The other day, in an effort to get over my super fun weekend, I was going through some of my old jewelry boxes looking for god knows what.

When lo and behold, I found treasure!  A packet of three 1979 Susan B Anthony silver dollars (still in the plastic) and some other odd looking gold coins.

I was so sure I had struck it rich, I immediately started dreaming of what color Mercedes I was going to get as I went to the computer, just to make sure my suspicions were right.

First I Googled “1979 Susan B Anthony worth” and while the page was loading my pupils were replaced with dollar signs, just like in Scooby Doo. 

That was until I found this, on more than one page:

Q: How much is a 1979 Susan B. Anthony dollar worth?
It’s a 1979 P in good condition.

A: $1.00 unless you can find a sucker.

OK, so my Mercedes would have to wait. 

But I still had these other gold coins!  What were they?  Where did they come from?  I couldn’t remember. 

They were sort of tarnished and looked very old.  I didn’t have my glasses on but I thought they were either some exotic foreign country’s coin (because I often visit foreign countries and take away gold coins to save for later) or at least something a coin collector would go ape for. 

I was so sure in my treasure hunt, that I almost put them in my wallet to take to a coin collector the next day.  Some form of clarity came over me when I decided that maybe, just maybe, I should get those spectacles on and get in more light just to see what I was dealing with.

With the glasses on and the right light, I began to make out some of the etchings on the coin. 
“2000″ one said.   Hmmm, not that old, I thought, but it could still be super rare.

When I tilted it just right, and closed one eye, I could finally make out some of the words imprinted on the coin,

“Where… A… Kid… Can… Be… A… Kid.” 

And then finally, with much more clarity, there he was, in all his rodent glory. None other than Chuck E Cheese himself.  Clearly laughing at me.

Like a bubble popping, there went the mansion with the pool house, as I laughed at myself out loud and promptly threw my precious gold coins away.   YES!  I threw them away.  I would rather have root canals on all my teeth without anesthesia then to subject myself to Chuck E Cheese.

But think how great it would have been to have brought them into a coin collector.  “Here’s something you haven’t seen before!” I’d say cockily.  Just to have the guy hand over 400 tickets to redeem for a pencil.

The 1979 Susan B Anthony’s, on the other hand, have been bestowed to Ben to hold on for another generation.  And hopefully be worth a Mercedes someday.