OT- Found an old suitcase in my attic

[DavidF]

I was installing radiant barrier in my attic yesterday and in a back corner i found an old suitcase. We bought the house in foreclosure a year ago and I had to clean out a lot of junk from the decked portion of the attic, but this was tucked way back under the eave. As soon as I saw it visions of unmarked bundles of hundred dollar bills flashed in my head. When I got it downstairs I was only slightly disappointed.

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The coins are from Asia and Europe '60s and '70s.
The knife is marked DRGM 1423923 at the base of one side
and an eye symbol on the other. Its a little bit rusty but should clean up nicely and it is very strong and tight.

[RKrodle]

That's some cool old stuff .

[86er]

Great find - a treasure right under your nose

[kimwcook]

Cool. I immediately invisioned an old Colt SAA or some old C&B revolver in pristine condition.

[gamekeeper]

Nice find !

If that pocket knife is a German "EYE" brand it is a good quality piece of kit.
My Eye brand guide Knife is every bit as good as a Puma.

[rjohns94]

kewl

[Dave]

That German Eye is a quality knife. I am very fond of them.

[redbeardinntx]

Davidf, That knife should be an Eye brand Sod Buster I would take care in the cleaning just use a little natural oil and light elbow grease no harsh solvents. Are the scales wood or dark colored natural ivory? I read of a find where the guy had an ivory scaled knife that had a 100yrs of grime that hid the true value. Either way I love Eye brand knives and you have a keeper for sure. Cimarron Sam

[J Miller]

Have you looked inside the Bibles yet? I once found one with an entire families history in it, at a second hand shop. Made me very sad as it should have been with the family.

Oh well, there are some nice things there. I hope that knife cleans up really good. Post us an "after" pic, OK.

Joe

[JerryB]

That is a great find. How old are the bibles, are they dated, any names? I thought the knife was a sodbustr.

[pokey]

TREASURE, it's always a thrill,

even when it turns out to be something you did not expect.


maybe, especially when it's not something you expect.


interesting., pokey

[TedH]

Ok, so you won't retire on it, but still a neat find.

[1886]

Treasure hunting is a blast! Good deal, 1886.

[Sixgun]

That stuff always fascinates me. It don't matter what was in there as it sure provided you with a day of excitement. You got to wonder why it was "stashed away" in the corner. You know someone purposely hid it out of sight.

The father of my good friend Joe Miller (not our Joe Miller ) who owns Miller's Sporting Goods, found a double barreled Colt shotgun with a Wells Fargo stamping on it back in the late fifties in his attic. The one son still has it.----------------Sixgun

Last year I was in my attic and found MY old wallet from the mid seventies. It had my drivers license and my draft card in it, but no money.

[Ysabel Kid]

Excellent!

[Charles]

I recognize the knife as a wood handled single blade "Eye" brand. These knives were available in most hardware stores during the 60s and cost just a dollor or two each. They were a popular knife for deer hunters, for it lost or broken could be replaced for very little money. I had several.

[Bullet Bob]

Always flip through old books and bibles - they used to be a popular place to store cash.

[AJMD429]

Bibles might have names and facilitate contacting the owner or descendents, too. The stuff could have sentimental value to them.

[Hillbilly]

We browse a lot of second hand and collectable stores. I am always amazed at the amount of old family bibles, photos and portraits that families have let get away.

I know ya cant keep all of it... but cant they find a cousin or someone who wants any of this stuff?

Thats a nice stash of stuff... I bet those previous owners left in a rush and forgot that stuff was up there. I'd contact em if I could about the Bibles.

~J

[DavidF]

I talked to the neighbor, and apparently the previous family got into drugs and fell apart. Parents separated, kids in foster care, the dad is gone and the mom is all but homeless. My wife used to work for CPS so we should at least be able to find the kids and see if they are interested. Pretty sad.
There was a good bit of stuff in the Bibles. A copy of a marriage cert from 1892 and a couple of newspaper clippings.

[awp101]

We browse a lot of second hand and collectable stores. I am always amazed at the amount of old family bibles, photos and portraits that families have let get away.

I know ya cant keep all of it... but cant they find a cousin or someone who wants any of this stuff?

That only works if someone makes an effort to keep all of the old family identified.

When my MiL passed away my wife and her siblings went through her family pictures with the "family historian". As my MiL's parents divorced in the 1920s (pretty rare thing) there were basically two sets of family pictures PLUS all of the one's my MiL had inherited when HER parents died. There were pictures dating back to the late 1800s/early 1900s but many were unlabelled so it wasn't clear if the unidentified people were family related to my MiLs two sets of familes, friends of the families and even some of the ID'd pics didn't mean anything as no one could place the names. Add in random undated pictures from vacations, etc and it turned into a 2 day affair.

Eventually the family decided what pictures they wanted to keep, fairly split the pictures wanted by more than one person (or had copies made) and everyone was happy. I was given the chance to sort through the pictures no one else wanted since I collect old photos. By the end of the sorting, anyone who wanted pictures had sorted through them and what was left were the random pictures that didn't mean anything or didn't contain some interesting scenery.

Besides, if it weren't for other families not understanding family history (or not caring) I wouldn't have the modest collection of photo postcards and photos (mainly from Europe) from the 1890s up through WWI that I have been able to put together.

[Griff]

One of my families prized posessions is a volume of the complete works of Roberts Burns and selected works by Tennyson. It was gifted to my Great-grandfather by his father-in-law upon his leaving Scotland c. 1880.

I've struggled thru that book several times. That book represents a significant moment in family history and for me... a raising of the bar... for on his birth certificate & her marriage record, his mother is represented by "her mark, X". Neither of her parents could read or write... certainly makes one appreciate an education, or should!

As the last of their generation in both their families, I've tasked my parents with labeling any and all pictures they have as to who, where & when. So far, they're makin' progress!

[GoatGuy]

Just returned from a family reunion in Texas. Kind of sad as my sister and the wife of a cousin had both passed in June, but in spite of missing those members we had a wonderful time. My dad had eight siblings and our annual reunions were really packed with family when I was a boy, nearly a hundred I would guess. We had perhaps 45 folks this time, including lots of little children of the 3rd gen. family members. It was strange being one of the four remaining 2nd gen. family members. My dad and all of his siblings have passed and all but us four 2nd gens. as well.

The bright side is the great effort one of us remaing four has made in maintaining an up-to-date record of the family "tree" and putting together a photographic record of of our past family gatherings with identification of those pictured. The original side of the family arrived in Texas in the early 1840's. This same cousin, along with other family members, has gathered records, photos, stories, etc. of our family and has published it, in both print and electronic media, and provided it to all family members. My kids are blessed to have that family history for their kids and the generations to yet to come.