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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 27, 1955)
o FGTfRTETW KXDTORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE Sunday, November 27, 1955 Buried Treasure Snuff -Box Canes Are Quite Rare Nowadays It had been acouple of years since I had seen Sid and as I lit a cigarette I offered him one. "No thanks," he said. "I've long since gotten over that dis gusting and dangerous habit, thank Heaven." He selected an ebony stick with a gold head on it from a rack of canes. . As he spoke, he gave the head of the cane a twist, lifted it off and glanced down delightedly at the top of the cane. "Aha," he exclaimed excited ly, putting the gold head back on. He walked over to the desk some 15 feet away and an nounced he would take the cane. In another minute he had paid for it and was coming back. "This is my lucky day," he said, pulling a small pouch from his coat pocket, "I've been look ing for a stick like this for months, and to think I finally got it for $20." "What is it," I asked. "Can't you guess," he said, giv ing the head of the cane a turn and doing something with the pouch. "Look at it," he went on, holding it up in front of me. "Observe closely, please," he continued. "Now, sniff deeply." I sniffed. It was a good ten seconds before I caught on, and by then I was trying to suppress an unsuppressible sneeze. "It's a snuff-box cane," he said when I had recovered sufficient ly to hear him. "They're quite rare nowadays, and for me to get one like this is really something. Why, I saw one the other day go for S8 right while I was try ing to make up my mind." I examined the stick carefully. There must have been a full ounce of gold in the head of the cane, and the tiny mark on the under side of the band showed it to be 16 carat. UNUSED 1880 POST OFFICE SEAL WORTH AT LEAST $60 "I guess we can safely open this now," said Jim, holding up an impressing-looking envelope and slitting open one end. There were eight of us present I and we watched curiously. The contents consisted of a single en velope which in turn contained a picture and description of one of Great' Uncle Charlie's inven tions. He had mailed them to himself by registered mail and kept it unopened. Evidently he had expected some kind of a court contest over his gadget and intended to use the letter as proof of priority. But though the contents were virtually valueless, it occurred to pie the envelope might not be. And what gave me that thought was not the postage stamps on the inner envelope, which were worth. $2 or $3 at the most, but the registry stamp on the outer one. I had never seen one like it before. It was a big thing, bluish green in color, on soft, porous paper, and it was affixed on the back of the envelope over the juncture of the flaps. In the middle of the stamp was a circle across which was super imposed the word REGISTERED. Around the circle was the legend "Stamp Here Date And Place Of Mailing." There was no denomination. The purpose of the stamp was simply to protect the enclosed, registered letters from being tampered with while in transit. On the front of the envelope was Great Uncle Charlie's name and box number. Evidently some friend in the post office had de cided to make the envelope extra official and had put the letter through in that way. It was difficult to determine the value of the piece. Post Of fice Seals, as .they are known, list at $60, unused, for the 1880 issue which ours was. Used ones are unlisted, but we finally sold the cover for $150. 1927 S BUFFALO NICKEL WORTH UP TO $80 EACH Ned handed me a roll of nickels that had been opened at one end. . "I found these in a drawer in the office safe," he said, "and I looked them up in a catalogue. They're worth a dollar each.. Not bad, eh?" I shook the top coin out. It was a 1927 buffalo nickel. On the reverse side, beneath the words FIVE CENTS that appear under the buffalo, I could make out a tiny S, the San Francisco mint mark. The coin was mint clean. "I guess my old man got this roll from the bank which had gotten it from'the mint. They are all the same," said Ned. I asked to see the catalogue he had used for looking the coin up. It was one of the cheap, paper-covered ones put out by some dealers. A check of the standard catalogues showed a decidedly different price. One of them valued the 1927 nickel with the S mint mark at from $3.50 for very fine condi tion to $80 uncirculated. Another quoted a spread of $4 to $85. . Ned gasped when he saw the figures. "Bur, these are all un circulated. Let's see. That means these are worth . . "Don't try to figure it out," I warned him "If anyone tossed 50 identical coins on the market at once, the bottom would drop out of the price. The thing for you to do is to dispose of them one at a time." "But I can't go around ped dling these things from dealer to dealer," he said, " and I cer tainly see no point in keeping them. I'm not a collector." I agreed that he might as well get rid of them and suggested he run an advertisement in one of the numismatic publications requesting offers for a single coin. . When I checked with him a week ago, he still had plenty of nickels left, but his total revenue from sales was in excess of $500. (Released by McClure Newspaper Syndicate) Two Appear In Court OnAufo Theft Charges Roy E. Armstrong, 21, Ever Shady motel, and Ralph Aaron Pearson, 31, Crater motel, ap peared in district court yester day on charges of larceny of a motor vehicle. Pearson waived preliminary hearing and his case was con tinued until Monday morning for him to decide whether he will obtain counsel, court rec ords disclosed. Armstrong was given until the same time to determine whether he will ask a preliminary hearing. The auto involved belonged to Primio Ciardi, 40 Quince st., according to state police. It was taken from near Hawthorne park about 6:15 p.m. Friday, they said. The two men were ar rested on Highway 99 south of Phoenix about 7:15 p.m. Census Shows 152 More Pupils In District 6 Central Point The annual census of school district 6 shows an increase of 152 students over last year's enrollment, Superin tendent H. P. Jewett has an nounced. Total enrollment is 2, 411, compared to 2,259 last year. There are 1,706 students en rolled in Central Point schools, compared to 1,614 last year. Gold Hill enrollment increased from 431 last year to 483 this Dr. Hardy C. Powers To Speak Here Dec. 4 Dr. Hardy C. Powers, who has served for 12 years as one of five superintendents in the Church of the Nazarene, will speak to year, and Sams Valley increased from 154 to 172. The only de cline was. at Table Rock, where some 50 studentc are enrolled this year compared to 60 last year. The age levels showing the greatest increase are four, eight, 13 and 14 year olds. the Medford congregation Sun day, Dec. 4. He will be accompanied by the Rev. W. D. McGraw Jr., district superintendent of the Oregon Pacific district. In connection with his 'South ern Oregon visit, Dr. Powers will receive charter members into the membership of a sec ond Nazarene church to be or ganized soon under the joint sponsorship of the Medford con gregation and the Oregon-Pacific district. Air Force Cadets Name Falcon Mascot 'Mach I' Denver U.R) Air Force academy cadets have renamed their Falcon mascot "Mach I" a scientific word for the speed of sound. When Mach I dies his succes sor will" be dubbed Mach II twice the speed of sound. The third mascot will be Mach III. and so on. Mach I formerly held the un scientific name Fred.' of "Fearless to Low Cost Diesel in Our New H.C. Little Diesel Burning Stoves MEDFORD FUEL CO. Tel. 2-2111 Court & Mc Andrews USE TRIBUNE WANT ADS! Trk TT. T r9 I GIGANTIC THE GRE HAVE IVE BE AMAZ ON THE S EST CLEARANCE OF WOMEN'S AND GIRLS READY TO WEAR WE ......... ! SEEN! 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