3/19/13 - Gold Coin Hoards

Written by the Treasureguide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.


The crews of JB Magruder and the Dare are returning to the Atocha site with the return of calmer seas. 

The calm seas that make it possible to get out in the water aren't much good for beach hunters - except for getting out near the water's edge. 

We will have a 2 - 3 foot surf for about three days, and then it is predicted to decrease down to 1 - 2 feet.

Right now the tide isn't varying much either.  Pick and scratch time.


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Many gold coin hoards have been discovered over the years.  Hoard discoveries can provide a lot of numismatic information, but unfortunately hoard discoveries are often poorly documented.  One very good book on gold hoards is American Coin Treasures and Hoards, by David Bowers of Bowers Auctions.  I think any treasure hunter would enjoy reading and get some good tips from that book.

One of the gold coin hoard stories in that book, for example, is about a Kellogg & Co. $20 gold coin that was discovered in 1908 in Nebraska.  The $20 gold piece, it seems, was lost by a couple of men named Abernathy and Bennett who had returned to Nebraska from California with a bag of $20 Kellogg gold pieces.  As the story goes, in 1867 Pawnee Indians killed the men and burned the house.

But that is only the beginning of the story.  A $20 Kellogg gold pieces was found years later by two boys while they were swimming.  After searching, they found two more or the gold pieces.  According to the story, eventually a sack containing $1,100 face value of the coins was found and turned into a bank in Nebraska.

While stories like this are difficult to document in an academic way for numismatic purposes, the details of the story make sense and could very likely have happened the way it is told.

If you know about local Treasure Coast treasure hunting history, you might know about the US gold coins found by some young fellows while swimming as they hunted lobster not too far north of Pepper Park near where the old inlet was.  That was part of an army payroll that was lost while trying to enter the old inlet.  I've talked about that before so won't go into it any more now. 

You can search this blog using the keyword search box.  I find myself doing that more and more when I know that I've talked about something but have forgotten some details.

Some US gold coins found in Jupiter are also mentioned in the above referenced book by Bowers in addition to many other hoard stories. 

If you can't run out to the library to get the book today but want to read some of the gold hoard stories, here is a link that you'll find posted various places around the web.  Good reading.

http://www.numismaticnews.net/article/Gold_coin_hoards_tell_interesting_stories

Research helps. 


I'm keeping it short today.  Have to get on with other things.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net