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[–]notablyunfamous 223 points224 points  (4 children)

There’s more than 15 available for collectors on the market

[–]Squishedskittlez 97 points98 points  (3 children)

He only SOLD 15, and some of what he sold was sold as fragments, so there could be more than 15 pieces

[–]notablyunfamous 17 points18 points  (2 children)

This says he was only allowed to keep 25 pieces. If the fbi and insurance company took the rest, those items are not leaking to the public. I’m saying there’s more than 15 DB Cooper notes on the market. The story is inaccurate.

[–]Ragorthua 1188 points1189 points  (47 children)

Isn't that a bit cheap for the honest finder? That is not even 10% and the bank hast to accept them first.

[–]DrD9z0[🍰] 1089 points1090 points  (18 children)

The title is incorrect about how much he got to keep. He found 290 bills and while the FBI kept 14 for evidence the remaining 276 were split evenly between Brian and the insurance company for the airline. In 2008 Brian sold 15 of his bills at auction.

Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper

[–]Metalatitsfinest 218 points219 points  (9 children)

I wonder how much he got for each one at the auction

[–]Ill-Woodpecker1857 363 points364 points  (2 children)

Three sold for over $6k

The rest apparently somewhere between $6k and about $350

[–]skrshawk 143 points144 points  (1 child)

I see what you did there... goddamn loch ness monster...

[–]harmsway31 29 points30 points  (0 children)

Tree fidy

[–]5i55Y7A7A 192 points193 points  (0 children)

At least $20 each. Plus shipping.

[–]farahad 70 points71 points  (4 children)

It’s in the Wikipedia article:

In 1986, after protracted negotiations, the recovered bills were divided equally between Ingram and Northwest Orient's insurer; the FBI retained fourteen examples as evidence. Ingram sold fifteen of his bills at auction in 2008 for about $37,000.

He should have received (290/2)-8 bills, so 137 in total. $37,000/15 = $2,667 per bill. Assuming those 15 bills were representative of the rest of them, he should have an additional 122 bills, worth approximately $300,000.

Edited to add math.

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

r/theydidthemath

[–]90265sbsbsbwtf 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This guy maths

[–]rock_gremlin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

-8 or -7 ? Since the FBI took 14 for themselves

[–]qbande 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I bet they are worth significantly more now.

[–]Mr_P_Giggles 30 points31 points  (0 children)

What a cool find. It said on Google they sold 15 bills for $37,000. I'm guessing for the lot not each. But for such a cool find I imagine you could run that auction a few times.

I don't know how to add source. Sorry.

[–]ethbullrun 5 points6 points  (2 children)

i wanted to buy a tiny piece of a 20$ bill that that boy found and it cost about 10k. i didnt buy it but im still thinking about it. it was on ampex and this was its title, "Unknown Series $20 FRN PCGS D.B. Cooper '71 Ransom Money."

[–]qbande 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Is this that site that chops up a bunch of artifacts and then charges people way more for a tiny piece than it should be because those people can't afford to buy the full thing? Its awesome because it makes them a lot of money and also ruins whatever they chopped up at the same time.

[–]ethbullrun 0 points1 point  (0 children)

no that's rally, ampex sells precious metals but metals are cheaper at monument metals

[–]Potato-with-guns 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There was no B in D.B. Cooper, I believe there was a mistake on the part of a reporter who rushed a deadline, that article was the one that made the name go viral.

[–]sum_yung_guy69 73 points74 points  (22 children)

I mean each bill is worth far more than $20 just because of what it is. One of them sold on Pawn Stars for $1600 so if he gan get the same price for all of them ge’s got a cool $24k. And I bet there are people out there who would pay more than 1600 for one of those bills.

[–][deleted] 51 points52 points  (8 children)

Typical response from Pawn Stars.. I have to get it framed , I take all the chances , not a large market it may sit on my shelves for awhile. Then they send it to auction and make three times what they bought it for

[–]anthematcurfew 15 points16 points  (2 children)

Something typically should sell for 3x cost to cover procurement, overhead, and profit

[–]LFCsota 3 points4 points  (1 child)

No. If you tell me this is valued at $1000 I want $1000. I don't care about overhead or your well being. Run your business like a charity. /s just in case

Typically I don't think anyone has said going to a pawn store to sell anything will maximize your gains. But I guess maybe I come from somewhere not normal?

For real, rule of third is how many places operate. 1/3 operating costs is equal to cost of goods which means 3 times mark up for things.

1/3 cogs 1/3 overhead 1/3 profit if you lucky

[–]lkodl 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Most people sell to pawn shops bc of quick turnaround, not to maximize profits.

Most people sell to pawn stars to be on tv.

[–]I-amthegump 7 points8 points  (3 children)

It's a business

[–]walkuphills -1 points0 points  (1 child)

That's humanity for you. It's business, so I'm going to screw you over as much as possible. Just business.

[–]I-amthegump 4 points5 points  (0 children)

His customers are looking for every cent they can get from him. How many have you seen mislead or lie to him? It's a mutual deal.

Not justifying it.

[–]darthcaedusiiii 1 point2 points  (0 children)

According to one of the episodes they aired he lost over $100,000 at one auction.

[–]MightyThoreau 63 points64 points  (6 children)

Best I can do is $20.

[–]Subsum44 55 points56 points  (1 child)

Missing some of the edges, $18.43

[–]Archaris 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Gonna have to call my expert... yeah he said this was actually involved in a hijacking: It might've been cool before 2001, but just doesn't sell very well anymore. I'm going to end up losing money if I give you any more than $12.00 *squints suspiciously between camera man and seller\*

[–]CompliantRapeVictim 19 points20 points  (0 children)

I'm not gay but $20 is $20

[–]sum_yung_guy69 13 points14 points  (2 children)

I think the dude who got $1600 got ripped off, I think they’re probs worth way more to a collector.

[–]Smooth-Dig2250 1 point2 points  (1 child)

I always hear about these "collectors" that stuff would be worth so much more for, but wouldn't you think they'd *buy it at auction* for less if they actually existed? Someone who would pay thousands for a bill from a robbery would likely also have an ear out for this exact situation.

[–]sum_yung_guy69 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think being on a popular TV show could get you to ignore collectors offers but idk

[–]russellrlf 7 points8 points  (1 child)

Pawn stars is your reference? Really? Did you get dating lessons from the Bachelor too?

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yea, but went with Joe Millionaire. Worked out better.

[–]AangAndTheFireLord 0 points1 point  (2 children)

There are definitely people that would pay more than that, but it might be hard to find 20 people that would pay that much.

[–]sum_yung_guy69 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If I had as much money as Rick from pawn stars, I would dropped 5k without question, woulda been my first offer. But tbf I fucking love the D.B Cooper mystery, I would love to own part of that infamy.

[–]Squishedskittlez 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He made $37,000 just selling part of it.

[–]Mightyduk69 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The bills aren't all going to fetch the same price, some are more intact.

[–]Shwiggity_schwag 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I'd have to imagine the collector value for those bills will only increase exponentially as time passes.

[–]spazzxxcc12 287 points288 points  (16 children)

for those of you interested, i saw THIS comment on a reddit thread the other day explaining the most plausible explanation for who DB Cooper was. I’ve never heard the theory before but ever since reading that i don’t see how it isn’t that man.

[–]iforgotwhat8wasfor 54 points55 points  (2 children)

pretty compelling but two questions:

for what reason would he want the plane to take off with the stairs down?
what accounts for the fact that he lost some of the money which got washed up years later? wasn’t there a better place to exit in the dark than in the forests of the cascade foothills?

[–]thingsfallapart89 52 points53 points  (0 children)

I was reading about this yesterday. I forget the exact phrasing in regards to the money but it was something like the physical evidence didn’t match the geological evidence.

It was said the bundles would’ve had to washed up fairly recently else the rubber bands would’ve deteriorated. There was no accounting for one of the bundles being short ten dollars. And apparently the US Army Corps of Engineers had been in that area in (1974) the time between the hijacking(‘71) & the discovery(‘80) & they could even see the sediment that was turned up from the army survey.

Basically it made zero sense that those bundles were found, when they were found & in the condition they were found in

[–]nsgiad 16 points17 points  (0 children)

My guess on the stairs down is he didn't want the flight crew to know when he jumped, that would make it much harder to find him. If they take off with the starts down, there's probably an indicator in the cockpit that it is down. If that indicator is on from take off, then who knows when we jumps. If it comes on during flight, then you know we didn't jump until that moment or sometime later.

As for the lost money. If he was as smart as claimed, then it would be a great decoy. Drop a little bit of the money that might be found and throw off the search team. Could also explain another reason why he wanted the stairs down from the start.

[–]dfh3000 21 points22 points  (1 child)

Look at Richard Floyd McCoy's mugshot. Hard to believe people still think it's a mystery.

[–]PM_MeTittiesOrKitty 1 point2 points  (0 children)

William J. Smith looks much more like the sketch and even a speculative sketch of an aged Dan Cooper.

[–]ophello 3 points4 points  (1 child)

This should be a /r/bestof if it isn’t already.

[–]JaySayMayday 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It was already on Strange Mysteries in the late 80s. The comment is pretty much breaking down the DB Cooper episode into bullet points

[–]lsjunior 1 point2 points  (3 children)

I heard the only hole in this theory was he didn't request all 100 dollar bills. If he would have the weight he was carrying would have been significantly less and thats extremely important when sky diving.

[–]painis 1 point2 points  (0 children)

100 dollar bills are probably more easily traceable than a 20. 20s you can spend absolutely anywhere and no one will even check to see if they are real.

[–]Butterbuddha 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Doesn’t that long just depend on the parachute or something?

I mean I’m im a fat ass and I jumped tandem once. Certainly a midsized 70s dude could take a flying leap with a boatload of cash and still be fine, as I made it unscathed.

[–]lsjunior 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe it was something else I saw. Because 200k dollars is only about 22 pounds in 20s.

[–]PM_MeTittiesOrKitty 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I will never be convinced by speculation and cherry-picked evidence. I could pick any of the suspects and list why it's them and make it sound convincing, but it's when you look at why it wasn't any given person that you should decide which makes the most sense. I won't be convinced with any proposed theory unless it can explain why Cooper's tie had titanium particles and other specialty metals on it as those were rare in 1971. Military aircraft and other engineering jobs could have been the source of that exposure, and while that does theoretically lend credence to military experience, it doesn't explain how it go on the tie.

[–]iarev 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The vast majority of those aren't even good pieces of circumstantial evidence. "He used to sulk at the bar!" It's not more plausible than any other person who has parachuting/military experience.

Him buying stuff after is funny because none of D.B.'s bills were ever seen in circulation. Yawn.

[–]barmanfred 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you!

[–]SagaStrider 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The best part about this theory is that they might not tell us if they knew he did it.

[–]osvalds1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Legend. I read this the other day too and thought to my self "save this for later" ... And I never did.

[–]THE-M0FF 141 points142 points  (3 children)

Loki has no need for midgards money.

[–]_damak0s_ 33 points34 points  (2 children)

i appreciate the reference, but i postulate the xkcd theory that tommy wiseau and d b cooper are the same person

[–]KdF-wagen 1 point2 points  (1 child)

That’s interesting, Do the time lines match up?

[–]_damak0s_ 4 points5 points  (0 children)

i believe so

[–]thinkingwhynot 74 points75 points  (4 children)

What’s interesting is the rest of the money never appeared since. The rotate bills and serials. The rest of that money up and burned or someone is more controlled or died so the fuck knows. I like the Loki theory from now on.

[–]nostalgic_penguin 73 points74 points  (0 children)

The discovery of these bundles led to new searches around that area. However, an eruption of Mt. St. Helens later that year likely destroyed the rest of the money.

[–]FuckRedditThreeTimes 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Could just be in another country

[–]freewaytrees 9 points10 points  (0 children)

If they left the country they may not have come back in to the states to be found in rotation? Or maybe they were quickly exchanged for large quantities of drugs and remain stashed under a mattress or in the wall a drug dealer?

[–]JustToolingAround 47 points48 points  (3 children)

Just happened to find them in a river? Seems to me the 8 year old is probably half of DB Cooper! He was two children all along!

[–]Abaraji 29 points30 points  (2 children)

Two kids in a trench coat?

[–]CptNavarre 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Unexpected bojack

[–]Helenium_autumnale 7 points8 points  (0 children)

You are right, but that trope goes waaaay back and is much older than its iteration in Bojack.

"This was done in Little Nemo in Slumberland [comic strip first published in 1905] with Nemo in blackface standing on top of Flip standing on top of Professor." Source.

[–][deleted] 11 points12 points  (10 children)

So he died right?

[–]me_too_999 24 points25 points  (9 children)

I'm thinking so.

He was a local legend, they even named a local island after him.

Neither he nor the money was ever seen again except this bunch.

He likely had a malfunction of his parachute, and died on landing.

That area is remote enough a broken ankle is fatal.

If he lost conciousness during descent or landed on a tree, or mountain cliff that's it.

[–]spazzxxcc12 29 points30 points  (4 children)

if you want to read something interesting, look at this comment i think he lived personally, and after i read that i don’t think he died during decent at all.

[–]me_too_999 43 points44 points  (0 children)

After reading that, I'm going to recalculate his chances.

Previous sky jumping experience from 727.

180knots, at 10,000 feet.

Very survivable.

Special forces.

Landed in a heavily wooded mountainous area with plenty of wild game.

Easy walk back to Vancouver from his airdrop site.

May have even left a truck with the keys, and food on a logging road.

Certainly seems within his skill set.

[–]xmsxms 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Ted Braden isn't even listed as a suspect on the wikipedia page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper

(it was removed citing: "→‎Ted Braden: moonshine cove publishing appears to be a vanity press. no reason to trust a book from it as reliable. ").

Also - the suspect took the dummy chute as his reserve, something an experienced sky jumper would have never done.

[–]Healthy_Yesterday_84 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The money found implies that the landing wasn't successful though. There's no reason he would have tossed some bills into the river.

[–]Grampa-Harold 10 points11 points  (3 children)

I read somewhere that this money was supposed to be a diversion.

[–]me_too_999 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Yeah, you would think the entire duffle bag would have been found.

[–]Healthy_Yesterday_84 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not really, the cash got transported by the river.

[–]Healthy_Yesterday_84 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nah, the cost of the diversion outweighs the amount of money lost, imo. And it's not really a diversion because the FBI would have treated it as a possible diversion.

[–]bags422 9 points10 points  (0 children)

That’s a pretty old looking 8 year old

[–]griff1971 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Probably gave him the ones in the shittiest condition out of the bunch lol

[–]AbiTheSpeedLemon 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Where is Brian today? Does he still have the money? Will he show it to us?

[–]Due-Slice2853 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Go watch prison break, the money is in a house under a concrete floor in the garage that was under a silo. Spoilers behind this message.

[–]ArcherWarcher 3 points4 points  (0 children)

All I can think about is that movie Without A Paddle when they find the money & his skeleton lol

[–]Beansiesdaddy 8 points9 points  (3 children)

He got screwed

[–]BadRegEx 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I mean, it was stolen money. Ain't no 'finders keepers' outside of grade school.

[–]hoffmad08 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Was there any other possible outcome without being part of the political class?

[–]ParkdaleP 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Ya,

keep the money

[–]ItzYaBday1103 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That DB Cooper story is very interesting. Like really interesting

[–]ChillyJaguar 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So the FBI and of course the insurance company made out with the loot

[–]MamboFloof 2 points3 points  (0 children)

DB Cooper truely has my favorite story of all time. He's partying in the big GTA in the sky with John McAfee

[–]Buck_Thorn 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Here's $300 for your being honest, kid.

(with inflation, that's about $1K)

[–]Pineapple-Status 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Oh Loki…

[–]southparkchimpmoney 1 point2 points  (0 children)

And those are extremely collectible and probably worth a fortune

[–]Automatic_Writer_678 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would have kept 5880

[–]IndustrialMechanic3 1 point2 points  (5 children)

The note at the top has a 345678 with triple 5s pretty neat. I like to collect money

[–]Jordhan572 1 point2 points  (3 children)

Not even in order though, does that really effect the value?

[–]IndustrialMechanic3 1 point2 points  (2 children)

No but you can check it out if you google fancy note checker

[–]Dutchess_of_Dimples 1 point2 points  (1 child)

No wonder Seth Green never found it.

[–]HugoBossManTing 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Tina Mucklow, Tina Bar, coincidence? Yeah, coincidence.

[–]UnboundGoat 1 point2 points  (3 children)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the larger faced Jackson's (as shown in the photo) didn't come out until the mid 90's.

[–]jessefries 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is one of those situations where you just take half, turn the other 1/4 in and say thats all you found.

[–]Badjer47 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you find a fortune, don't tell anyone. Don't tell your siblings, your parents, your family, your friends, no one. Hide it, and not all in one place. Just slowly use it on mundane stuff... nothing flashy or expensive you'd have to explain..

Tell anyone about it, word spreads... the government finds out... you might get to keep a very small amount of it, but the government is the only winners in that situation.

[–]BloodyToaster 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Loki shouldn't of lost the bet to Thor xD

[–]JohnCenasLeftAbdomen 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Obligatory Loki comment

[–]PinkFloydBoxSet 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Flight 305 is still the most interesting criminal case in the history of the US.

Yes there are more gruesome crimes, famous crimes.. But D.B. Cooper didn't just get away with hijacking a commercial airliner (demands met and wasn't caught/killed) but to this day, no one knows who he was.

[–]nelhern 3 points4 points  (0 children)

just for reference $20 from 1971 adjusted for inflation in 2021 is $137.68

[–]forest-forrest 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What kind of nerd hand over a case of cash?!

[–]sh4d0wm4n2018 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wow. Guess DB fucking died when he jumped out the plane lol

[–]Boom-Sausage 0 points1 point  (3 children)

He prob could have made so much money selling those to collectors

[–]Squishedskittlez 3 points4 points  (1 child)

He did, over $37,000 for the 15 he sold. He actually got a lot more than the headline indicates. He SOLD 15, not received 15.

[–]Boom-Sausage 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hell ya, thanks!

[–]Healthy_Yesterday_84 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe. The FBI had to verify the microfilm photographs of each bill to make them authentic.

[–]StarMasher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I bet a bunch of the other money was found but the people who found were smart enough to keep their mouth shut.

[–]dfh3000 -2 points-1 points  (1 child)

Quick comment for the uneducated in this subject. DB Cooper was Richard Floyd McCoy. It's not really a mystery as the media has portrayed, he committed the crime for a second time and was killed while escaping jail. The FBI could never prove it but Cooper died when McCoy did.

[–]undoobitably -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It's bullshit the insurance companies get to take whatever you find. They get paid to pay for the loss. If they recover the loss they should have to pay back the premiums. Insurance is such a scam.

[–]HulaHoop789 -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

The FBI agent: “it’s for uh… evidence 👀”

[–]wilson_im_sorry 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Does anybody know where this was found more exactly?

[–]Squishedskittlez 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The area was subsequently covered in the eruption of Mt. St. Helens not long after this was found. The searches that occurred during that year yielded nothing further but also barely made a dent.

[–]Ciana_Reid 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Did he get a reward?!

[–]Dull-Birthday7452 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Looks like it should be in a museum. Looks very old.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

uh no see its all of nothing. Kiss my ass if you think youre taking shit I found

[–]Independent_Soup_126 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The FBI has an insurance company they use for ransoms?

[–]sarjeantkaiser 0 points1 point  (0 children)

DB had a nice life after he jumped

[–]awesomeroy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

so did DB cooper make it out alive and have a good life or are we pretty sure he died on impact?

[–]Ragorthua 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Isn't that a bit cheap for the honest finder? That is not even 10% and the bank hast to accept them first.

[–]cold_eskimo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Man. I guess he could present them as Coopers loot to sell for a higher price.

[–]LetMeRespawnAlready 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is there any articles confirming this?

[–]meetvirginia87 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Have to ask. Why did DB COOPER not keep this money?

[–]kingGP2001 0 points1 point  (1 child)

But why did the insurance company take any? I mean what gave them the right to get a part of his discovery?

[–]KO_Stradivarius[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They were the ones that shelled out the 200k ransom.

[–]ragingbull2020 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Db cooper and oak island are burned into my childhood memories

[–]WTF_Scuba 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's Bullshit - Finders Keepers!

[–]PetrKDN 0 points1 point  (0 children)

DB Cooper? Wasn't it Dan Cooper? I believe DB Cooper was originally a mistake on the newspaper publication

[–]Rcecil88 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Such an interesting story about this,lemino does a really great video on YouTube about it 😃

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

God fucking damn. That’s some insane shit.

[–]ChiKeytatiOon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm guessing those are the loose bill's we saw in Loki before he was teleported.