True story

[thelionspaw]

A friend of mine deals in war relics. He bought a load of "stuff" from a widow whose late husband told her that when he passed on, to bring everything to my friend. He told her (and even left a note in the safe for her) that she should take whatever my friend offered because he is fair.

So he bought everything from the estate of this French corporal in the WWII US Army. A collection that would have the collector's world standing on its ear.

On the way out, he saw a large model black powder cannon. He asked her about it and she said, "Take it!". So he did.

He took it home and worried that it might be loaded. So he stuck a rod down the barrel and guess what?  IT DIDN'T REACH THE VENT.

"Damn!" he said. He wasn't into keeping cannons and couldn't sell it like this. So he made a probe and began to unload it.

Yup! Unload it; he did!  Completely!  He unloaded it of its cache of pre WWII gold coins that were stuffed down the barrel.

He doesn't believe that the late husband even knew they were there but he cut the widow in on it.

True story.  I remember the cannon. He sold it for $350.00

O.K. cannonmn ..............come clean!  What have you ever found?  You're among friends. Just pre date your finds so the statute of limitations has run out.

Richard "The Trained Investigator"

[BoomLover]

Great story, Richard! I think we all wish something like that would happen to us! He got a great collection, plus the cannon, plus the coins, what a find! Very commendable of him to share with the widow, wonder what the cannon really was... BoomLover

[Cat Whisperer]

Just goes to show that cannons are to be USED and not be only display pieces!   

[thelionspaw]

It was about  a 2"-2.25" bore and about a 24"- 28" long steel tube on a decorative wheeled carriage and held alot of coins. ALOT!  I had zero interest in the cannon. 

[okielectrician]

I knew a man who was big into metal detectors,he would go out to old homesteads that were long gone and search the grounds.
One time while searching he came close to the old post oak fence post and his detector went off loud.
Pulling up the post he found and old can at the bottom stuffed full of old coins,pennies nickels dimes and quarters.
No gold but the coins were old.

[cannonmn]

I never found anything of any value stuffed down a cannon barrel.  There were lots of interesting things like soda bottles from early 1900's occasionally but they weren't valuable at all. 

I was buying a breechloading salute cannon in Richmond VA. about 15 years ago and I was checking it out, stuck a rod down the bore and it stopped on something.  I mentioned that there was something in it and the teen-aged kid said "uh oh" and took something like a film can out and disappeared into his room.

I'll never know for sure but it was probably an old stash he'd forgotten about.  It still bugs me that I didn't just keep my mouth shut and buy the cannon as-is and check what it was later.

[Cat Whisperer]

I've not found coins, but I did find a .45 Automatic once.  Lying (in a soft case) in the middle of the highway.    Colt Commander LW (alloy frame, 4" bbl).  Two full clips (one in it).

[Cannoneer]

I've not found coins, but I did find a .45 Automatic once.  Lying (in a soft case) in the middle of the highway.    Colt Commander LW (alloy frame, 4" bbl).  Two full clips (one in it).

If Elmore Leonard were writing this screenplay it wouldn't take him long to come up with a number of believable scenarios that would explain in detail why this ACP was lying in the middle of the highway; what did you do with the gun?

[Cat Whisperer]

I checked with NCIC then and later about 3yrs later - never registered, not reported lost nor stolen.  Watched the papers for about 3 weeks - nothing.

I ASSUME that someone put it into the softcase, put in on top of the car and drove.

If they had wanted to loose it, there were plenty of nearby rivers.

[thelionspaw]

Yo Cat!
Uhhhh you ain't answered duh question he axed.

It's my cousins car and my sisters insurance but my brudder's registration.

Bindair Dundat!

Where's the gat cat?

714

[Victor3]

If they had wanted to loose it, there were plenty of nearby rivers.

 About five years ago a guy I worked with was snorkeling at a local lake and came up with a S&W 686. He had a gunsmith replace the rusted springs and put new grips on it and it was good as new.

 I found $5 once...

[Rickk]

A buddy of mine is an auxillary cop and firearms instructor in the next town over. He tells me that people bring guns and walkie talkies back to the police station all the time that fell off the roof of a crusier and were found laying in a parking lot or in the road.

I found 201 sticks of dynamite (Hercules brand, and yes I took the time to count them) when I was in the 7th grade in an abandond metal clad shack way back in the woods that was originally owned by my wife's great grandfather. He used to be the guy that you would call if you wanted a tree stump removed. I mentioned it to my mom, she didn't believe me. The next day I brought home an instruction sheet. Then she believed me.

She called the cops the next morning. About 9 AM I got called to the principal's office. Lots of cops and firemen were down there. I got to get out of school and go for a ride in a cruiser with a parade of people following behind us to show them all where the stuff was. They called in experts who determined that it was too old and unstable to be moved.

Saturday morning a demolition expert first put the dynamite on the ground and lit it up with kerosene and a tracer round (not very spectacular), and then did the same thing to the shed. As the "finder" I got to go past all the barracades and get a closeup. I got to watch the metqal clad shed take off like a spaceship. I am guessing it went 100 feet in the air. It seems as though most of the Nitro had weeped out of the sticks and soaked into the wooden floor of the shed. To this day there is a 3 foot deep crater where the shed used to be. There were calls of an explosion heard as far as the next town ten miles away when it went off. I did manage to aquire one of the empty wooden dynamite crates which my wife still uses as a stand for one of her potted plants.

[thelionspaw]

When I was on my first "Bomb Run", before leaving quarters for the public school, my operator said, "Let's load-up".  We proceeded to load an old army foot locker into the truck and and a few cases of motor oil. I asked, "What's all this s..t for"?  He said, "When we find the bomb, we put it in the locker and pour oil over it". BRILLIANT!

Bindair Dundat

[Double D]

Way back in the olden days when I was a kid we found this old shack with Dy-no-mite...I know I was a kid because we moved away from that place when I was in 5th grade.    The old Man who owned the property poured gasoline all around the shack and set it on fire.   Boy did that shack burn good.  These days this would have been broadcast as a live event on on cable news with the building surrounded by EOD-FBI and their water cannon robots. 

[Skunk]

Lionspaw,

Great find (for your friend) and great story. It's cool that your friend cut the widow in on the find.

What did the pre WWII gold coins end up being worth in today's dollars?

[Cat Whisperer]

...
 He tells me that people bring guns and walkie talkies back to the police station all the time that fell off the roof of a crusier and were found laying in a parking lot or in the road.
...

A friend of mine stepped out of his car (in DC) and stepped on an UZI.  He called in the cops right then and didn't TOUCH it.