I found, within a used book, a reminder note for a 1982 colonoscopy.
I’m hoping others have better finds (and I admit the bar is set low).
mmm
$5 bill in a used book
My mom bought a used treadle sewing machine during WWII (when I ws 4), and in the drawer there was a stamp from Portugal. That was the seed from which my childhood stamp collection sprouted seven years later.
On two different instances I found $50 cash in the used cars I purchased. The first time it was a bundle of ones rubber-banded and stuffed in the back of the dashboard compartment. About a year after I purchased the car the old rubber band broke and dollar bills started appearing on the passenger side floor. 
About eight years later in another used car I found two twenties and a ten in an envelope in the rim of the spare tire.
My guess is that the prior owners had stashed some emergency cash and then forgot to remove it when they sold their cars. Since I bought both cars from Car Max, I had no idea who these people were, so I treated the cash as a bonus “gifts” from the used car gods. 
I found a quarter in the first car I ever bought. It was memorable, because I bought the Volkswagen from a high school friend, and he joked that if I found any money in it, half was his. So I cut that quarter in half and gave Allen his share a couple of days later. Somewhere I still have mine. (I wish I still had the car - '73 Super Beetle.)
I’ve found $5 here or $10 there in the pockets of clothes from Goodwill or such. And a spiffy costume jewelry ring in an old purse.
I bought a used laptop with a bag years ago. Inside the bag I found some fliers for a band. (Apparently the kid of the sellers was the lead singer.)
I did a Google search, found out they had a single on mp3.com (when bands used to put their demos on there). It was a very good song. I still listen to it once in a while.
Anyway, on the HDs of other computers I bought I found stuff that should have been erased before they sold/donated. Business records and such. Even patient records for medico-type people. :eek:
Seeing that all too often made me adopt a policy of “wipe and never look” for used stuff.
I took a book off the free shelve in the local library, and found a bar mitzvah card with $25 in it.
My husband (Andy L) bought what he thought was a used copy of James Gunn’s novel The Listeners. When he got around to reading it, he opened it up to discover it was a copy of Chariots of the Gods by Erich von Daniken under a dust cover of the other book. He was annoyed.
A friend of mine has a hard-to-beat entry in this category: He bought an old book about the life of Abraham Lincoln, and in it found a ticket to Lincoln’s funeral.
Do you know what date was on that quarter? 1958. It had been traveling twenty-two years to get there. And now it’s here. And it’s either heads or tails. And you have to say. Call it.
Don’t put it in your pocket, sir. Don’t put it in your pocket. It’s your lucky quarter. Anywhere not in your pocket. Where it’ll get mixed in with the others and become just a coin. Which it is.
Dennis
I found a quarter in the pocket of a sport coat I bought on eBay last week.
A couple of years ago I got a used parka at St. Vinnie’s that had a package of hearing aid batteries and an Olympics souvenir pin in the pocket.
In one of the cars I bought, it had a bunch of change on the floor. I picked up all I could see. Then later, I went to clean it, and busted out the vacuum. I found a bunch more.
I removed the seats to repair them. A big pile more! Lifted the carpet, another treasure trove!
Damn near paid me back for the car in change!
Yeah my sister and I were at yard sale and brought a small cabinet and when we picked it up something started to rattle around in it . Before we could look inside the guy selling it ran over and opened the doors and grabbed some silver dollars he forgot were in the cabinet ! They belong to my sister and I b/c we had paid for the cabinet and whatever was in it became our. There was about 20 sliver dollars too ! Damn!
We picked up a used dresser from our neighbors, Jim & Tammy. Cleaning it out, behind one of the drawers I found a Victoria’s Secret bra, size 36C. I suggested we give it back and my wife pointed out that Tammy is more like a 34B, so perhaps we might want to mind our own damn business.
I once bought a used copy of Herb Philbrick’s I Led Three Lives, a '50s Red Scare classic (OK, I was on vacation and desperate for reading matter).
I found out it was autographed by Philbrick who also wrote a short note to the previous owner.
Must be worth at least $5 today.
Maybe Tammy lost a little weight in the meantime.
I volunteer at my local library and list valuable donated books on their Amazon account. A while back, someone donated an encyclopedia from the early 1970s that was about witchcraft and the occult, which we found out was worth about $300. While inspecting the books to ensure that they were in salable condition, I found a pamphlet published by a Catholic press that was about a case of demonic possession in our area in the 1920s that was an inspiration for “The Exorcist”. The pamphlet is still in print, but the one in that encyclopedia was from the 1930s and was worth about $40. :eek:
In the meantime, we sold the encyclopedia. 
I bought a set of “fall dishes” in a cardboard box at a yard sale. I noticed there were a few nice-looking pieces of Wedgwood china in there. The box had 15 dollars marked on it, I offered 10 it was accepted. Then the two women running the yard sale started arguing. “Those are Grandma’s good dishes in there”
Well did you want them?
No, just saying that they are probably worth more…
You had 2 years to deal with Grandma’s stuff and it is still here. Everything goes this weekend, you take it or this woman does."
“fine, whatever…”
I ran off with my dishes. When I got home I discovered a complete service for 8, with cup saucer, salad plate, luncheon plate, dinner plate, soup bowls and fruit nappies, cream and sugar, three platters and three serving bowls. Wedgwood. The bottom showed no signs of wear, there is no crazing or anything on thie bottom. The pattern is Wakefield which was only made from 1955-1964. I love it.
Within a book I bought at Goodwill was about $40 in Confederate currency … giddy with stars in my eyes I marched down to the local coin with a new car in mine … alas, while waiting I noticed the exact same bill in the display case for 50¢ … the coin dealer said that yes they were old, but there was no demand, the Confederates printed zillions of them so they were actually quite common.
When I was about 12 my dad wrecked his car. The company he worked for had a really nice car they repossessed and they let him borrow it while he looked for another. I was riding in the back seat and found a really nice Western “Boy Scouts Of America” sheath knife wedged between the driver seat and center console. I’m not sure what the legalities were on ownership but Dad said “keep it” so I did.
I still have it but moron that I was, I sharpened it on a grinder and botched it all up.
I recently found some WW I-era pennies in a box of assorted junk I got at an estate sale. I looked them up online and found out they were worth 10 to 25 cents each. :rolleyes:
I also couldn’t believe how heavy they were compared to modern pennies.