Pickle jars & 2,000 coins

[Hum]

ST. CLOUD ? Florida has a long history of buried, lost or sunken treasures.

Most involve shipwrecks and gold doubloons or "Pieces of Eight."

This tale involves a condemned home with a crumbling chimney in a neighborhood once home to Civil War veterans near the shores of East Lake Tohopekaliga.

"The house was full of Florida junk," neighbor Jim Tuck said Friday about the 60 pounds of silver coins discovered in the recently demolished North Minnesota Avenue home. "It was grab, grab, grab and then talk, talk, talk."

Stored for decades inside the walls, large glass pickle jars holding the more than 2,000 coins shattered when a crew of St. Cloud city workers leveled 1915 bungalow on April 22.

At least one large construction Dumpster had been removed before a member of the crew kept hearing the sound of metal pouring out of the walls.

"It was like a treasure hunt ? the more you dug the more you found," said Melissa Howes of city code enforcement, laughing about the scramble to find more. "We thought we might be able to keep it like finders keepers, but it was city property."

The last owner of the house, Lamarr LoMax Lowe, abandoned it last year after failing to pay $511,500 in code-enforcement liens including daily $250 fines for more than 10 years, according to city records.

more & video

[rfirth]

The last owner of the house, Lamarr LoMax Lowe, abandoned it last year after failing to pay $511,500 in code-enforcement liens including daily $250 fines for more than 10 years, according to city records.

 

That's a story right there that I'd like a follow-up on.

[Hum]

$511,500 in code-enforcement liens .... the whole house can't be worth that much.

[xendrome]

$511,500 in code-enforcement liens .... the whole house can't be worth that much.

 

A lien on a property or structure has nothing to do with the value of said property of structure.