A Penny Saved

Dear Dr. Sadie,

I have a complicated problem. About 5 years ago, my wife and I bought a house from a family that didn't need it anymore. They had lived in the house for 5 generations, and they were sad to sell it. The patriarch was being moved into a nursing home, and all of his children were grown and living in other towns. They couldn't afford to keep it. Unfortunately, they were very obnoxious during the sale - making all sorts of demands and changing their minds several times. It was horrible, but we were happy to buy the house, and we love it. We have not heard from them since the sale.

Last week I was digging in the garden, and I found an old tin box. I opened it up, and I found the patriarch's coin collection from when he was a child. His name was on the box, and it contained several coins that were probably a little valuable when he put the box there, sometime in the 1920s or 1930s. We had the collection appraised, and it's worth about $15,000 to $25,000. We could use the money, and we're sure the patriarch doesn't remember putting the box in the garden (he has memory issues).

So what do we do, Dr. Sadie? Do we give the collection to the family, even though they are horrible, nasty people who tried to squeeze every penny from us during the sale? Do we keep the collection for our children? Do we sell it and use the proceeds for our own purposes? Do we donate the money to Alzheimer's research? 

Please help.

- In a Pickle

I think you should put the house on sale and use the money for a big birthday party. Then you can live in a different house. You should buy a white house.

Since you love this house, though, I don't think you should sell it. You should sell the coin collection and give the money back to that man. He buried it, and it belongs to him.

This is a wonderful chance for you to see the true meaning of being a person. You should be nice, even though he wasn't nice to you.