The Wanderlust Lady and the Door to Door Salesman - 13

September 9, 2012

The next morning, nice and early, and with luck a bright sun in the sky, I decided to make a start on investigating the attic space. I took the coins from their hiding place in the coffee canister, and put them in a plastic bag. I was hoping the attic might include an easily get-attable place for them. I also took up a bucket of soapy water and a tea towel, with the intention of cleaning the window at least, in order to maximise the sunlight.

The ladder pulled down and I climbed up without a problem. I set the bucket near the window, and for a temporary measure, put the bag of coins in the top drawer of the dresser which was empty.

I didn't like cleaning, but in this instance, the whole place looked a lot brighter and more attractive after I'd removed the first coat. But my rag and bucket were already filthy, so no need to try to clean anything else – it would only make it worse.

The item that held the most excitement for me was the old trunk – so I decided to leave that for last. As I'd already opened one drawer of the chest, I proceeded to go through the other four drawers, and in the bottom two found old clothing for a man – but nothing that was of any use to me. I looked in the pockets on the off chance that there might be another coin hidden in them, but no luck.

The third drawer I looked in had some small paintings in it. They seemed to me to be of quite good quality – but I was no judge of that sort of thing. I wondered whether Minnie's mother or father had painted them – or indeed perhaps it was she herself. I decided to take the one I liked best downstairs with me to get a better look.

The small top left hand drawer was again empty.

The trunk was locked, so that put a damper on my plans straight away. And I couldn't remember any keys lying around downstairs that might be the right one. Unless they were with the junk in the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet. I wondered if I could force the lock – after all it was the contents, not the trunk that I was excited about – but I couldn't break into it without tools. I decided to go down, look for a key – and at the same time bring up the tools in case surgery was required on it. I made my way downstairs, left the picture in the living room and going to the filing cabinet, put in my pocket all the keys that were in the bottom drawer, together with the hammer and screw driver. Since I was anxious to get on, I re-climbed the stairs, and putting down the tools temporarily – I tried the keys one after the other in the lock. There were ten of them, and as luck would have it – I could feel a budge when I tried the 10^th key. I didn't think it was the right key – but it must have had something similar in its makeup and moved some of the working bits. And sure enough, after pulling and straining while turning, I managed to get the lock open. I lifted the domed and decorated lid and looked inside. It was full of silver – trays, vases, cutlery, ink wells – you name it, and there it was in silver. No wonder they'd locked it up. Again I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't ready money – but I was sure this was a fortune similar in value to the coins. Again it would take an effort to get these things converted into money – but it would be worth the effort. I decided to go down again and return with my paper and pen, and make an outline sketch of the various pieces, so I could look on the internet and get a rough value from that.

It only took a few minutes and I was making my sketches and details from each item. I knew about hallmarks – and each of these pieces seemed to have one – which I thought meant they were proper English silver. The cutlery set alone had 40 pieces – although they weren't all matching. Then there was a five piece salt and pepper and mustard witha lid  and tray. There were two large trays and five ornate picture frames. I had to admit that some of the silver looked battered. Not like the coins – these things had been used or at least displayed for much of their lives. I counted 27 pieces in all (counting the silverware as one item). I would leave it all where it was for the time being – and needed to put some thought into how to make the most out of this little treasure trove.

So before shutting the lid on the trunk, but not locking it, I put the bag of coins in the shelf which went across the top of the trunk. All my valuables were now in one place – and nowhere any burglars could see them or easily get to them.

How could I be so rich and still so poor, I thought, counting out how much change I had left in my pocket. £1.53 I found. Not even enough for a bus fare to Hyde. But on Monday I would venture out first thing and see how my bank was doing with my money.

I knew a bit about antiques – from watching the daytime shows about them. I knew that dealers would give you a very small price for what you wanted to sell to them, and then turn around and make a huge profit themselves. So, as long as the person knew what he was doing, I thought, the best thing to do was to try to sell them myself – not to a dealer but to a proper buyer. “They're not yours to sell,” said an annoying voice at the back of my head. Well, I can't sell them until I know what it is that I've got and if Minnie comes back (notice it is now if and not when) she might want me to sell them for her – so it's worth finding out all there is to know about them, in order not to give them away.

Remembering the big bookcase in the living room, I closed down the hatch for the attic and emptied the bowl and put the dirty tea towel in the hamper. I knew that a clothes wash was on the cards for the near future – and luckily Minnie did have what seemed to be a fairly modern machine. But not today. I could last another few days without washing.

Starting at the top of the bookcase, I found that there was a complete set of Shakespeare and another complete set of Dickens – all in hard covers. Some looked pretty worn. This was one item that I was sure was used in this house – the books were read. I didn't open any of the books, but again I was aware of their potential value, so I intended later, to go through and list the title, author and copyright date. Some of these might be first editions – if I could determine that I might well find some money earners in this bunch as well. There were probably 500 books altogether in the bookcase and maybe another 100 in the one upstairs. None of them appealed to me as something to read. And tomorrow, after I got out my money, maybe I'd go to the charity shop and pick up a cheap paperback or two that I wanted to read.

Book after book I checked them out – only in case something had slid behind - but no luck in that regard. They were heavy books too – and some were fairly delicate to look at – maybe I should put them in plastic bags if they were very early and looked like they might be worth something. I found a copy of Mrs. Beeten. I didn't know much about cooking, but knew that this was one book that would be worth something if it was an early edition.

There were lots of bibles – none looking as if they'd ever been opened. I did look in the flyleaves – hoping for a name for Minnie's parents – but didn't find anything.

I was getting pretty tired of the whole procedure when I found a book that was deceptively light, considering the size of it. From the outside, it looked as big as a volume of an encyclopedia. But I knew there was a secret in this book. Sure enough, it was hollow inside, and to my great delight – I found some money. And it wasn't old money either. It was perfectly good notes and coins of the current realm. This was Minnie's secret – and although I wouldn't get rich from it I was more pleased with finding it than I had been with the gold coins and the silver. I counted £95.37. I put it in my pocket, and without a second thought, was out the front door. I wanted to celebrate – and I didn't want to do it on my own in Marple. I'd get the train into Manchester – and go to a club I knew – or go to a show, have a good meal and lots of drink – and really enjoy myself for once. “I deserve a treat after all I've been through,” I thought.