Opinions Please

[Kilroy]

If a purchase is complete  is anything found in the purchase, as long as it's not illegal or  placed there by the buyer now the property of the buyer?  Is there a legal obligation to return the items? I won't get into the moral obligation.

Just  looking for thoughts.

[Eric]

Good question... guess it depends on the value of the item found inside... I bought a 7up embossed
square top... I had done some trading for it.... when he took it off the trailer and we loaded the coolers I traded for it he noticed 2 mercury head nickels on his trailer, his property... he put them in his pocket...
 I didn't mind they were his.. he then went to the 7up machine that was now in my basement, my property, my machine.... he looked in the coin mech and found 3 more Mercury head dimes,
without saying anything he put them in his pocket... I felt then those should have been mine... but not
anything to really complain about... 30 cents?... just kinda neat that this machine had coins that old in it.
And I'd liked to have had those... to sit on the machine....
If this is something similiar like you bought a machine, juke or old car, loaded it, took it home and it is now on your property... and this is a new discovery than you had no idea about... I would say it yours... and it is your choice... This is something they should have checked, gone through... Say if you bought a Victor 2 door cooler and there's a extra opener or cap catcher - cool... and cardboard sign or menu board - extra bonus... Maybe even a Dole Junior still in the box - SWEET!!!!!
But if it got into something like here's a diamond ring or something that could be personal family item I would call and return...

last story and good example... An elderly couple at my church had a auction.... all the money made from the items sold went to the church for missions... The church called me as they knew I collected Coca-Cola items and the owner had worked for Coke... there was nothing really great... a couple old trays and thermometer... but the barn loft had 4 - 4'X6' sunburst coke signs used in between the floors... we took them down, good to fair condition and those brought the most money...

The couple later sold the house and used that money to help with nursing home payments.... the new owners where in the middle of a kitchen remodel.. there was one drawer that wouldn't open all the way
... Craig finally found the reason... there was a coffee can in the very back of the drawer...filled with 15 thousand dollars in cash!!!! Yes 15 grand! HELLO!!!! CHA-CHING!!!... Now... He bought the house.... was in it almost 2 years... I would consider that his property.... He contacted the couple's daughter and gave them the money... They had forgotten all about it... Wow...That would be hard.. But I feel he did the right thing.. and I hope I could have done the same...

So....some odd collectable left inside another... probably keep.... something personal like family items or a
stash of cash... a call only you can make.

[collecture]

Agree with Eric.
When we bought our house, I found (when wiring cable a couple months later) three 1939-1940's Walt Disney/Standard Oil painted tin signs in the attic.
There was a bunch of other office supplies with some other guys name (and business) on them. I believe that one of the previous owner(s) of the house inadvertantly left them and the guy I dealt with knew nothing about them.
He never mentioned them and I did talk to him several times (he even came back by a year or so later). I, of course, did not offer any information, but did not feel I was obligated to either.
Finders keepers...losers weepers as the kids' quote goes!

[mznb1u]

Those are always tough situations!  I would have to go along with what Eric closed his post with - - some odd collectable left inside another... probably keep.... something personal like family items or a stash of cash... a call only you can make.  I will have to let you know what I do when I run into one of those situations.

  Tim

PS--You didn't find Hoffa's body did you Kilroy? 

[Kilroy]

While taking apart the bowling machine this weekend we found stuff. I almost thought it was a kid who was stashing treasure:. A poker chip, with silver  colored insert, in a plastic envelope;. a card of dice, one pair missing,  a gun barrel cleaner; shells (1 or 3 each) form a  .357 and a .22, several ( half dozen) bayonets, and i mean bayonets, switchblades ( illegal now in MI) and daggers;  an NOS pocket calculator ( from the size, early 1980's) a   mint CB radio and antenna( 23 channel) . There were also   several of those coin books, filled or partially filled with pre war pennies, on I think was Buffalo nickels, quarters, etc.

The worker form the estate sale  promptly grabbed the stuff as it was coming out. I don't know if it will go back to the family, or not.  

I didn't want to raise a big fuss, after getting what i thought was a steal  on the bowler, and  it was evident  the machine had to be taken apart to  put the stuff into it, something that wasn't done before I got there. And I didn't get a good enough  at the coins to say, I could have  bought an RC81 or Victor cooler  with them, and while we were still  on the property , the item was already purchased in full.
Shrug, next time the topic of " What have  you found in an old machines", I think I will have everyone beat, not many CB radios and  Liberty half dollars in a  CS72

LOL @ Tim. No body, but hmmm, now that I think about all the daggers and knives..

[Poptop]

In a straight up business situation like yours (no connection with the seller or any personal feelings) that
type of sale should be all in.  You purchased and paid for it, all found contents are your property and what
ever value placed on the item you bought makes no difference.

The value they took from it and you, show the kind of people you were dealing with and that was not
right.

The "fun" of an auction or estate sale is alway the unexpected and the suprise!

Great thread.

[Kilroy]

I didn't want to make a fuss, I was afraid the sales  agents wouldsay, " well here's your money back, and lose the  bowler.

right now, I'm wondering who and why   put the stuff in there. At first i thought a kid, but  daggers? And a CB radio, and antenna?  Silver coins?  bullets and dice?maybe he was waiting for the Apocalypse...

[Marvin]

Tough decision to make.  Probably a good idea not to cause a stir.  But the stuff was yours.  The estate manager should have done a better job of checking things out.

[Funtronics]

I think that once the money has changed hands the item (and anything in it) becomes your property. If you find something in it that you think is personal and think that the family may want it back, thats up to the new owner of the item to decide. Just my 2 cents. 

[SIGNGUY]

Every Dead Mouse, cobwebs and spiders I've found in machines I've purchased, I've promptly packaged them up and sent them back to the owners..  

[sodaman]

I think most of us have made that kind of discoveries, I've had a few, a Jacobs 35 with the coin chute jammed with buffalo nickels, 37 silver dimes in the insulation of a Vendo 83, etc.  but those kind of things you have no way of knowing who put them in there, was it the one you bought it from or the person that sold it to him?  It is like most have said here, whatever makes you feel ok.

[Ginger Prince]

Over here in England  there was a recent media story over

an auction item sold over three years ago. Only recently

the purchaser opened a smaller box that was in the larger

trunk. The trunk belonged to a relative of Agatha Christie

the famous crime writer and had been catalogued as such

in the auction where it had sold for a few hundred pounds.

Inside the smaller box they found jewellery and gold coins

valued at over £100,000  as there was  provenance to the

Christie family.

Obviously, the person who had bought the trunk was delighted

and the story hit the national media. However, auction company

that originally catalogued the trunk were seeking to place claim

on these newly found items, as these items were,

 "not catalogued within the original lot item description" so the buyer

  never purchased these items so they belong to the auction house

  or the original owner who placed them with the auctioneer in the

  first place.


mmmmmmmmmmmmm.............................................................



GP

[Pat Pixley]

GP  in that case I would say let take it to court and then lets see who it belongs to.
The Auction House  did not do there job of checking every thing out first hand and the original
owner is also to blame  for not taking the time to check things out before turning it over to the auction house
both did a crappy job, They both missed it and the auction house caught H377 for not checking it out so they have to make it right for the customer (GO get those coins) what a bunch of dirt bags

  And What Eric was saying about the old people I totally agree with the A+ plus to your buddy .

[Creighton]

I would try and contact the owner and see if they received those items from the estate broker. If not that is theft. From who would be a question.
Side note: Switch blades are legal in WA. State. They can be in a home assembled but to carry or transport in a car they must be dissassembled.
Creighton

[Eric]

Update!...Sorry!.... I was wrong on the amount in the coffe can... it was $5,000.00 not $15,000.00
still alot of coffee!.. So check the kitchen drawers when looking for a house!

[mznb1u]

Years ago, a friend of mine bought an older home in the Chicago area.  He was remodeling the bathroom and removing the plaster so he could replace it with greenboard.  When he opened the wall above the window about $3,200 dropped out of the wall.  Not a fortune but enough to cover the cost of the remodel at the time.

  Tim

[Pat Pixley]

Update!...Sorry!.... I was wrong on the amount in the coffe can... it was $5,000.00 not $15,000.00
still alot of coffee!.. So check the kitchen drawers when looking for a house!

OH THAT"S IT!!!!  Then he should have keep it     Just joking    He still did the right thing
 .

[bigred]

i feel if you payed for it and took possession of it what ever was
in it was yours and yours alone that's how i feel any how
like my Pepsi machine i got it home and opened it and found
like 6$ n quarters and .30 in dimes well the man i got it from had
already said they had had it opened several times trying to figure
out why it wouldn't vend right so i figure they had to know it was
there so all in all it only cost me 93.70 for it 

[sodaworks]

If I find gold coins in a machine that I buy. I'm not telling the media. LOL T

[halehouse]

I have a story that sort of relates, but instead of finding something it is a story about losing something we didn't know we had.

I grew up in Ohio in a house that was built around 1940. My parents bought it in 1967. The house had a large stone fireplace in the living room that was made out of stone from an old schoolhouse. Next to that was a built-in bookcase. One summer in the early 80's we went on vacation. Upon returning home we found the inside basement door (the one that lead to the basement from the kitchen) kicked in and a "junk drawer" open in the kitchen. The basement door had a small latch on it that we always locked for whatever reason. We quickly figured out that someone had broken the window to the outside basement door to gain entry to the basement and came up the stairs from the inside. When they couldn't open to door at the top of the stairs they forced it open and broke the latch. They then took a hammer and screwdriver from the door and made their way to the bookcase in the living room. It was here that we found the hammer and screwdriver laying on the floor and a section of the bottom panel pried off of the bookcase. Under the bookcase, behind where the panel was, there was an accumulation of dust in all but one space about the size of a shoebox. Something had been put there some time prior to my parents purchasing the home in 1967 and this person knew about it and came back to get it. Whatever it was sat behind that panel for many years without us knowing it and was important enough to break in and come back to get it. They didn't bother anything else in the house. I REALLY wish I knew what it was.

[tkaz]

Thats a cool story Dan, I just shared it and everyone agreed that it would drive them nuts to know what someone would break into a house to get back.  Maybe its a good thing you didn't find it first and make them angry when they didn't find it?

[halehouse]

Good point

Maybe its a good thing you didn't find it first and make them

Thats a cool story Dan, I just shared it and everyone agreed that it would drive them nuts to know what someone would break into a house to get back.  Maybe its a good thing you didn't find it first and make them angry when they didn't find it?

[bigred]

wild that would drive you nuts trying to figure out what and who
was it money from a robbery and the person was released from
jail/prison and stood by and waited till the right opportunity reclaim
it hmmmmmm  interesting

[SIGNGUY]

Thats a great story, very interesting...
I'm going to go tear my house apart now, looking for secret compartments..
my luck, i'll only find a remote control and garage door opener I've lost?

[halehouse]

wild that would drive you nuts trying to figure out what and who
was it money from a robbery and the person was released from
jail/prison and stood by and waited till the right opportunity reclaim
it hmmmmmm  interesting

Never thought about a released convict. I just always figured it was someone who lived in the house or built the house and hid something. I just wish I new what it was.