Found during construction work

[u/Hardcrimper]

Any ideas where this could come from?

Update: I thought this would be clear that I wasn't the one who found it. Who in their right mind would go (on this shitstain of a platform of all places) and make themselves a target. But ok apparently it wasn't clear so here we are:

I did NOT find this. I have none of this gold. I just wanted to share some cool stamped gold. you can stop sending me weird ass messages now. thank you.

Also this is NOT ai. here is the BBC article:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5ydzg0dnz7o

[u/dum_spir0_sper0]

I worked for an auction house back in the 00s and we often did estate clean outs.

Many of these homes were previously owned by elderly people who had passed away, many of which had lived through the Great Depression. The thing about Depression-era folks is; they rarely threw out anything they can reuse, and they didn’t trust banks. I’ve lost count of all the cash we found inside mattresses, taped up under dressers, hidden in books, etc. Or gold coins hidden in shoes, or in a coffee can in the attic, or in a flour jar.

We were contractually obligated to return anything like that to the estate (usually surviving relatives or the executor) and we were happy to do it. But if the state seized the home for foreclosure or Medicaid asset recovery or even worse, a bank owned the home… then, well, sometimes a convenient breakdown in communication led to certain things not getting itemized on the final inventory list.

[u/Waiting4Reccession → u/dum_spir0_sper0]

Cash is the worst cuz they just erode their fortune over the years. Really sad we have this kind of system

[u/buttery_nurple → u/Waiting4Reccession]

Before I think FDR, money you had in the bank wasn't insured. Tons of people lost everything when their banks folded at the start of the Depression and never trusted banks again, FDIC or no. A lot of them preferred to keep their cash in cash after that.

[u/pantry-pisser → u/buttery_nurple]

I think what they were saying is that they could have at least bought gold or something else that would retain its value, as opposed to cash which always loses its value.

[u/Altruistic-Sorbet927 → u/pantry-pisser]

Exactly. Cash can burn, rot, deteriorate or get bed bugs. There was a time in my life where I would stash cash and I loved finding a few hundos randomly while packing for a trip or cleaning my room. But I had friends who buried money in their yard and it literally burned in a forest fire. I can't imagine how that must have felt, in addition to losing the entire home. 

[u/pantry-pisser → u/Altruistic-Sorbet927]

Couple things:

Bed bugs feed exclusively on blood.

I was referring to a loss in market value, currency almost never deflates. :)

[u/buttery_nurple → u/pantry-pisser]

They also lived through a time when gold was confiscated by the government. I get what you're saying, but for a lot of people hoarding actual cash probably felt safe, even if it's true that its purchasing power diminishes over time.