Hunting for world coins in antique shops and just collecting them on my travels is definitely exciting to me, but the idea of going out and searching for old coins on a dive or out on old land with a metal detector sounds like so much more fun! Although my dad used to go scuba diving on old wrecks all the time years ago and I would love to learn how, I really don’t think scuba diving is fit for me. I’d be too afraid of there being an accident and the ocean isn’t a very forgiving place. Plus, I don’t live that close to the shore, so scuba diving for coins doesn’t seem to be an option for me.
Diving for Treasure
http://www.exploring-the-outer-banks.com/wreck-diving.html
Metal detecting for coins on a place rich with history, like near a battlefield or on an old settlement, would be super exciting! I have a metal detector and we’ve used it before on the beach. Found a Kentucky state quarter – not quite what I was hoping for. Once again, I don’t live near any place of such historical importance to be able to just go out and find something really old. So I’ll stick to the metal detecting the few times in the summer I do end up on the beach.
But do you really need to be near the ocean or an old battlefield to find something really cool? Apparently not! About a month ago, the media caught wind of the story of a couple in California who stumbled on the find of a lifetime. Last February, while walking their dog on their property in Northern California, the middle-aged couple, who have asked to remain anonymous, noticed an old can sticking out of the ground. Curious, they dug it out, and seven others like it.
What they found in those eight cans is considered by the couple’s representative, veteran numismatist Don Kagin, to be one of the
Saddle Ridge Hoard
http://news.yahoo.com/calif-couple-strike-10-million-gold-coin-bonanza-183614916.html
largest coin discoveries of the kind in the U.S. What makes the Saddle Ridge Hoard such an amazing find is the near mint condition of the 1,427 gold coins dated from the 1840s and 1850s. With a face value of about $27,000, this load of coins is estimated to be worth over $10 million because of the rarity of its age and condition. Some are so rare they’re valued at about one million dollars a piece. Why are these coins so rare? Well, until the 1880s, California had banned the use of paper money, so coins from before then were usually well worn and few were intentionally preserved. Check this article and video here to hear more about the treasure.
Graded Saddle Ridge Coin
http://news.yahoo.com/calif-couple-strike-10-million-gold-coin-bonanza-183614916.html
No one knows the real story behind these coins, why they were taken freshly-minted stored in cans buried in the ground. One theory is that in the 1850s or so, the person who buried these coins did so because they mistrusted banks at the time and buried them as their own security measure.
Whatever may be the true story behind the coins, the point is, an ordinary couple in California found a huge treasure in their own backyard. They didn’t need scuba gear or metal detectors (initially at least), all they needed was an observant eye and a curious mind. We don’t have to be insane treasure hunters like Indiana Jones, we can just be ordinary – maybe with a little more luck than most people, but ordinary overall.
P.S. – Did I mention the finders are planning on selling most of the coins on Amazon?
Works Cited:
http://news.yahoo.com/calif-couple-strike-10-million-gold-coin-bonanza-183614916.html