1863 $20 Liberty Head Double Eagle NGC MS63 (CAC) Ex. Great Kentucky Hoard (PQ-!)

“This is the most insane thing ever”: The Great Kentucky Hoard of Gold Coins

by Eric Brothers, AU Capital Management

Many Americans tramp around the nation armed with metal detectors, numbering over 1.5 million, with dreams of finding buried treasure. You’ll often see them at our nation’s beaches, solitary soles who concentrate upon a small patch of sand, hoping to hear a high-pitched beep telling them that gold or silver is within their reach. After hearing that beep, he or she will stop and will get on their knees and begin digging. What have they found? Perhaps their efforts will result in finding a silver Washington quarter or a gold ring.

There are other people who bring their metal detectors to places off the beaten path, to abandoned towns and farms across the United States. Perhaps nobody even sees these intrepid folk as they wave their bulky devices over the ground.

Are metal detector enthusiasts out for peaceful relaxation—or to find something of value and interest? Probably it is a mixture of both. However, if one goes metal detecting solely with the goal of finding a treasure, he or she will be disappointed if they don’t hear that delightful high-pitched beep. It is better to expect nothing except a peaceful morning or afternoon at the beach or abandoned land. Then, if something is found, it will be a real surprise.

“A Civil War-era treasure of more than 700 gold coins was unearthed in a Kentucky cornfield,” writes the New York Times, “a find that has at least partly vindicated legends of lost Civil War gold that have driven American treasure hunters for more than 150 years.”

“This is the most insane thing ever,” declared the man who discovered what has come to be known as the ‘Great Kentucky Hoard’ in a video that was posted on YouTube on June 9, 2023. In that video, a man is seen excitedly counting piles of gold coins caked with dirt.

Is Kentucky the ‘Lost Treasure State’?

Even though Kentucky’s nickname is the Bluegrass State, perhaps it should also be called the ‘Lost Treasure State.’ That is because Kentucky has countless tales of regular folk who buried their life savings and sunken riverboats loaded with treasure that wash ashore even to this day. Legend tells us that frontiersman Daniel Boone buried a hoard of coins near his Fayette County homestead. It is widely held that Jesse James buried around $50,000 in gold coins near Russellville. It is also believed that he and his gang hid stolen loot in different locations around Kentucky. Plus, legend has it that a rich businessman from Louisville buried a fortune on his land to prevent it from being stolen. There is much lore that has inspired treasure hunting in the Bluegrass State.

Or is the Great Kentucky Hoard related to the Civil War? The buried treasure includes many coins dated 1862 and 1863, when the Bluegrass State saw fierce battles between the Union and the Confederacy. Initially, the government of Kentucky declared the state to be neutral but ended that policy and joined the Union side after Confederates attached western Kentucky during September 1861. The New York Times reports that Ryan McNutt, a conflict archaeologist at Georgia Southern University, said, “it was possible the hoard was buried ahead of a destructive Confederate raid carried out by Brig. Gen. John H. Morgan in the summer of 1863.” A different raid by Morgan in 1864 was described by one of his troops: “bank robbed, stores plundered, universal pillage of private property!”

NGC conserves, grades, encapsulates Hoard

Numismatic Guarantee Company (NGC) “was honored to recently certify an incredible cache of rare Civil War-era coins found in the Bluegrass State. [It] includes a group of finest known 1863 Double Eagles and hundreds of US Gold Dollars dated 1850 to 1862...”

“From first hearing about the hoard, to seeing the raw coins and through to viewing the coins attributed, graded and encapsulated, it has been an amazing experience,” said David Camire, NCS President and NGC Finalizer. “While assisting in conserving the hoard, I was able to examine each coin in detail. This yielded some interesting varieties and errors.”

The first variety encountered was the 1862 Gold Dollar with a doubled die obverse. This is a known variety and recognized as FS-101. The doubling is quite apparent in most of the lettering, as well as the feather detail of the portrait. There were just three of those among all of the gold dollars in the hoard. NGC has graded a total of 23 in all grades.

“The coins, discovered in the ground and remarkably well preserved, possess an astonishing luster and a newfound freshness rarely observed in coins of this kind,” said Andy Salzberg, then the Executive Vice President of the Certified Collectibles Group (CCG), of which NGC is part. “NGC is incredibly delighted to have been selected as the preferred grading service for this extraordinary discovery, which can be deemed as a truly exceptional occurrence in a lifetime.”

Each coin from the Hoard is encapsulated with a special NGC Great Kentucky Hoard certification label, enhancing their display and presentation.