Digging up 700 ancient gold and silver coins

A Kentucky man discovered a large trove of Civil War coins while digging in his field earlier this year.

About 95% of the hoard consists of gold coins from the American Civil War. Photo: Numismatic Guaranty Co.

The coin hoard includes hundreds of U.S. gold coins dating from 1840 to 1863, about 95 percent of which are minted, along with a few silver coins. According to the Numismatic Guaranty Co. (NGC), which certifies the authenticity of the coins, and GovMint, the hoard includes 20 $10 Liberty coins and eight $20 Liberty coins. Each of these Liberty coins could be worth six figures at auction.

According to the NGC website, the $20 Liberty coins were minted by the U.S. Treasury Department between 1850 and 1907 after gold was discovered in California. The newly discovered $20 Liberty coins are even rarer because they do not have the inscription “In God We Trust,” which was added in 1866 after the end of the Civil War.

Importantly, the Kentucky coin hoard sheds new light on American history during a particularly turbulent period. "Given the time and location in Kentucky, which was neutral at the time, it is highly likely that the hoard was buried before the June-July 1863 raid by Confederate General John Hunt Morgan," said Ryan McNutt, an archaeologist at Georgia Southern University. Rumor has it that many wealthy Kentucky residents buried large sums of money to prevent the Confederacy from seizing it.

McNutt said that most historical artifacts found on private land are sold on the market or collected without archaeological consultation. “As an archaeologist, I find this loss of information particularly frustrating,” he said. Ancient vaults contain a wealth of information about their owners, providing experts with detailed data about a given period.

Historical finds on private U.S. land, like the one in Kentucky, do not need to be reported to an archaeologist. However, McNutt believes education and outreach are key to learning more about these rare coin hoards.

Thu Thao (According to Live Science )

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