -- you are one good woman! Not many would have called and returned it!!!! True story about a friend who was going to sell her aunt's chest of drawers. But it had to be moved downstairs . . . they were going to just carry it down but then decided it was too heavy so they took out the drawers to move them first -- taped to the bottom of those drawers was $1000! You can believe that they were glad they found it!

    On another note . . . . Ollie has a visitor as well. A little girl as yet unnamed. Dumped at a gas station on a busy highway and rescued by a friend who called me . . . and she came to visit and Ollie likes her -- really likes her! So she's staying and will get a name. She's perhaps a year give or take a month or two (I think) and unlike Ollie is QUIET!!!! She brings back memories of when Ollie was that little -- sigh -- it was a long time ago.

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  3. What a pleasant, if short lived surprise! It was good of you to make the call. Maybe she has more dishes for you!

    XO,
    Jane

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  4. Most people wouldn't have called. Good for you.

    Funny story. My parents have a ceramic turkey that sits on the kitchen counter. I have strict instructions to grab the turkey if there's ever a fire. They keep a fairly large sum of cash stuffed up in the tail feathers! They don't care about anything else just grab the turkey.

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  5. Amazing that you knew who owned it before, since it was at an auction! It reminds me of people who find money hidden away in attics! I'm sure the original owner was pleased with her windfall, so to speak

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  6. I would have returned it also, but I think she should have given you a reward ! :(
    Happy Birthday to your SIL !!
    Have a great weekend.

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  7. Brad and I just had a good laugh over your stashpot. My mother had toss pillows on the sofa - all handmade. With zippered linings. Yup....inside the polyfill. Many, many many many $$$$$$ to keep people comfortable.

    Yes, I'd have though she'd be more thrilled to reward you. Oh well.....you're a good gal, Cass.

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  8. Wow, that was a lot of "tea" in the pot!

    The most money I've ever found "stashed" was a 20 dollar bill inside a DVD being returned to the library.

    Yep - - - I returned it too.

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  9. Wow! How much fun to find some moolah! The teapot is so cute. I bought a little girl's purse for my great neice, Cadence at a thrift store. When I looked inside after I got home with it, I found some old English coins. It was a nice surprise, and Cadence will have a keepsake from me.

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  10. Cass, this is too funny! What a great story. When we moved my mom into an assisted living apartment a few years ago, we found cash stashed here and there. Interesting! LOL

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  11. Great story. Good for you for making the effort to return the money. It is nice to know that there are folks like you out there in the world!

    -Lois from SWPA

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  12. Hi Cass! I can't believe there was that much money in that jackpot, I mean teapot! That's wild that no one else found it at the auction!
    Woody is so cute. I bet it is a little bitter sweet having him around, huh?
    I do hope you are doing okay...Gina

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  13. Wow Cass!!
    That tea-pot filled with cash!! What a story, love how honest you are. I think a lot of folks may have just kept the cash.
    Now that your daughter and sil are living in CA. you probably are going to do some traveling out there. And if they have a grandbaby even more!
    I am still watching little Addison full time and I feel it! She is a very busy toddler to say the least but she is one of the greatest blessings of my life.
    Enjoy the rest of your summer,
    Hugs,
    Cindy

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  14. That is really tempting. The old lady is lucky that it is you that got
    the tea pot with full of money. It is a good luck for you.

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  15. How sweet that you found her and returned the money ... talk about building good karma :-) The teapot and dishes are delightful too ...

    Patty

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