[music]

Brian: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now to the most wilder, valuable things you ever found. David in Brooklyn you're on WNYC. Hi, David.

David: Good morning.

Brian: What'd you find?

David: When I was teaching at Brooklyn Tech High School in June. It was very hot and [unintelligible 00:00:29] helping out in the main office's social study department and a chair fell over and a jacket which was behind the chair exposed an envelope which was open and I saw $100 bill. That came up to $2,000 in cash and we tried to find out who owned the leather jacket and it seemed that we couldn't find the person.

Brian: Some-

David: I went around the department-

Brian: Go ahead.

David: I asked all the teachers, "Is there anything unusual happened?" and everybody says, "No. No problem." Then [unintelligible 00:01:04] told me, "Why don’t we keep the money? Let's split it." I said, "No. Got to get it back to the owner." I found out who the teacher whose jacket it was that turned out. I went to his class again. I said, "Did anything unusual happen to you recently?" He said, "No, not really." I said, "Are you sure?" and I showed him the envelope. He realized right away he had misplaced $2,000. He was sure he had left it at home and he was tearing his house apart. I gave him the money back and my reward was I got a sandwich. A roasty sandwich and a bottle of soda for a reward.

Brian: And a T-shirt that said, "I gave you back your $2,000 and all I got was this lousy sandwich."

David: Exactly. [chuckles] Then he got me a computer that [unintelligible 00:02:02].

Brian: Oh really?

David: [unintelligible 00:02:04].

Brian: [laughs] David, thank you that's a wonderful story of your dedication to return that money to its rightful owner. Thank you very much. John in Franklin, New Jersey you're on WNYC. Hi, John.

John: Good morning Brian. Recently we had to move my mother out of her house into assisted living and we started cleaning out the house and going through a lot of paraphernalia. I came across a gold pocket watch at the bottom of some dusty old drawer. I brought it to my mother and I said, "whose pocket watch is this?" She says, "Oh, that's your father's grandfather's watch."

Brian: Wow.

John: I said, "Jeez." I took it to a watchmaker, had it cleaned and repaired, bought a chain for it and I've got this beautiful family heirloom now. It's a gold pocket watch that belonged to my great grandfather.

Brian: That's wonderful. It's not even the monetary value. It's the amazingness of the thing and the family connection right?

John: Yes, we've got very few-- We have a lot of family history on paper but this is the most valuable thing that we've got that reaches back into the family tree.

Brian: John thank you so much and good luck to your mom and your family. Delilah in Park Slope you're on WNYC. Hi, Delilah what'd you find?

Delilah: I [inaudible 00:03:43] upstate Buffalo the Southtowns out by Lake Erie. The property I grew up on had an ice house where they used to bring ice from the lake and stuff so it's a really old area. We have what's called a midden in our forest which is where everyone back in the day before they had landfills, your neighborhood would dig a big hole and dump their garbage in it. We have this walkable from my house in our yard. My whole life we just go through it and find cool stuff and stuff turns up all the time. Last winter, I was digging through it and I found this intact black onyx-colored bottle about the size of my hand.

It's really pretty and it's got a carving of a goddess on the back and on the front, it has this logo that kind of-- I would have to say it looks like a Chanel logo but it's not Chanel. I looked it up and it's this very rare perfume from France that was hard to get. Someone in my area-- There were some wealthy old families out there so I feel like maybe one of those families had it but it's not chipped at all. It's in beautiful perfect condition and the second I found it I was like, "There's something special about this." I just knew. I have looked it up on the internet. That's how I found out what it is. I think it's called Ceci off the top of my head but it was by some French perfumer.

I looked it up online and people do sell them on eBay and stuff. That was my best find. I have it always with me because I feel like it has-- It doesn't want me to put it away or it will be annoyed.

Brian: [laughs] Delilah thank you. That's a great story. Here are some of the ones coming in on Twitter. What a range. Somebody writes wildest and most valuable find. Years ago $945 in cash on the sidewalk on 10th Avenue & 50th Street. I took it to the police precinct and turned it in. No one ever claimed it though and I got it back six months later. How about this one? Do we even believe some of these? I found $100,000 in a brown paper bag in Greenwich Village in the early '90s. I believe I interrupted a bad drop. Quickly two characters showed up and did not want to surrender cash to the police. I started to feel unsafe so I walked away. Crazy story I know but true.

Wow, $100,000? How about this one? I found Seinfeld's family's childhood car in an old warehouse above a Brooklyn coffee shop where I was doing an ethnographic study. Did it have $100,000 in it? I found my great great-- Oh, that one's too sad. I'm not going to read that or maybe it was a discovery. Well, listener writes I found my great great grandfather buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Maybe they didn't know their great grandfather was there. Somebody wrote I found a $100 bill in the olive oil store in Grand Central around Christmas several years ago. How was I the first to see it? Someone wrote I found an arrowhead in my garden and my daughter took it to school as show and tell and lost it. Somebody else writes, best find a parking spot right in front of my building. Paul in Woodstock you're on WNYC. Hi, Paul.

Paul: Hi, Brian. Long-time fan and second-time caller. I have an interesting story about synchronicity a different kind of wealth. I found a silver money clip in the back of a cab with a beautiful Native American headdress image of a face. Usually, you'd return those kinds of things but I couldn't explain it. It felt like it was destined for me. I kept it with me and seven years later I was on a-- I'm a musician. I was on a music video shoot and the crazy series of synchronicities on the shoot between me and the artist that I was working with. I'm a music-- Anyway, at the end of it all the producer and I, we were all sitting at dinner.

Me, the artist, and the producer and we were talking about all the synchronicities and we took out-- he had a [inaudible 00:08:13] take out the money clips and the producer looks at his and goes, "Oh," she's focused on it. I thought there was something missing and she was from Santa Fe, New Mexico the producer. Now on the back of this money clip, there was a Santa Fe logo, SF. I said, "Oh, Christine check it out. Look at the money. Look at this." She turns it over and that's seven years after I find the clip. She turns it over and she says, "Oh my God, Paul my uncle makes these. My uncle makes these." It was her uncle that produces them. Her family makes those clips.

Brian: That's cool.

Paul: The incredible thing about universal is synchronicity anyway.

Brian: Yes, synchronicity. Absolutely. Paul, great story, thank you very much. Oh, we have a metal detector story since that was the inspiration for this. Somebody who found an amazing thing with a metal detector. Donald in Beacon, you're on WNYC. Hi, Donald.

Donald: Hey Brian. Long-time listener and long-time caller, thank you for taking my call. Yes, twice I've lost my wedding band. The first time I lost it we were catching our laying hens putting them in crates and transporting them to their mobile chicken houses. We were moving them from their winter housing to summer pastures. Their spring pastures and my wedding band fell off. Had to borrow a friend's metal-

Brian: So far you've got two things here. You lost your wedding band twice?

Donald: Yes.

Brian: You're wife might wonder what does that mean if this keeps happening and then you told us you lost it the first time while you were chasing chickens?

Donald: Yes so the first time chasing chickens but also the second time I was up at the gunks climbing and I had taken off my wedding band to start the route. The dead went by and I realized I had lost my wedding band. I had some idea like the vicinity that we were climbing and where the wedding band could be, borrowed the same metal detector, and lo and behold, the next morning saw my wedding band. My wife and I are meant to be, that's how I see it.

Brian: That's great. That's beautiful. You went with a metal detector back up into the mountains, into the gunks, with the metal detector where you were hiking, and you found it by retracing your steps?

Donald: Yes. At the base of the cliff, there were climbing routes, traditional routes, rock climbing. It's funny because I was walking along the busy path, the carriage road and everyone thought I was looking for abandoned gear or gear that had been buried by dirt. I was like, no, no, no, no I'm looking for my wedding band, thank you.

[laughter]

Brian: Donald, thank you, great story. We're going to do one more because Claire in Chelsea doesn't go out with a metal detector, but she does have a system for finding money, it seems like. Claire, you're on WNYC. Hi, real quick because we're almost out of time.

Claire: Good morning. I love this series because I've been finding things all my life, but I think my most valuable which is not $100,000 was two- $100 bills in a pocket of a skirt that I was just looking through in the thrift shop. I didn't buy the skirt. I took the $200 and I took my officer out to a wonderful lunch the next day.

Brian: That's wonderful.

Claire: That's what I did.

Brian: Did I over-interpret this? I thought I saw from the note my screener left that you go into thrift shops, and you look in pockets, and you see what you find.

Claire: I look in pockets, and I did find a beautiful eco-diamond ring in a pocket of something that I'd kept. It's just a fun thing to do in a way to spend some time.

Brian: Thank you very much and thanks for all your calls, the wildest things that you have found. We'll see if the Queens Museum can find a new amendment to the United States Constitution after this.

Copyright © 2021 New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information.

New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of New York Public Radio’s programming is the audio record.