The Story of An Old Rusty Metal Box

Many years ago, I'd heard from an elderly work colleague who told me about a construction worker driving a bulldozer, demolishing an old concrete house, somewhere in the Chinatown area.. 

On one fine day, this worker had dug up an old rusty metal box containing cash and gold jewelry. This worker couldn't even be bothered to collect his salary, and he'd disappeared right away without any trace. 

Nobody had ever heard from him anymore since that time. 

The Singapore Sweep: Winner of The Big Sweep Lottery First Prize

Many years ago when I was young, I'd heard from an elderly work colleague that he knew someone who'd won a first-prize from The Big Sweep lottery in the mid-1970s. That first-prize sum of several hundred thousand dollars was big money back then when gold was selling for only US$150 an ounce. 

Today, the price of gold is about US$2,450 an ounce. 

That lottery winner was a humble craftsman working in a goldsmith shop at Chinatown and he'd still continued working, riding a bicycle to work daily. 

He'd saved his money for his children, and donated some money to charity. If he'd bought an apartment or some gold at that time, he (and his children) could be very much richer today.

Were These Books Discarded, Lost, or Hidden?

That image below isn't that of a book, but an old postcard showing the demolished National Library at Stamford Road.

In the early 1990s, I'd read an interesting book (Goldstein, Joshua S., Long Cycles: Prosperity and War in the Modern Age, Yale University Press, 1988, pp384) at the reference section of the National Library and it had a catalog number R338.542GOL. In 2006, I've tried to search for this book to read it again, but it isn't there in the new building. Does the National Library Board discard away a good academic book like this?

Again in the early 1990s, I'd used the old catalog index card system and found an interesting title (Moss, William Stanley, Gold is Where You Hide It: What Happened to the Reichbank Treasure, London: Andre Deutsch, 1956) but the book, which had a catalog number 332.41MOS, was nowhere to be found on the bookshelf at that time.

My search using the then newly-installed computerized Octopac system had revealed two catalog numbers, CL-332.41MOS and BM-332.41MOS, available for lending. That would mean that there were two books of the same title, one located at the Central Lending section of the National Library at Stamford Road, and the other at the Bukit Merah branch library. Needless to say, both these books of the same title could not be found, presumably lost, I would guess. Or had anyone been hiding them?

The Band, The Last Waltz (Live Recording)

The Band, The Last Waltz (Live Recording/3 Vinyl LPs) 12-inch Records, 33 rpm, Warner Bros. Records, 1978, Made in UK. Sold to a Carousell Singapore buyer on December 1, 2023.

PROMO Record, Tracy Huang, Just The Way You Are

PROMO Record, Tracy Huang, Just The Way You Are/What're You Doing Tonight. 

7-inch Vinyl Single, 45rpm. EMI Records, 1978.

Made in Singapore, this 7-inch vinyl record has two tracks and it's still very playable.

Sold to a Carousell Singapore buyer on January 13, 2024.

 

2014 Canon Angpow Hongbao Red Packet

2014 Year of the Horse.

The very first pack of angpow envelops received for the new year for my collection.

It's a lucky pack of ten (10) envelops.

Carr® Picture Frame

Frame size: 227mm by 177mm.
Glass size: 145mm by 94mm.

This is an ornate metallic picture frame for a 3-R photograph, most likely made in USA.

If any viewer out there knows about the kind of material this frame is made of, please write to me.

Obsolete Blank Check

USA, Washington County Bank, obsolete blank check, uncirculated.

This is a collector's item from Springfield, Kentucky.

2013 Hitachi Angpow Hongbao Red Packet

2013 Year of the Snake.

A very scarce angpow packet from Hitachi Home Electronics Asia (Singapore) Private Limited.

It's a lucky pack of ten (10) red envelops.

2013 Rinnai Angpow Red Packet

2013 Year of the Snake.

A very scarce angpow packet from Rinnai Singapore for this year.

It's a lucky pack of ten (10) red envelops.