Some Army officers were surprised again this year when they opened their kettles back at the corps. Oh sure, there were $5’s, and $20’s, and plenty of change.

But at one location, there was a gold and diamond ring and at another, a rare gold coin.

On Nov. 22 in Uniontown, Pa., outside a Giant Eagle grocery store, someone dropped an 18–karat white gold ring in the kettle.

“When we opened that kettle, we were in shock!” said Captain Christopher Blessing of the Uniontown Worship and Service Center. He told PR Newswire, “This area is in dire need and we couldn’t believe what we were seeing.”

Blessing said that at first, he thought the ring might be a fake. So, he called an appraiser who confirmed that it was an 18–karat white gold and half–carat flawless diamond valued at $2,000.

Meanwhile, for the third year in a row, an anonymous donor left a rare coin in a kettle outside of Jo–Ann Fabrics in Berlin, Vt.

The coin, minted in 1910, was worth $2.50 nearly a century ago. The two previous coins given to The Salvation Army, minted in 1908 and 1909, were valued at more than $2,000. Both were sold.

“Once we secure a buyer, or get someone to cash it in, the money will go into our account,” Captain Travis DeLong of the Barre, Vt., Corps told the Barre–Montpelier Times Argus newspaper.

“We have someone who … has expressed interest in buying this one,” DeLong said.

—PR Newswire and the Barre–Montpelier TimesArgus contributed to this report.