When I was younger I had possession of a 1905 nickle, and lost it. I kicked myself for quite sometime because I thought I had a valueable item. Actually I just looked up the price and it'd be worth $0.75 today. I'll no longer be feeling bad.
A 15x increase in value isn't too shabby. I just turned off the terrible The Great Big American Auction on ABC with that crazy from Home Improvement Makeover. It's sort of like Antique Roadshow, with the class of public radio. A good amount of time has folks lugging junk to the appraisers, hoping they've been sitting on a winning lottery ticket all along. I did get a bit of pleasure in watching several of them them being told that, in fact, their items are junk. My heart went out to many though, as not all were just looking for a quick buck. Several were willing to part with what they believed or knew to be quite valuable because of the economy - the rich will exploit their desperation and take their treasure, but isn't that what always happens?
A few years later, an older cousin went to Europe and brought back a piece of the Berlin Wall. My others and I put it in our fish tank. When you're 10 it's just a rock. That piece of history probably has a bit more value, but now, maybe if it's anywhere, it's lying in the rock piles underneath the deck.
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