Gold Bar Worth $1,200 Turns Up In Salvation Army Kettle

Corinne Charleston discovered the gold bar while counting donations over the Christmas weekend, the News-Dispatch reports. The bar, valued at $1,200, is believed to have been wrapped in a bill to escape detection and was slipped into a Salvation Army ringer's kettle outside a local Walgreens.

“You never think it will happen to you,” Charleston told the News-Dispatch.

Lt. Bill Brutto, a pastor and administrator at the organization, said that while small, the gold bar would be a very valuable addition to the organization's tight budget, which will help fund programs such as food baskets and holiday gifts. Brutto, a 10-year veteran of the Salvation Army, told local television station WSBT the find was "really exciting."

"It was the first time I had ever found gold in a kettle,'' Brutto said.

He said the thin, 1-ounce bar has been sold to a "private buyer'' for $1,300 -- slightly more than for what it was appraised, WSBT notes.

The find represents the latest valuable donation anonymously left with Salvation Army ringers across the country this year.

Read More: www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/27/gold-bar-salvation-army-kettle-indiana_n_4508681.html