Count is in for 100 gallons of coins found at NC aquarium. Winning guess was $1 short

Hayley Fowler
·2 min read

After weeks of cleaning and more than 10 hours of feeding coins into a bank’s coin counting machine, the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores knows how much in coins was sitting at the bottom of one of its water fixtures.

It wasn’t quite in the six-figure range, as some had hoped, but the winning guess was only $1 short.

“Drumroll please … there was $8,563.71 in pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters,” aquarium director Liz Baird said in a news release. Facebook user Amy Campbell had guessed $8,562.

The aquarium shut down March 17 after Gov. Roy Cooper issued an executive order closing all non-essential businesses to quell the spread of the coronavirus. It has not reopened. By early April, the staff was looking for ways to save money — starting with shutting off a 30-foot water fixture known as the Smoky Mountain waterfall.

The water fixture was installed in 2006 and became something of a wishing well over the next 14 years, the staff said.

The 30-foot water fixture known as the Smoky Mountain waterfall was installed in 2006 and inadvertently became a wishing well for visitors.
The 30-foot water fixture known as the Smoky Mountain waterfall was installed in 2006 and inadvertently became a wishing well for visitors.

When they finally drained the waterfall, the aquarium found 100 gallons of loose change — plus some “long-forgotten children’s toys, pacifiers and military challenge coins” — sitting at the bottom.

Lonnie Burke, an aquarium security guard who helped lug the coins out, said the change was “more than a foot-and-half-deep” in some places.

Staff found a slew of other trinkets hidden amid the coins — including some children’s toys.
Staff found a slew of other trinkets hidden amid the coins — including some children’s toys.

The aquarium took its discovery to Facebook on Aug. 8 with a challenge to guess just how much in loose change it had been sitting on. Staff promised to have the results by the end of the week but “severely underestimated the sheer volume of coins and time it would take to get all that change counted,” according to the news release.

They ultimately spent days “washing, rinsing and drying (the coins) on tarps” as well as “sifting out debris.”

Aquarium staff spent days sifting through the coins, cleaning them and leaving them out to try on tarps.
Aquarium staff spent days sifting through the coins, cleaning them and leaving them out to try on tarps.

In the meantime, the guesses poured in.

More than 1,300 comments were posted by the following Monday, McClatchy News reported. It grew to more than 2,500 in the two weeks that followed.

Some of the loftier guesses included one for $459,000, while another person estimated it was less than $50.

“The discovery was coincidentally made as the nation is experiencing a coin shortage, and multiple Facebook commenters joked the aquarium is either responsible for the shortage, or may soon be hailed a hero for solving it with 100 gallons of coins,” McClatchy News reported.

Aquarium staff didn’t say what the prize will be for the lucky winner — other than to “check her inbox” — but the money will be used to care for the animals.