All smiles at golden surprise

Dunedin North Lions member Murray Gallagher holds up a gold (dental) crown that was dropped into...
Dunedin North Lions member Murray Gallagher holds up a gold (dental) crown that was dropped into one of their Heads Up For Kids fundraising boxes. Photo by Dan Hutchinson

Someone in Dunedin has taken the ''Heads up for Kids'' fundraiser a little too literally by donating a gold tooth to the cause.

Lions Clubs around the country have been asking people to give old or foreign currency but no-one expected a gold crown - and certainly not one of the dental variety.

Dunedin North Lions member Murray Gallagher said he was emptying a couple of donation buckets last week and sorting the coins and notes when he came across a small, shiny object.

''I knew by the weight what it was; I was just amazed.''

The gold had been valued at about $60 by a local goldsmith.

Other clubs around the country had come across unusual items too, including a token for a ''pleasure parlour'' in the United States, Lions Heads Up for Kids district co-ordinator Les Box said.

He said a couple of retired bankers in Wellington were responsible for checking out any unusual or especially valuable coins and notes but the gold tooth was easy to spot.

Nationally, the fundraising venture had collected more than 18 tonnes of old currency, raising more than $500,000 in the two years it had been going.

In Dunedin, local Lions clubs had collected just over 173kg of old currency in just three months.

People can give by putting their old currency into the containers at various locations around Dunedin, including the Resene Colourshop in Crawford St.

- by Dan Hutchinson 

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