Associated Press

ST. CLAIR SHORES – Somebody did it again this year, dropping a thousand-dollar gold coin in a Salvation Army red kettle outside a suburban Detroit supermarket.

Salvation Army spokeswoman Andrea Kenski tells The Associated Press that an anonymous donor dropped the 1980 South African Krugerrand in among the nickels, dimes and quarters at a Kroger store in St. Clair Shores. She says the coin is worth an estimated $1,200.

Kenski says an anonymous donor also donated a Krugerrand at the same location one year ago.

She says the Krugerrand is worth “enough to help feed 10 hungry people a year, or help provide coats to keep 48 children warm this winter season.”

The Salvation Army is known for its Christmas red kettle season fundraising drive, which raises money for programs to aid the poor.

“St. Clair Shores has now become part of a national mystery around anonymous donations of collectable gold coins,” Kenski said in an email. “A handful of locations across the country have repeatedly received these gold coins — each valued over $1,000 — in the same red kettle each year.”