What Have You Found Searching Through Old Mail?

I am in the middle of cataloging a ton of letters, envelopes, FDC's, and post cards from an attic find (Man what a job!). Anyway, as I was going through some old mail I found a ten dollar bill. My heart skipped a beat because I thought it was a Silver Certificate, but no such luck...still pretty cool.

Anyone else stumble across some unexpected treasure in old mail?

I found a twice used envelope.

A postal history collection.
Do the covers, cards and FDCs have a common thread, location?

Back in the 1980's I purchased a 1910 vintage house from the estate of my grandfather's cousin, who had been rather prominent in local affairs in her day and had served as the Democratic National Committeewoman from Washington State from 1948 – 1964. After some immediate family members and an estate dealer had taken out what they wanted the house was going to be cleaned and I could move in. I had the presence of mind to tell the realtor DON'T CLEAN THE HOUSE, just leave anything that is there", assuming that some of the attic boxes left behind might be interesting.

There were lots of old letters, interesting postmarks (including RPO's, Alice worked for the Northern Pacific Railroad as one of the first woman clerks), articles and pictures of local historical interest, political memorabilia going back to FDR, and I think I found a $10.00 bill in an envelope also.

A particularly interesting item was a note on U.S. Senate stationary post marked June 17, 1960 and signed Jack Kennedy, thanking Alice for her endorsement of his presidential candidacy. Another was a letter postmarked February 5, 1957 and signed Eleanor Roosevelt.

When my sister and I were going through stuff at my dad's house a few years ago, we found several letters that I (precocious four-year-old that I was) had written to my dad, who was overseas in the Navy at the time. They're pretty hilarious. My favorite, though, is one that I dictated to my cousin when I was three and still couldn't write. In that letter I stated, "I want Japanese record." Some things never change.

Not really an old mail story, but interesting finding from old house nonetheless. Several years back I bought an autograph document signed of Thomas Nelson Jr, a signer of the Declaration of Independence from Virginia. This document involved a loan to Nelson from fellow Signer, Carter Braxton, who also added a line and signed on the verso. Essentially a promissory note all in Nelson's hand and signed three times by him.

When I asked the seller for the provenance of the piece, he told me that one of his hobbies is renovating old houses and he came across a house undergoing the initial demo with a lot of junk and debris scattered along the sidewalk. This note was sitting in a box of old paper on top of a trash can. The seller asked the renovators if he could take the "trash" to which they readily agreed. This dual signer piece is worth around $7000. One can only imagine what else was in the "box of trash."

Great finds everyone! Some of the best finds, I think, are sentimental ones.

littleriverphil - No, there is not really a rhyme, reason or theme that I have come across yet. I have finished cataloging 99% of FDC's (790 so far) ranging from 1944 to 1966.

I'm working on foreign letters/postcards now, so far they're between 1946 and 1963 (75 so far and I'm about half way through).

Next will be about 200 letters from and to ancestors. There are at least 2 Civil War letters (writer was a Union soldier),but the bulk are 20th century beginning circa 1935. The son was in the Navy and traveled a lot. A preliminary review is interesting, but don't see a whole lot of value.

Finally, will come about 200-300 post cards around the same era. I've scanned through those and, while there is no common theme, there are a lot of great pictures.

Still hoping to find some interesting stuff. The search continues.

A photo of my uncle, in the foreground in uniform, standing on a dirt hill with the Pentagon building still under construction in the background. He was one of the engineers and became the 1st commandant of the Pentagon. Only sentimental value, but buckets of it!

1. $100 bill in a modern envelope
2. Old uncashed check for $10