Hundreds of US civil war era gold coins unearthed in Kentucky
2 Min Read
According to GovMint.com, the company selling the find, the coins date between 1840 and 1863 and include $1 Gold Indians, $10 Gold Libertys, and $20 Gold Libertys.
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The 1849 G$20 Liberty Head (Twenty D.) Gold (fineness 0.9000), 34mm, 33.436g, designed by James B. Longacre (Wikimedia Commons)
A man in Kentucky found a trove of more than 700 civil war-era gold coins that were buried in a cornfield on a farm in the Bluegrass State and are now being put up for auction.
According to GovMint.com, the company selling the find, the coins date between 1840 and 1863 and include $1 Gold Indians, $10 Gold Libertys, and $20 Gold Libertys.
They also include 18 extremely rare $20 Gold Libertys minted in 1863 in Philadelphia which, according to seller GovMint.com, could amount to six-figure sums from collectors.
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"The importance of this discovery cannot be overstated," said Jeff Garrett, a rare coin dealer who was contacted by the anonymous finder several months ago.
"The stunning number of over 700 gold dollars represents a virtual time capsule of Civil War-era coinage," Garrett said in a statement.
The find was named the "Great Kentucky Hoard," and although the man who found the coins was filmed digging them up, his identity and location were not revealed.
"This is the most insane thing ever!" he is heard saying in the video.
Despite that Kentucky adopted a neutral stance during the Civil War, the state was still dragged into the conflict between the North and the slave-holding South.
"The Great Kentucky Hoard may have been a result of this conflict, with the coins lost for over 150 years," said Numismatic Guaranty Company, which certified the coins.
Read more: US survey: 40% of Americans expecting civil war within decade
