Looking for gold coins in an old house

Greetings from Tennessee,  We live in an old Mansion that was built around the turn of the last century by a very wealthy family and we are thinking there may be some gold coins or other valuables hidden in this house somewhere. Anybody have any ideas or words of wisdom about where I might look? The heating bill is killing me and I need some help!!! Several years ago I was removing some wet insulation in the kitchen wall and found a file of the family's 1925 trips including a trip around the world on the Curnard line Luxery Liner, SS Franconia.  The fact that this was hidden behind the plaster in a wall makes me think that the lady that lived here for 70 years may have hidden other items of value.  She was known to have a healthy distrust of the banks after the crash of 1930's. At least it is fun to think about and dream!!!

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Thanks for your reply.  Do you mean under the tread of the stairs.  There are 4 sets of stairs.  One is the main, one servants stairs, one to the basement and one to the attic.  Yes there is a huge old tree outside, (the UT forestry guys say it is 300+ years old! I will look around there and also look for some inset shelves.  Thanks for the ideas. 

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You need help I will be there on Monday LOL
Like On the Hunt said stairs are always good. Look around the base boards maybe for a 1 or 2 foot piece that's loose. Loose floor boards in closet or under cabinets. Look under draws for things stuck there.
Outside around trees and fence post are good. If you can get under the house look around the joints I have found more then one can nailed up there with coins and bills in them.
Think about were you would hide money and remember you want to get to it fast if need be.


 

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The number of potentialdeliberate and accidental hiding places in an old house is amazing.  In addition to the tips you've already been given, I'd suggest just sit quietly in the room for a while just getting to know it.   Once you've done that for a little while, ask your self where you'd hide something in that specific room and then start looking at the spots that you listed for that particular room (of course, where you would choose would also be a function of what you were trying to hide....papers can go places jewelry or bottles might not).   And if you can get your hands on some old photos  of the house, you may find clues there, too (look for specific things that have changed since the photo was taken and also note where desks, bookcases, etc were placed in the room when the picture was taken....there is a good chance that anything secreted would have been hidden near one of those less moveable items).

BA

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Folks hide valuables in many different places.Here's a few places money or valuables have been hidden: In false containers made to look like cans of food or soda, inside newel posts of stairs, below steps of stairs, in secret compartments in old furniture,inside old mattresses, in attics,basements or cellars-don't forget to detect the floor of these, in the back of old pianos, inside old musical instruments like guitars or cellos or the cases that once held these instruments, inside old heating pipes or vents, inside old flues of the fire place or in between the bricks of the fire place, in the cuppola of the house, in false rooms, inside old canning jars-even with the pickles or whatever inside jar, secret safes behind old pictures hung on wall, compartments hidden by molding or boards in house, below floor boards-look for places where carpet may have been lifted every now and again, behind plastered over holes in walls, inside old tool boxes or luggage cases, inside shoes or boots, inside hollowed-out wooden legs, inside cabinets of old radios or stereos, inside old crockery churns or jugs, in closets or below floor of closets or walls of closets, inside commode tanks or underside of sinks, inside freezers wrapped in aluminum foil or freezer paper marked "Steak" or "Lamb chops"...You get the idea......... 
When my grandmother's brother, a successful farmer died, the family found several caches of money, including over two thousand dollars in a pair of boots, several thousand in an old tool box, and a few thousand hiodden in grease cans......And there may yet be thousands hidden around that old farm to this day...I'd like to have a look, but the family is very particular about folks snooping around the old place and it wouldn't be good to be caught looking for the money...so I haven't done so.

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