Rinker on Collectibles

Several years ago while serving as a consultant to an attorney and bookkeeper assigned to dispose of the personal property of a client, I walked up a stairway that went from the kitchen to an upstairs’ bedroom. As I traveled up the stairs, I noticed a change in pitch as my foot hit one of the stairs’ treads. I reversed my steps and began my journey a second time. The same thing happened.

I took a close at the tread. When I pushed upward on the edge, the tread lifted. Beneath was a large storage space filled with American and English sterling silver and other precious metal objects, many dating from the eighteenth and nineteenth century.

The homeowner had not provided the attorney, bookkeeper, or me with any indication this “secret hiding place” existed. Had I not been listening carefully, I might have missed it. The home was to be sold once the personal property had been removed. Had the new homeowner found the secret hiding place, the treasure it contained would have reduced his mortgage substantially.

People hide things. Sometimes they remember what they hid and where. Far too often, they forget. Such information is usually not shared with a spouse, children, or executors. This is why I love doing “walk through appraisals” on behalf of caregivers, heirs, and/or executors. I treat each walk through as another treasure hunt; and, I have found plenty of hidden treasure in my travels.

I am Pennsylvania German, and the Pennsylvania Germans love to tell stories about themselves. This is one of my favorites:

When President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order No. 6102 under authority of the Emergency Banking Relief Act in March 1933 allowing the Government to confiscate all privately owned gold in the United States, individuals were required to redeem their gold coins at the bank for hard currency. In compliance with Roosevelt’s order, a Pennsylvania German farmer and his wife showed up at a local bank with a coffee can that was filled with gold coins.

“Count them,” he instructed the bank teller. After the teller counted the coins, the teller responded, “There is $16,000.”

“That’s not right,” the Pennsylvania German said to the teller. “Count them again.” The teller did. Once again, he replied, “There is $16,000.”

Turning to his wife, the Pennsylvania German farmer exclaimed, “By Gosh, Martha, we brought the wrong can!”

Rumors abound about coins, jewelry, and other family artifacts buried in cans and other containers in the yard. Many movies set in the South during the Civil War (Oops, War of Northern Aggression for my Southern readers) contain a scene of the woman of the house burying the family treasures to prevent their confiscation by the looting Northern Yankees.

My first treasure hunt for hidden things occurred when my mother passed away. My mother was a young adult during the Depression. She believed in squirreling away money and other precious things should a “rainy” day occur. I found some of my mother’s better jewelry wrapped up in a tissue in the pocket of a bathrobe in her closet, hidden under underwear in a lingerie drawer in a storage unit in the closet, and inside the tips of her shoes. Money, often in the form of fifty and hundred dollar bills, was hidden in shoe boxes, unused purses, and under the paper liners of the drawers in her and my father’s chest of drawers and the shelves in the hall closet. To this day, I am certain there were stashes that I missed.

Whenever approached by someone who is preparing to downsize and settle an estate, my first piece of advice is always: “Check everything before you discard it. You never know what might be hidden where!”

Money is the most obvious thing that people hide. However, they hide other objects as well—precious metal jewelry, coins (especially gold), valuable papers (historic as well as personal; finding a copy of a person’s last will and testament or the deed to a gravesite often requires a great deal of ingenuity), etc.

Where do people hide things? The list is a long one. What follows is by no means exhaustive. I have divided the hiding places into the obvious, fairly obvious, and clever. However, the safe assumption is that if they appear on my list everyone knows about them, including those individuals who practice burglary as a profession.

The most obvious places are: cereal box (especially one that looks as though it has been in the closet for years), clothing stored in a drawer, empty can in a kitchen cabinet; fish tank, flour canister in the kitchen (better off with the sugar canister); hollowed out book or Bible (a dead giveaway / praying it will never be found is most likely to be an unanswered prayer); piggy bank, plastic bag or storage container in the freezer; pocket of old coat or bathrobe; sneakers, shoes, or shoe boxes in the back of the closet; tampon box; toilet bowl tank and/or toilet paper rolls; under drawer or shelf liners; and, under the mattress. Do not even consider beneath the pillows on the living room couch.

The candidates for my list of fairly obvious places are: bottom of the bin of a shredder (tape it down tightly or you will be cursing maintenance); can or glass jar buried outside; cement block or behind a loose brick in the basement; carved out niche in a door; envelope taped to the bottom of a kitchen shelf, back of a picture, or bottom of a dresser drawer; fake pipe in the basement ceiling; inside a hollow curtain rod; potpourri; random folder in file cabinet; and, under nailed down carpet.

I think the following are clever. Let’s see if you agree: buried in the bottom of a plant (ideally in a waterproof container); in a child’s room, e.g., inside a teddy bear or other stuffed toy or in the bottom of the toy box; in a lock box inside the back of the dryer (make certain you remember you did this if you replace or sell the dryer); inside a DVD case; and, under the litter box (not very clever if there are no other signs that you own a pet or the box looks unused).

There is a fourth category of hiding places that I failed to mention—the incredibly humorous or stupid, depending on one’s point of view: inside an old wood stove (better pray it does not get cold and a visitor to your house decides to start a fire for you as a courtesy), and a locked safe next to your pit bull.

Some burglary experts recommend that you leave enough easily found cash, jewelry, and other items to discourage burglars from looking for your hidden treasures. Burglars interviewed indicate they have absolute no problems ransacking the standard hiding places to make certain they have covered the bases.

Of course, the key to hiding anything is to remember where you put it. I hid my father’s ring. I hid it so well I still have not found it after ten years of looking and two moves. Truth be told, I have a list of more than a dozen items for which I am looking. I put them away so well, I cannot find them.

When people hide things, they never make a list of where they hide them. I have yet to find a treasure map in all my home visits. The information is irretrievably lost when they pass away.

What has this do with antiques and collectibles? Not all antiques and collectibles are big. Many are small. Collectors often hide some of their most valuable things rather than display them. Why? They are afraid someone might steal them if they are left on open display.

Collectors, dealers, and others also keep a supply of cash on hand to buy things. It is often well hidden. Nobody knows where but them.

As you have seen, not all hidden treasures are in the field. Some are in the homes of your parents, relatives, friends, and, perhaps, even your home as well.

Rinker Enterprises and Harry L. Rinker are on the Internet. Check out www.harryrinker.com.

You can listen and participate in WHATCHA GOT?, Harry’s antiques and collectibles radio call-in show, on Sunday mornings between 8:00 AM and 10:00 AM Eastern Time. If you cannot find it on a station in your area, WHATCHA GOT? streams live on the Internet at www.goldenbroadcasters.com.

HOW TO THINK LIKE A COLLECTOR (Emmis Books, 2005: $14.95), Harry’s new book, is available at your favorite bookstore and via www.harryrinker.com.

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