Albany Coin Club seeks and finds buried treasures

ALBANY — Excitement was busting out all over at the big coin show at the Knights of Columbus on Saturday. Just before noon on the first day of the weekend show, folks were bringing in their “hidden treasures” and hoping for a big payoff.

In part to promote the Southwest Georgia Coin Club show and coin collecting as a hobby, organizers were offering rewards just to view and document certain old bank notes from Albany’s formative years. Club officials say there were seven charter national banks existing, and rewards for documentation of those notes would range from $100 to $500. Even better, note holders would be able to keep those treasures along with the rewards. If the owners preferred to sell their notes, club specialists would be there to help locate sources for the sale, club officials said.

Jay and Nancy Ventullet showed up with their framed $10 note from First National Bank of Albany. Jay Ventullet said the note was handed down from his grandfather, William Banks Haley, president of the bank. The bank building now houses the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce, Ventullet said.

W.B. Haley is famous also as owner of the first large Coca Cola franchise and bottling operation in Southwest Georgia, Jay Ventulett said.

Another treasure seeker who chose to remain anonymous arrived with her strip of six uncut $20 notes, also from Haley’s bank.

“My ex-husband’s grandfather was J.T. Haley and his great uncle was William Banks Haley,” the woman said. “J.T. Haley gave (the notes) to my husband when (her husband) was very young, along with some coins. It was when he was about five, I think, and he’s 74 now, so that was a long time ago.”

The notes, which looked as if they were just printed, were kept in a safe deposit box, the woman said, and removed only rarely to show them off. Now stretched out straight and in a frame, the woman said the strip had originally been folded between the notes, which decreases the value some. Still, their worth is considerably greater than their total face value.

“She’ll probably win the $100 prize for small notes,” said Jeff Neal, a past president of the SOWEGA Coin Club. “One of the things we’re trying to do is to help her determine the value of the notes. Obviously, the value is what somebody will pay for them. We have a lot dealers here, and we’ve got interest already. (The notes) are in “almost uncirculated” condition and there’s $1,200 on the table already.”

Neal said he thought the woman might sell the notes for as much as $5,000.

Reynolds Horton, another past club president, said the club is interested in promoting interest in coin collecting to others, especially children and young people. As a part of that effort, five children were given information on the history of coinage and the opportunity to select pennies from a club collection and mount them in their free “penny books” and take them home.

“When I was a little boy, whenever I lost a tooth my dad would give me a numismatic value coin,” Horton said. “Not just a quarter or a nickle, but a standing liberty quarter, a buffalo nickle or an Indian head penny — something like that. We talked about the coins, and it wasn’t spending money. It was savings money, and I’ve been collecting as long as I can remember.”

Horton said he collects mostly for enjoyment, but coin collections can increase in value as much as 15 percent each year or more — as much as investing in the stock market.

According to Horton, coin collecting — and collecting in general — has seen a decline in Albany and around the country, with most collectors around 45 years of age or older.

“I think a lot of the problems came when (the government) pulled all the silver out of the coins and made them all plated,” Horton said.”

Anyone who might like to try coin collecting should contact the Southwest Georgia Coin Club at (229) 349-3112, Horton said, or send an e-mail to [email protected].

The show continues through 3 p.m. today at Knights of Columbus on Gillionville Road.