QLD:Qld man's treasure is now anyone's trash

AAP General News (Australia)
08-30-2011
QLD:Qld man's treasure is now anyone's trash

BRISBANE, Aug 30 AAP - A Sunshine Coast man is trying to persuade his council to sift
through local tips to find $50,000 of his wife's jewellery that was accidentally threw
out.

Geoff, who did not want to give his last name, said the jewellery was stored in garbage
bags and were mistakenly placed in wheelie bins during a pre-move clean-up, he told The
Courier-Mail.

The uninsured treasure included charm bracelets, bangles and pure gold bars and was
possibly dumped at Nambour tip.

"We're moving house, and I told the kids to give me any garbage lying around for me
to throw out," he said.

"My wife rang me up when I was at work and said: 'Where are the bags?'

"You know that sick feeling you get? Wow."

Sunshine Coast Regional Council have given Geoff little hope of seeing the heirlooms again.

"To locate the lost items, this decaying compacted waste would need to be systematically
excavated and sorted mechanically by the contractor," a council spokesman told the newspaper.

The majority of the gold was bought as an investment while the couple lived in the
UK more than 25 years ago.

Geoff and his wife, Carol, were due to celebrate their 23rd wedding anniversary on
Friday last week.

"We've never had a fight in the whole time we've been married and didn't have one now,"

Geoffrey said.

But his mates are unlikely to let him forget it. "They keep ringing me up and saying
'Hey mate the price of gold has just gone up'.

"I'm like - shut up will ya?"

AAP dac/rs

KEYWORD: JEWELLERY

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