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By Gerrard Kaonga
US News Reporter
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A husband and wife stumbled upon an estimated 1 million copper pennies while clearing out a dead family member's home in California, according to reports.
John Reyes, a realtor from the Inland Empire area and his family are weighing up what do after they discovered the treasure trove in a crawlspace in his father-in-law's former home in the Pico-Union, a neighborhood in Los Angeles.
The home was built in the early 1900s and the family members believe it once operated as a bed and breakfast. They also said John's father-in-law, Fritz, and his brother lived in the home for decades, according to a Fox 5 report.
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John, his wife Elizabeth, her sister, her cousin and their spouses have been attempting to clean out the home in hopes of eventually renovating it for the next generation.
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He said that the family came across items of various levels of importance and the clearing out of the home has taken several years.
Initially, the family started finding loose pennies, then crates and boxes before eventually finding dozens of bank bags filled with old coins.
Searching through the bags, the family identified the coins as being copper, not zinc, which the U.S. switched to in the 1980s.
The discovery was made last year, but the family now faces confusion as to what to do next about the coins.
"Some of the banks don't even exist anymore," Reyes said reflecting on all the financial paper rolls that had survived alongside the discovery of the coins.
"We've got to take these to Coinstar," Reyes initially thought before changing his mind.
He noted that the family decided to check with some of the banks in Los Angeles to see if any were interested. Reyes remarked that one Wells Fargo branch said it was simply too many coins for the bank to handle.
Considering the possibility of taking the coins to their local bank in San Bernardino County, the family began getting them into a vehicle.
"Literally bag-by-bag, we had to take them out of the basement, up the stairs, and into the trucks, it took hours. It took a whole day just to get them out of the crawlspace," Reyes said.
Much to their disappointment, after moving the coins to their home in Ontario, California, their local bank refused to take the pennies. The family was urged to go through the bags and search for rarities, however.
Reyes said the value of the coins is in their "uniqueness," but noted he has heard stories of people finding pennies worth millions of dollars.
Following the lack of success exchanging the coins at banks, the family has listed the coins on OfferUp, a popular resale app and website. They have asked for $25,000 and if their estimate of 1 million pennies is accurate, that is more than double the estimated $10,000 value in normal currency.
Attempting to explain how his relatives came to be in possession of so many copper coins, Reyes said his father-in-law likely saw an opportunity to build wealth for his family.
Fritz, who had worked as a butcher in Hollywood for years, would take his paychecks to the bank and purchase copper pennies knowing that their value would increase over time.
Reyes added that his father-in law was always trying to put himself in the best position and the family now intends to ensure his efforts pay off even if they haven't yet received any serious offers to take all of the coins off their hands.
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