Among family memories and a volume of the encyclopedia he used as a boy, a postal savings certificate for 1,000 lire emerges, issued in 1961. It happened in Stelvio Orciani, 71 years old, former firefighter, originally from Ancona, now resident in Negrar di Valpolicella (Verona). A brief stop in the house where he lived as a child, only to discover that he had been blessed by luck.
The 1000 lire voucher
That 1,000 lire voucher, which jumped out of the encyclopedia, would be worth 41 thousand euros. This is the estimate of the amount that would have been given to him by the Giustitalia association, which deals with consumer rights and to which the man turned. The title was evaluated by a consultant of the association. Orciani has now started all the procedures to verify the possibility of being able to redeem his voucher and is currently waiting for a response. “I’m like Saint Thomas – Mr. Orciani tells the agencies – until I see I don’t believe. But when I made this beautiful discovery, I sent all the documentation to the Giustitalia association and now I wait. I wait with serenity”.
The discovery
With his voice broken by emotion, he retraces the steps of that day: “It was last December 7th, you will go to visit my mother in Ancona, in the house where I lived as a boy. Putting an old bookcase away, I opened a volume of very old encyclopedia and this postal voucher fell from there. I showed it to my mother and decided to take it home. Then I read on the internet that there was this association that dealt with the revaluations of these titles and I decided to contact them a consultant from the same association told me that that voucher was worth 41 thousand euros, so not exactly a little.”
Either money or a painting
“I thought ‘I’ll try’ – continues Orciani – because I had nothing to lose. Now I’m waiting for the paperwork to proceed and then we’ll see. At worst, I’ll make a good picture of it, because it’s still a postal voucher from 1961” . Orciani, who worked for 42 years as a firefighter, first as an operative, then as an administrative officer, has been retired for 6 years. “Receiving these 41 thousand euros now would be truly a great fortune for me.”
