Aussie cleaner finds penny that could be worth $40k: ‘Very exciting’
A rare 1930 Australia penny found under mouldy carpets in a NSW homes was this cleaner's most valuable find.
Young business owner Charlotte Bosanquet was cleaning a hoarder's home when she uncovered a rare and very valuable find.
While "ripping up" a "mould-infested" carpet, the 20-year-old western Sydney woman and her team were surprised to come across a 1930 coin underneath — one of the rarest Australian coins and the most valuable copper penny in the world.
According to Ms Bosanquet's research, she believed it could be worth up to $40,000, depending on the condition. A 1930 rare one penny coin sold last year at auction for $59,415. In 2019 an especially rare 1930 penny sold for $1.15 million.
"It was pretty interesting — the coin was probably the most valuable thing I've found on the job," the Care Cleaning Services Sydney owner told Yahoo News Australia. "When we told the owner of the home, she was ecstatic. She was also super happy that we were honest.
"When you go into those types of homes, sometimes the clients don’t have a lot of money — that’s why we did that clean for free — so to be able to find that coin that's potentially worth a lot of money, it was exciting for her."
"She may have gotten the opportunity to buy things that she really needed like a new toilet, and new blinds that were mould-infested."
Yahoo News Australia understands the coin was a surprise to the homeowner, but it is not known if she sold it.
"That was the only coin we found under the carpet so I assume it was put there for a reason," Ms Bosanquet said. "I'm not sure if the woman went to get it valued or if it's gone back under the carpet".
"We always encourage our clients to get their items valued especially if they are needing money because it's a pretty cool opportunity."
Young woman's praised for empathetic approach to hoarders
The TikTok received almost 830,000 views, with many commending Ms Bosanquet's "compassion" when discussing hoarder homes.
"One of the main goals of my social media is to make people aware that mental health is related to cleaning," she said. "I never fully understood hoarding until I started doing the cleans and through that I gained a lot of insight and compassion for the people that lived there.
"It's so easy for people to jump to the conclusion that they are lazy, but that's just not true."
The cleaning business owner said it was important for her to "understand the mentality of (her) clients". "It's very confronting for them when we are doing the cleans," she said.
Having completed an e-book about how to start your own cleaning business, Ms Bosanquet will soon be releasing another about "how mental health is related to cleaning", which will provide tips on "how to get on top of that".
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