Tin box full of coins and documents/gun

Not really a detecting story, but cool anyway. When I was a kid, my dad and I were ripping out all the plaster lathe in our 1830 house in Annapolis and putting up modern drywall and insulation. We removed some 19th century original built-in cabinets and inside the wall next to one was a tin or lead box with a really old padlock. The built in cabinet had a secret hinged panel that was painted over so many times you would have never known it was there. I remember how excited I was when my dad pulled it from the wall. My dad cut the lock off with a hack saw (Which was too bad because we found the skeleton key in the dust by the where the box was later). Inside the box was a layer of cloth, and underneath several old letters and documents that looked brand new but were dated no later than 1869. There were love letters and a bunch of receipts handwritten for various things like a horse, etc. Under the letters were several keys and a deck of cards. Then my dad pulled out a leather bag that was so dry it started crumbling. Inside the bag were all sorts of coins. They were all United States except for one that was English. In all, there were 12 Gold $5 $10 with a ladies profile and eagle on back dated in the 1820's-1860's. Many 50 cent silver pieces, the earliest dating to 1806. There were about 65 silver coins and 100 copper coins, all in perfect condition. My dad gave me a 1828 half cent that I still have. My dad kept the coins for many years and actually got so interested in them that he started collecting coins. One day though, their house was burglarized and all the coins were stolen. The police did contact him and asked him to identify property when someone was caught selling stolen property and my dad did identify his coins (or what was left), but afterwards the police said the coins disappeared from the evidence room after the trial and were not responsible for them.... So the coins were lost again. Everyone, get a safe or hide your things well. I think about the coins all the time. I'm sure there was a fortune worth...I'm sure some cop is living it up on my dime. Literally.

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