Windfall, or not

The wife had me bring in an old antique washstand from the garage this weekend. She wants to use it to store bills and papers and whatnot. In a previous life she used it store bills and papers and whatnot, so it was full of important stuff like extra school pictures, 20 year-old tax forms, the papers from when we bought our first home in 1986 and when we sold said house in 1989. You get the idea.

In the bottom drawer, in a plain brown envelope she found some old shares of stock she was given when the bank she worked for was sold. She was given additional stock when THAT bank was sold. Since that time the bank has merged at least two more times. She may have some valuable stock. Or not. As there only about 8 shares total we are not talking much money, but free money is free money. There is only upside. Since we did not know we had said shares, if their value is zero, we did not lose anything. If they have some value, we only gain.

I guess it was worth carting in the old piece of furniture after all. Now I have to figure out how to determine if the shares are worth anything.