Cleaning out your parents' home after they pass can be like navigating a JUNKYARD . . . or a GOLD MINE. And for these people, it was a COPPER mine.
A couple in L.A. were cleaning out their parents' home last year, and they discovered a TON of pennies in a tight crawlspace in the back of the basement.
There were loose pennies . . . boxes of pennies . . . crates of pennies . . . and dozens of bank bags filled with pennies. They estimate that there's a MILLION of them, if not more.
They didn't say exactly how old they are . . . but the pennies are copper . . . not zinc, which the U.S. switched to in the 1980s.
The problem is: What do you do with one million pennies?
Their first thought was Coinstar, but they didn't want to lose 8% . . . and logistically, it wouldn't work, since it would be a pain to get the pennies there, and just a bag or two would probably jam up the machines.
They called around to banks, but NONE of them were interested. One bank manager even warned them NOT to bring them in . . . saying they didn't have room in the vault to accept bulk pennies.
One million pennies would be $10,000 . . . but the couple thinks there's more "value in the uniqueness" of the collection. And they said that it's possible that there are rare pennies in there somewhere.
They put up ads online, saying they'd part with them for $25K. But they've only received low-ball offers back so far. One person offered the copper value, but that proved to be impractical. So, for now they're holding onto them.
By the way, it's unclear why the home owners had stashed all those pennies . . . but the family believes they intentionally converted paychecks to copper pennies, believing that their value would be worth more over time. (KTLA)