Don't take any wooden nickels..Nooo...Take the big metal one!!

At a time when the sales had all but run dry, my partner and I (5 years old, all hands no restraint) took a chance on an estate sale in Danbury. There was an air of morbidity surrounding this one; the home was adjacent to to a funeral parlor on White Street. If you've read this far, well, you know we parked the car and walked in. The sale was within four rooms on the main floor of a very old house. I was waiting for my daughter to comment on the thick and musty aroma, but she is very capable of restraint. There was nothing that immediately leaped out at me (fortunately) until we reached a small room off the kitchen. Guarded by a portly gentleman who said nothing, but nodding acknowledgement of our presence. In a cardboard box were 6 or 7 decks of cards, which deserved a quick look but normally don't interest me. They were old and common but one pack of cards was different:

Although in questionable condition and possibly not complete (something to be aware of when purchasing games, toys, or puzzles) I recognized something that was clearly a game and with a bit of political commentary included. I removed one of the cards to see what they looked like:

1919! This was cool! The whole box of cards had been marked at $5 but in this economy even that much can be considered an unnecessary expense. So, we walked around the four rooms, making sure we'd seen it all, and finally paid $1 for the deck and walked out. Upon closer inspection of the box I was delighted to find this:

Although delicate, a full set of directions was really unexpected for a piece that was 90 years old.

This should be the end of the story, but wait! There's more.

On the porch were a couple of boxes, which displayed the word "Free!" for the taking. Each one looked scarier that the next but a few pocket book novels, WWII editions, caught my eye (dog eared by dog faces, I thought.) I continued to dig and came up with the coin. I still don't know what it is made of, but the dings and dents indicate a soft metal.

The card game/puzzle turned out to be complete. I haven't found the "Puzzl" man who created it anywhere in my research, but that was not the point. You can't take anything for granted no matter what the sale looks like. You never know what you might miss.