Flea market box yields Charles Schwab treasure

Morning Call ^ | June 21, 2008 | Matt Assad

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Penny McKim is an antiques hobbyist who considers herself a skilled treasure hunter. So when she came across a shoebox full of coins and medals at a church flea market in Montgomery County, she had an idea she'd struck gold.

Turns out that $5 box contained three ounces of gold in the form of a distinctive medal presented in 1928 to Charles M. Schwab, the man who built Bethlehem Steel into a world titan.

''It's rather ironic,'' said McKim, of Stowe, Montgomery County. ''Schwab was a powerful man who ended up dying penniless, yet I'm sitting here with three ounces of his gold.''

Exactly what that treasure is worth remains in question and probably won't be known until the day McKim sells her find. She's already heard from gold dealers offering her $1,300 for the right to simply melt down the 14-karat-gold medal and mine it for its gold value.

''Oh, good heavens, I hope she doesn't allow that,'' said David Alexander, a medals expert with Stack's, a New York auction house that specializes in rare coins and medals. ''I'm quite sure this is a one-of-a-kind piece. It should not be destroyed.''

The piece, a Bessemer Gold Medal, was awarded to Schwab by the Iron and Steel Institute of London. Now the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, the trade group has been giving the medal since 1874 to one person each year for outstanding services in the steel industry, said Hilda Kaune, library coordinator at the London institute.

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This coin Penny McKim (CQ) of West Pottsgrove found contained three ounces of gold in the form of a one-of-kind medal presented to Bethlehem Steel founder Charles Schwab. (Catherine Meredith/TMC)/daily Assad story

[2ndDivisionVet]

Author Napoleon Hill talks quite a bit about Mr. Schwab in his classic “Think and Grow Rich” and other books.

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If I’m lucky, I might find the book you cite at a tag sale this weekend! ;-D

[csvset]

Good buy!

[2ndDivisionVet]

I’d be VERY surprised if you don’t see one there or at a thrift store, etc... They printed many millions of them, and it’s still in print (since 1937!) http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/103-0349514-1817440?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=think+grow+rich&x=15&y=22

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My Dad used to be an expert at prospecting gold items at yard sales ... and then bragged about not ever paying more than a quarter for anything. ;-D

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Thanks ... sounds like a great summer read.

[teechbiz]

the book think and grow rich is such an amazing book. with the phenomena of the book the secret I thought I'd visit a book I'd heard of but never read, the secret. Now my husband and I have a hardcover edition for ourselves and for both of my sons. It can change your life if you put it's principles to work in yours.

[proxy_user]

I used to chat up the ladies at a thrift store on 3rd Avenue near 28th St.

They once admitted to me that someone had contributed gold and diamond jewelry, and they had sold it for practically nothing thinking it was costume jewelry.

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Hehehe ... almost my old neighborhood ... [2nd Ave at 22nd.] You could find some neat stuff on the sidewalk on trash day. ;-D