Anonymous holiday donor drops thousands of dollars worth of rare gold coins into Salvation Army bucket
A person who drops a special coin into a Salvation Army donation kettle on Christmas Eve is likely to be put on “Santa’s good list.”
Local Salvation Army workers in Washington, Pa., use red kettles to collect donations in front of the Giant Eagle grocery store.
A generous donor dropped off a gold coin wrapped in a dollar bill with a note saying he or she wished to remain anonymous.
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A Salvation Army spokesperson told Fox Digital News that the coin features an image of Queen Elizabeth II and is worth more than $2,700.
An anonymous good Samaritan dropped a rare gold coin into a Salvation Army red kettle in Washington, Pennsylvania, amid the holiday crowd. (The Salvation Army)
“The increased foot traffic during the holidays is critical to the Red Kettle campaign,” a spokesperson said.
Last holiday season, Red Kettles raised an average of $2.7 million per day.
“In fact, in a typical year, nearly half of the donations the Salvation Army receives, including donations to Red Kettles, come from October to December,” the spokesperson added.
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David Zanca, senior portfolio manager at Louisiana-based Blanchard & Co., a U.S. investment firm specializing in rare coins, told Fox News Digital that the coin It’s a one-ounce Canadian gold maple leaf coin.
“The Canadian Maple Leaf Gold Coin is quite popular with investors as a way to purchase gold bars. The value of a gold bar is primarily determined by its gold content,” Zanka said.
Last holiday season, Red Kettles raised an average of $2.7 million per day. (Mark Rightmire/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images)
The coin bears an inscription and is dated 1987.
“Assuming this person had purchased this coin in 1987, their average price that year would have been $520. That’s over 500 percent less than the value in 1987,” Zanka said, adding that the donation was a significant benefit to the Salvation Army. It’s called “great”.
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“An interesting aspect of gold coins is that they can be given/donated in a private way,” Zanka said.
“God bless those who choose to donate gold coins to the Salvation Army, not just because of the amount of the donation. But because it calls us to focus and discuss kindness now, at the beginning of a new year,” he added.
A Salvation Army spokesman said: “Funding from the coins will go directly back into local communities to help deliver vital social services to individuals and families in 2025.” (Brian Hayes, Lucky Duck Foundation)
This isn’t the first time the Salvation Army has received gold coins in its kettle, as the organization has indeed mined gold coins across the United States over the past four years.
Naples, California, and Canton, Michigan, donated two South African Krugerrand coins.
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In Farming Hills, Michigan, two sovereign coins were thrown in along with a ten-ruble coin.
A gold coin worth $3,000 was found in a kettle in Monmouth, Oregon.
A Salvation Army spokesman said: “Funding from the coins will go directly back into local communities to help deliver vital social services to individuals and families in 2025.”
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The coins will help with services like alcohol/drug abuse recovery, clothing assistance, rent/mortgage/utility assistance, school supplies and more.
