A couple walking the dog on their property in Northern California last spring discovered the biggest and most valuable gold coin hoard ever unearthed in the United States. They were treading the same well-worn path they’ve trod hundreds of times for the dog’s daily constitutional when they spotted the rusted top of a metal can sticking up out of the eroded ground. They dug the can out with a stick and took it home.
It was so heavy lugging it back proved to be quite an effort. They figured there was lead paint inside. When the lid cracked off the husband saw the seductive rib of a single gold coin. Clearing out the rest of the contents, they found a lot of dirt and a stack of $20 liberty head gold coins from the 1890s. The pair promptly returned to the find spot, an area they dubbed Saddle Ridge, and dug some more. They immediately found another can about a foot to the left of where they had found the first can. Then they found five more smaller cans, and one last can they used a metal detector to locate.
The eight cans contained a total of 1,427 gold coins.
More @ The History Blog
I'm sure different alphabet agencies within .gov are scheming to take as much as they can from the couple. I probably would not have even told my wife until I had systematically sold the last coin (and never selling more than a couple at time to different collectors).
ReplyDelete:) Better to be safe than sorry, but they did wait a few years while they sought legal advice.
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