Man Leaves Behind a Fortune in Gold Coins
Not everyone makes the headlines when they pass away, but 69 year old Walter Samasko Jr. did. In May 2012 Walter passed away leaving behind more than $7 million dollars in gold coins. When anyone asks what kind of man Walter was the answer is not hard to give. He was a quiet mild mannered human being. He lived a simple and humbled life, inside his three bedroom house. Apparently while cleaning Walter’s home, the cleaning crew discovered mislabeled boxes, and what was inside was absolutely astonishing. It was a 2600 piece gold coin collection, worth over seven million dollars in United States currency.
The coin collection contains many forms of coins, such as silver and gold bullions. Walter did not have a will, a wife or any children to leave his wealth to, so the state did the next best thing. They located Walter’s next of kin- Arlene Magdanz, his first cousin. Arlene has plans of her own. Her decision is to take the coins to auction, and see how much she gets for them. She must have done well, because the first batch of coins sold for $3 ½ million dollars. She is now making plans to sell the other half of the coins at a later date; which totals about six lots. The next lot includes silver coins.
Everyone is curious as to how much money Arlene will make in her upcoming auction sales. Who would have thought that riches such as this could be found in a comfortable three bedroom home? When people own houses, land or wealth and they pass away; their possessions are given to their next of kin. This is usually a wife, husband, child, aunt or uncle. In Walter’s case he had no other living relative, so his fortune was passed on to his first cousin.
When it is all said and done, Walter could have bought anything in life he desired. He could have owned several houses, several boats and a few nice cars. Instead he might have enjoyed being a coin collector. This is typical of so many people. They spend their entire life saving their wealth, until they find the right time to spend it. In Walter’s case, the right time never came, and whether or not Walter intended to spend his wealth is merely an unanswered question. This should be a lesson to everyone who is saving some form of wealth for a rainy day. Do not wait too long to spend what you earn. If you do someone else, you have not seen or heard from in years, could be the very person the court appoints to inherit your wealth.
If Walter was active in a charity or had another relative he favored, he could have left it with them. Instead like so many of us, Walter did not have a will, simply because he did not know that he would not be around to enjoy his wealth. It could be that Walter only wanted to admire his collection and not spend it. Whatever, his reasons were, they are not part of Arlene’s plan. Arlene is set on selling the coins at auction and raking in the cash, her intentions for the money is not known.
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