One discovery of gold coins that has been well documented took place in a cellar at a house at 132 S. Eden St. in East Baltimore, Md. A couple of boys playing in that cellar found a cache of gold coins. There is a little uncertainty as the boys turned the coins into the police, but allegedly held out a few with the published reports saying that the total was 3,558 coins with a face value of $11,425.50. All were dated before 1857, with the matter eventually going to court, which ordered that the coins be sold. Because there was a financial panic in 1857 and privately issued paper money was questioned, it is not a stretch that the hoard’s original owner was protecting himself from a bank failure. Something must have happened to the owner before he could reclaim his coins. The gold coin auction was held on May 2, 1935, at the Lord Baltimore Hotel with the 438 lots resulting in winning bids of $19,558.75. Thanks to the sale we have some idea of precisely what coins were included in the hoard. It included all denominations except a $3, which while issued in time to have been included, were apparently not in circulation in large numbers. The hoard included a variety of branch mint issues, such as an 1839-D quarter eagle, which was the first Dahlonega, Ga., quarter eagle as well as an 1838-C, which was the first Charlotte, N.C., half eagle. The most expensive coin in the sale was an 1856-O double eagle. The 1856-O called “very fine,” which seemed to be the grade given most coins in the sale, realized $105, which was certainly a bargain as the 1856-O with a mintage of 2,250 lists for $97,500 in VF-20 today with the best estimates being that there may be between 20 and 25 examples known. An 1849-O $10. which had a mintage of 23,900. surprisingly reached $45 as the 1849-O while a good date is not a significant rarity at $783 in VF-20 today. An 1841 $5 was sold for $26, although it reportedly had a scratch at the date and an 1847-O $5, which had a mintage of 12,500 and which lists for $2,200 today in VF-20, managed a price of $22. In the case of the hoard prices, a couple things must be remembered. There was uncertainty at the time as to the legality of owning gold coins. The law was fairly clear, but people were not clear as to what the law said and that could have hurt prices realized. Also hurting prices was the simple fact that at the time there were very few collectors of any gold coins by date and mint. Ironically, the cellar was a gift that just kept giving as the same month as the auction the boys visited the cellar again and this time reportedly found an additional $8,000 in face value. Some of this ended up in another auction, but one where no records exist as to the dates involved. The Civil War almost certainly played a significant role in creating a number of gold hoards. You have to go back and consider the times. Heading toward the Civil War there had been many bad experiences with so-called “broken bank” notes. People did not trust bank notes nor the banks that issued them. They also did not trust in the future whether they lived north or south of the Mason-Dixon line. Under such circumstances, you get hoarding, especially when the first shots are fired and that only gets worse as you see the Union Army march smartly to the battlefield only to run from that same field in a disorganized rout. Such an outcome as occurred at the Battle of Bull Run in 1861 can definitely hurt your confidence in the future and that makes not only small hoards likely but also large ones. Gold coins were in many minds the best hedge against that uncertain future. In most cases once the war was over and things returned to something close to normal, the hoards of whatever size surfaced and were used. It was, however, not unlike the small hoards of ancient times where many people would bury coins in the ground for safekeeping as there were no banks, or the numerous hoards in Central America where coins are hidden in a wall or foundation. These methods are fine if the person creating the hoard remembers where a hoard was hidden or lives long enough to come back and claim his treasure. Naturally, in a few cases, that does not happen. In the case of Civil War-era hoards from shortly after the Baltimore hoard at least a couple have been discovered that probably were hoards of a very troubled time. - See more at: http://www.numismaticnews.net/article/Gold_coin_hoards_tell_interesting_stories#sthash.Mt5w8rvF.dpuf PLEASE NOTE BELOW****** {This write up was Copied for educational purpose only! And the OP "IS NOT" the author of this write up.} ****One short note doing the math the amount realized above $19,558.75. divided by 3558 gold coins = $5.4971191 per coin!
That's why I make it a habit of returning to the same spot where I find good stuff while metal detecting. There might and sometimes there is more!
I never knew that you metal detected Paddy. Have you found anything cool? I love metal detecting a lot and do it for hours and hours when ever I can, I love doing 8 hours of hunting in the woods on Saturday (it feels like five minutes to me). I just got a handwritten letter in the mail today from the editor of W&E Treasure magazine asking if I could write an article for them with some finds from me. That definitely made my day!
I believe that the story about "Treasure in the Cellar" was published in Coin World about 6-7 years ago. Tragically, one of the young boys who discovered the two hoards desperately needed the funds for medical treatment. However, under the law, he could not receive the funds until he turned 21, but he died before then. http://www.amazon.com/Treasure-Cellar-Tale-Depression-Era-Baltimore/dp/0938420976 Chris
Well if not for me finding all the pulltabs and bottle caps and getting them out of the way you would not have found great coins -LOL. I can set my detector to reject caps and tabs but it breaks up the monotony of searching for hours without a "ping".
The big find I showed him was this colonial silver shoebuckle not a coin, I guess you took all the coins.
