5 Gallon Bucket of..... Trash or Treasure - Part 1

My husband does maintenance work for dry cleaners & laundromats. He repairs & maintains the equipment. Every now and then he has to replace or clean out a drain on a washer. We are talking about commercial equipment not a household washer or dryer. He had to replace a drain and some piping a while back, it's a dirty job but he gets it done. He comes home with this 5 gallon bucket of gunk & tells me it's full of coins. He's knows I won't mind going through this because I enjoy metal detecting.

5 Gallons of Gunk

As you can see it's not only coins but you got all sorts of other things that somehow make it into the drain from a washing machine. People go to laundromats, throw there dirty clothes in without bothering to check all the pockets. So, most of this stuff such as loose change, pens, welding sticks, pocket knives, yes pocket knives and jewelry all end up down the drain and eventually it all clogs up.

Here's my process: I go through and rinse the thick gunk away as best as possible. I then will separate what I can coins from junk, pens screws, paperclips. Since this has taken time to build up the clad change will be stuck in bundles from the lint from clothing, the years of laundry detergent & softener. Next will be the discoveries. Afterwards, it all goes through a rock tumbler for a better cleanup.

A clump of change. A clump of coins tangled in with a gold chain.

1979 Susan B. Anthony - One Dollar Coin

Something Round

My take for the day, does not include the clad change that needs to go through a rock number for extra cleaning.
The thicker chain is 14K Gold, the engraved ring is .925 and a dollar coin. Not too bad for playing with gunk, lol! I'd had only gone through maybe a quarter of the bucket.

Stay tuned for Part 2.
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