As many of you know, I'm getting rid of my collection(s), and in doing so, I offered ALL of my World foreign coins to the Boy Scouts of America. I got an email response from the regional director, which covers Montana, Idaho, and I think So. Dakota. We made arrangements for him to come to my cabin, as I'm not in condition to travel. I told him I was off the grid and hard to find, and he replied, in a boastful air; "Just give my your coordinates and I will find the place." I gave him the coordinates straight from my phones GPS. I later triple checked it to make sure it was correct, as he emailed me back that he went to those coordinates and couldn't find my cabin, or any sign that there was ever a building there. So much for his Boy Scouts achievement patch for reading maps. I sent him an Earth Google map, with the exact roads highlighted to take right to my cabin. Never heard from him again. I offered them to the Girl Scouts of America and never got a response at all. I never thought; 1) it would be so difficult to find contact information for two of the largest organizations in the World, and 2) it would be so hard to GIVE AWAY MONEY! If any of you out there, collect specific coins from foreign countries, and would like me to send you some, please just PM me your address and I'll mail them to you. Please don't ask for all of them, as I couldn't afford the mailing cost. End of rant.
@Mountain Man I know how you must feel. I have tried to give stuff away, stuff I thought was valuable and interesting. Books, nobody wants them. I had a complete set of Feynman Lectures, some Natural Science books, other very expensive books, finally gave them to the library to be buried in their storage. Schools didn't want them. I have hundreds of unused US Postage Stamps that are difficult to unload. I'm using them.
For finding locations use What 3 Words. Its an app on your phone. https://what3words.com/pretty.needed.chill What3words is a proprietary geocode system designed to identify any location on the surface of Earth with a resolution of about 3 metres
Just goes to show you how far off the grid you are to the city folk. That's too bad that they haven't gotten back too you. It is no doubt there loss and really missing out on the story of the coins that come with them. Maybe try to connect with them again. Even the local troop leader to pass them on to the rest. It really is their loss.
@Mountain Man Wow, what a generous offer. I too have a few boxes of foreign coins. Too me they are a catalyst to research the history of the coin. I hope you find a home for your coins and that they inspire others as mine have me. The Boys and Girls Scouts have missed an opportunity. @Inspector43 I had the same problem last year when I closed out my dads estate. I gave boxes of books to the local church thrift store. I was able to find a home for the folders of first day issues and many stamps (individual and sheets). They went to my nephew. He really liked the first day issues because of all the Space Agency stuff that was included. I was glad to find someone interested to give them too. As for the unused stamps - mail you Christmas gift with them. They can serve as postage and wrapping paper at the same time.
I like that. I am a member of The Sons of the American Revolution. As a member of one committee I needed to send some files. They got a large envelope covered in Bi-centennial stamps. My wife is a member of The Daughters of the American Revolution. Much of her committee files get covered in the same way. Since the USPS is making wallpaper (way too many new stamps each year) we are using it as designed.
Do you think the Historic Society in your town near or a museum would be interested? Bless your heart! You are very kind!
Museums from what I've have seen and read don't do a very good job of sharing items donated to them. Many people donate personal items to museums because they want them to shared with the public to see and/or read about their history. The museums take the items and place them in storage often never to be seen again. I would say this often occurs in the bigger museums, so if I was goingto do this I would donate my items to smaller perhaps regional type museums.
Yes I was thinking that the smaller towns in Montana but you are right, some may not want to take the time.
Having lived in Bozeman I can say that once you get off of the Interstate just about every road becomes a dirt road. I’ve been to places that a tobacco tin was nailed to a tree and Mail Box was painted on the tree. There are no road signs, no house numbers, nor anything else that helps one to find a place. GPS does not work at all. I’ve never been to your place but not goes to show how dependent some have become on things to assist us in finding a place. All roads lead somewhere so it’s not like you can get lost. And I’ve been out in the bush in just about all 42 states that I’ve been too.
My opinion is that a collector is better off liquidating the collection and then donating the money to their favorite organization. Neither the Boy nor Girl Scouts is in a position to display your collection. I am also not impressed with the idea of simply giving coins to young people. If they have to do something to earn them, that is better, and they might value them more. I’m not impressed with the way museums handle most such donations. The biggest and prestigious in the nation, the Smithsonian, has not done that much with the Lilly Collection after the government provided a tax credit for them to take possession of it. It would have been better if the coins had been sold to the next generation of collectors in my opinion.
