Mystery Donors Are Dropping Rare Coins Worth Thousands Into Salvation Army Kettles

As Salvation Army workers in Oregon were tallying up cash donations to their red collection kettles from Thanksgiving weekend last year, they came across an unusual gift: A 1927 double eagle gold coin, which carries a value of $2600 on the collector’s market.

Even more curious: It’s one of many rare and valuable coins being deposited at the Christian charity organization’s donation stations across the country in what may be a focused effort to make the charity program’s season a lot brighter.

As Smithsonian reporter Sarah Kuta observes, rare coins have been turning up in at least 10 different states, making a lone benefactor unlikely. A South African Krugerrand one-ounce gold coin worth thousands surfaced in Napa Valley, California; an Elizabeth II coin with a value of $2700 was donated in Washington County, Pennsylvania; in Fargo, North Dakota, several gold coins worth $9800 were retrieved from various buckets.

In some locations, the unique form of generosity has become a tradition: Krugerrand coins have been donated annually in Michigan’s Macomb County since 2012.

The Salvation Army may have to get these coins appraised by experts, but sometimes their value is shared by the donors themselves. In 2019, a person approached a kettle in North Carolina with a heavy coin wrapped in a dollar bill. It almost didn’t fit in the coin slot. Afterward, the local Salvation Army office got a phone call advising them that a rare 1915 Austrian 100 Corona gold coin had been donated. It was valued at the time at around $1500.

While it’s possible a national network of collectors is conspiring to effect holiday cheer, the donors are more likely copycats inspired by press coverage. “You’d always hear those stories all over the country of people dropping in gold coins,” Matt Lerner of Frederick, Maryland, told WHAG-TV in 2011. That year, Lerner donated five rare coins totaling $9000.

It can also become a habit. The organization recently profiled an anonymous donor from Evanston, Illinois, who maintained a stash of gold coins for the express purpose of supporting the group. When she died in 2024, she left a gold coin collection worth $40,000 to the organization.

The Salvation Army’s red kettle drive began in San Francisco in 1891, when Captain Joseph McFee emulated a similar charity strategy he had seen in Liverpool, England. The kettle matched the campaign’s slogan: “Keep the pot boiling,” a reference to a need to feed the hungry. In 2019, more than 25,000 kettles were in operation around the U.S.

Rare coins aren’t the only anomaly. The Salvation Army reports that jewelry, electronics, and even artwork have been slipped into the containers.

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