Wallet discovered in Calgary parkade dates back to 70s
A few sleuthy social media users mind-melded to try to solve a mystery that was shared on Facebook Thursday after the discovery of a lost wallet in a parkade in downtown Calgary.
A posting by “Sa R Ah” asked Facebook users if they recognized a woman in a photo discovered inside the abandoned wallet.
The wallet, she said, “was stuffed deep inside a parkade in downtown Calgary” that her husband discovered while doing concrete repairs on the building.
The wallet contained a number of photos dated from 1969, along with some receipts from 1973.
There was also a love letter written in French to ‘Ma Cherie’, an appointment card for an optician, and receipts from a cable car, banking and hotels in Lausanne, Switzerland — pretty much the makings of a Jason Bourne movie right there.
“My darling,” a translated version of the love letter says. “I thought about you a lot today. I hope you’re sad because I’m not too angry that I didn’t come. I worked until 6:30 I don’t know if I can,” it continued, somewhat unreliably, in computer-generated translated English.
A photo taken in 1969 was in a wallet discovered inside a parkade wall in downtown Calgary.
“I send you big kisses,” a second page said. “I hope you will be in May tonight. I am thinking of you my – Amsen. Your Patrick.”
There were also three pennies, and a number of unused Canadian stamps.
The post said there was also an address near the parkade, which is currently occupied by Rideau Pharmacy, which is at 1711 4th Street S.W., just around the corner from The Ship and Anchor Pub.
There was also a photo of Eddy Merckx, a Belgian cyclist who won the Tour de France five times.
The wallet contained a photo of Belgian cyclist Eddy Merkx, who won the Tour de France five times in the 1960s and 70s.
CTV News has reached out to Merckx’s son Axel who is also a professional cyclist, for comment.
Solving the mystery
Commenters on Facebook had a variety of reactions to the discovery, ranging from the wary to the wondrous.
“Turn into the police,” one said.
“So interesting!” said another. “Eddie won the Tour de France in the late sixties and early seventies. I wonder if she was a relative or a fan?”
“Will share in hopes owner is found,” said another.
“So by the looks of it, the letter translation is correct,” said another. “This person travelled to Greece and some other places and went to UBS (a bank) to convert the Greek drachmae, and lira to Swiss francs. The picture of Merkx seems to fit the times as he won the Tour a few times around then. Anything on the other receipts?”
“Would it be okay if I took the pictures and colour them and give it back to you?” asked another.
“Someone in another FB group suggested turning it in to the police as it could be related to an unsolved crime,” said another.
“Put it on TikTok,” said another. “They’re gonna find the owner in 2.5 seconds.”
“It might be a long shot, but maybe the pharmacy might know where old records are stored?” suggested another. “If they have a record of appointments for August 28th from 1969-1973 it could narrow down the search quite a bit.”
And yet another contributor posted a link with the publications of the doctor on one of the receipts, while someone else said they believed the “currency” was actually a museum receipt.
“Hope her history can be solved,” said someone else.
Word is spreading
Friday afternoon, CTV News heard from Sarah Skrogman, the original Facebook poster, who disclosed a few additional details.
She said her husband removed some duct work to apply traffic coating in a parkade downtown, and “when he pulled the duct out, he noticed the wallet on the ground.”
She said the reaction to her posting has been pretty incredible.
“I’ve had strangers reaching out to tell me that they have connected with families who are living at the locations revealed within the notes. I’ve even been told that it has been shared on the Switzerland Reddit forum in the hopes making a connection!
“I’d love to be able to reunite the wallet with the family. It’s such a unique and personal time capsule of somebody’s loved one.”
On Reddit in Switzerland, someone posted the original Facebook post asking if anyone knows the people involved.
“Yep,” one poster wrote. “My wife is friends with a member of the family. She’s passing the link on.”
If you have any information you’d like to share, email us at calgarydesk@bellmedia.ca.
