Aurora Salvation Army rings in gold coin in Naperville
By Matt Hanley mhanley@stmedianetwork.com November 26, 2010 4:46PM
Updated: September 24, 2012 6:25AM
Amid the dimes and dollars in last week’s Aurora Salvation Army bucket was an unlikely — though not altogether unexpected — coin: a one-ounce, gold South African Krugerrand.
The Aurora Salvation Army doesn’t expect to find a gold coin in their kettles every year, but the South African Krugerrand keeps showing up every season, unannounced, anonymous and worth well more than $1,000.
“That was a golden start to the season to say the least,” Salvation Army Capt. Antonio Romero said Friday. “It caught us all by surprise it was so early.”
The coin was dropped in a bucket on Nov. 19, the first day the Salvation Army bell-ringers were out. It was left in a bucket at Casey’s Foods, 124 W. Gartner Road in Naperville.
Romero said it’s not the first time a gold coin has showed up at Casey’s. A bell-ringer was at the store from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and several customers kidded about it, but none gave indication of being the generous donor.
“Several people came up and said: I don’t have any gold coins for you this year,” Romero said. “The bell-ringer said a lot of people were joking about it.”
Romero said the coins donated in the past have also been South African Krugerrands. This year’s is in good condition. Romero was not sure what the coin was worth, although gold was selling for more than $1,300 an ounce on Friday.
All the gold coins collected by the Salvation Army will be auctioned off at the end of the season, Romero said.
