at some stage will inherit money from a deceased family member,
which normally is not a problem, a bank transfer or cheque from the executor of the will and that is it, but all was not so simple for family in Bremervörde, Germany, who received an inheritance
of over 1.2 million coins weighing around 2.5 tonnes, it all started 30 years ago, when a German truck driver
started saving1 pfennig (0.01 Deutsche
Mark) and 2 pfennig (0.02 Deutsche Mark) coins for his family, He managed to
collect around 1.2 million coins until his death, earlier this year, all of
which were inherited by his family, now, Deutsche Marks haven’t been in
circulation since 2002, but the Bundesbank
– the central bank of Germany – still exchanges the old currency, so the
man’s family were still able to collect their inheritance, the coins had to be delivered by van to the Bundesbank
branch in Oldenburg, back in May, where clerk Wolfgang Kemereit was presented
with the monumental challenge of counting them by hand, while also seeing to his
day-to-day tasks, usually, banks use special machines to count large quantities
of coins, but that was impossible in this case, because many of the coins had
rusted and become stuck to other coins, so Kemereit had to go through hundreds
of freezer bags full of coins by hand, which took him over 6 months, “I held each piece in my hand,” Wolfgang Kemereit recently
told NDR 1, “I quite enjoy doing such things, so in that sense it wasn’t a
problem.” in case you’re wondering how much the family actually inherited,
the 1.2 million coins amounted to the amount of €8,000 euros
($9,400), interestingly, the Bundesbank estimates that Germans are
still hoarding around 12.65 billion Deutsche Marks, old notes and coins can be exchanged at the Bundesbank at the rate of 1.95583 marks for one euro, there is no time limit for
the exchange, also fees are not due, so the next time you dream of inheriting a ton of money you might want to change your wish to say gold or diamonds, now theres a thought, a ton of diamonds!
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