The subject of this post actually began around 1960. I was a little kid and the family was at the cottage. My Grandmother dug around in her change purse and handed my brother and I each a quarter. A quarter could get you a comic book and a pop and a little brown bag overflowing with penny candy. I sat on the front step of the cottage and contemplated how I was going to spend all that money. I had the quarter in my hand and I was sort of fooling around with it... too late! I watched in horror as it slipped out of my hand, rolled along the concrete step and neatly disappeared down the crack between the step and the front of the cottage. I was horrified. I felt foolish. And... I never forgot that my quarter was resting beneath the front step of the cottage.
Now we come to the summer of 2011 and my brother owns the cottage and he was getting it ready for demolition. Did I want anything from the cottage? Well... there was one thing. My quarter!
I tried with a pry bar to dig at the rotten wood at the front of the cottage. I wasn't making much progress. Then my husband agreed to help and brought in the heavy artillery. He used a 'Sawz-All' and a huge pry bar and dismantled the front of the cottage and broke up the step. Now all I had to do was search.
My daughter, who loved the story of the quarter, wanted to help out. We got to work with a rake and a flashlight and a seive and our hands. I dug up parts of a skull of some sort of rodent, perhaps a groundhog. It had been digging around under there at one point and there was a mound of earth by the step. Then we found an approximately sixty year old juice can and a pristine match box of a similar vintage. Finally, my daughter spotted something and said, "Is this it?" and held up my quarter!
The 1954 Canadian silver quarter had a greenish cast to it and was sort of pitted looking. But overall it looked pretty darn good for being under the step for the last fifty-one years.
The infamous quarter - front view.
The infamous quarter - back view.
El Presidente, enjoying the reunion with her treasure... 51 years later.
I was happy not just that it was found, but that my daughter had found it. It sort of brings the story up-to-date. Now it has moved up a generation. I'm going to get a bezel fitted around it so I can wear it on a necklace. And I can tell the story when anyone asks about it.
