Chapter 104：The story of an old local historian or Dara seems to have found something?

Dara, I found two silver punch goblets. They had a lot of gray coins. After cleaning them with rags and water, he discovered, as he had guessed, that these were silver coins.

In the first punch bowl, there were 56 silver coins of the first empire 10.15 and 20 cents of 1856 to 1915. Together with the bowl, which weighed about 3 kg of pure silver, the total price at the auction could be about 7,800 US dollars for everything, and if Dara decided to sell everything in parts within 1 year, he could make a profit of 12,000 dollars. But this takes time, patience, skill. But Dara did not want to delve too deeply into this since the world of numismatists could also be very cruel. Dara did not want this. It's easier to immediately surrender, then the numismatists will not be angry at him, but on the contrary, they will be happy. Since they only need to quickly buy from him his find at a price acceptable to the Gift, and they, having the time and energy, will polish the coins, extracting the maximum profit from them.

The purpose, Dara, was not the maximum profit, but the quick receipt of money on the one hand, and on the other not to attract attention! With a third, do not create powerful enemies, with a fourth he was more interested in the search process itself and not how much its result!

So everyone was happy, Dara received enough money so that his interest in sales would not run out. And who bought money from him, were glad to get additional profit without going anywhere, right away first-hand. Therefore, they collaborated with Dara. Also, the world of collectors is connected on the one hand with the police, on the other with the secret police and on the third with the mafia. Numismatists quickly struck by their sources who Dara was, so they did not want problems, and it is always useful to be friends with an influential person. Some minor, annoying problems, such as contact could easily be solved. Everything was good from this.

The second punch cup, had emblems, blackening on gold, several samples, brands of masters, but weighed lighter, 1.5 kg. However, its auction value was higher. Only for one cup, which was the prize cup of senior officers for well-aimed shooting, issued in 1904. Award. This cup costs $ 34,000. And the coins in it were 46 silver coins of 1897 - 20 cents and 20 gold coins of 1 tille of 1834, the total value of all coins was about 77,000 dollars, since 6 of them were unique coins.

For the sake of pro forma, Dara rang the metal detector in that place, but the signals were only iron. Expanding the hole, Dara was able to get a tin box, and there are two revolvers, 1898 with stamps and two packs of cartridge already subjected to oxidation and corrosion. And also one naval officer dagger and two medals for the conquest of Small-An in 1869 and the suppression of the riot in Big-An in 1903. The medals were iron and heavily rusted.

Looking around, Dara saw that no one was looking in his direction, Dara took the box and quickly went to the side, and threw it down into the well, which he noticed next to the jeep. Fiddling with a call to the police would be tiring, and so no one is using these weapons. Yes, and medals, there was little sense from them, since in Small-An there were restrictions on their sale. I did not want to mess with this.

Dara returned and continued his search, he still managed to find about 15 good bricks with brands, each brick could be sold for $ 12. They were worth it, they rang like glass. It is a pity that the technology of their manufacture was lost.

Dara remembered how the old local historian told him how the old houses built in the 30s went to demolition. One of the houses turned out to be a Chinese trade mission in the capital of Small-An. The house was built in a colonial style. Three columns. The columns were made of cane, which was then covered with stucco. Nearby stood a three-story brick house, built in the 20s. There were no tenants there. Should have been demolished in three days. The local historian went to collect some old things for the city's history museum. He wanted to create it himself. Therefore, collecting all sorts of old things. The local historian had an idea to preserve the old European city and make a tourist zone there. That in old houses cafes, restaurants, souvenir shops, museums were open. Since these houses had an interesting history and underneath there were underground passages that connected with underground bomb shelters. And the exits from them were connected with tunnels for 12 km and went to the shores of city canals. It would be an extremely interesting tourist route. He could bring up to 5 million dollars a year. There were investors. But, the land was in the center of the city, and other investors - developers, simply demolished everything. People were evicted and not even given compensation, they were simply confronted with the fact and moved to the outskirts of the city. Forcing them to pay a mortgage for 30 years. Each house and there they built 40 of them, they sold at 7 million dollars. True, apartments are not, particularly about who bought it. The price for 54 square meters was 36 thousand US dollars. This is with an average salary of $ 250 per month!

During construction, many tunnels collapsed.

Alas ... his idea with the creation of a new travel brand failed. But he still had a less ambitious idea, he wanted to at least manage to create a private museum of the history of the city. He had a warehouse on the outskirts of the city of three hundred square meters, where he kept all these old materials.

The place that he designated for the creation of a historical museum, a house in the old European part, alas, was also demolished. Now the old districts in the city center were in danger, private property meant nothing. Prices in the center were expensive to land. Therefore, old houses, even 4-5-story houses built in the 60-70s of the 20th century, were easily demolished. And their place was built many story expensive apartments.

In order not to be demolished, the local historian decided to buy a house in the prefecture near the city and there already place his private museum of the history of the capital.

So he was looking for old things for free in demolition houses. Sometimes there he found old porcelain, figurines of cast iron and glass, iron tablets with street names. Lanterns, tiles, old door handles elegant iron stoves.

These were materials for the museum, priceless exhibits. But sometimes he managed to find something more valuable. For example, old bicycles or tubular chairs and armchairs. Checking the condition of the pipes, sometimes the local historian found there hidden manuscripts, letters, old banknotes of money. And in the legs of old wooden tables, sometimes there were hiding places and there were stacks of gold taller, 30-80 pieces each. Each such coin costs about $ 1,200. These were the nestles of artisans who were afraid to show that they were rich, under the power of peasants and workers, money was considered a lot of the censured capitalists. Therefore, artisans did not store their savings in banks but at home in gold coins.

The local historian strongly recommended always checking old places, foundations of houses, furniture of the 20-50s of the 20th century. There you could always find either a cache or a jewelry brooch accidentally falling over, a chain, a ring with a precious stone, a rare coin or a medal.

Sometimes in old houses in the walls or ducts, people hid their treasures. It was always necessary to check it.

So at that time, in a house that belonged to a Chinese trading house in the 30s, he found a small treasure inside the columns, if I could say so.

10 lacquered boxes, they were red, 5 kg each. Inside they were black. And in them lay silver foil. And it has green jasmine tea. With the indication of the city and year of production. Shanghai Tea Factory 1928 Amazingly, the tea was still very good! The local historian boasted, then that he drank it for 25 years. He still has 40 grams left!

And he also found 30 more gold coins in the duct of an old three-story building. Coins were the beginning of the second empire, each of which cost $ 3,400. He sold them all to buy a house and create a museum of the city.

But here's a shame, the local historian divorced his old wife and married his second-year student. Then the local historian disappeared a year later. The young wife threw all of his exhibits into a landfill. The house was sold and left for permanent residence in the United States. Everyone was looking for that local historian, they were hardly found in a nursing home.