Treasure estimated to be worth $10 million was recently found in California – USA and is suspected to have originated from a mysterious theft more than 100 years ago.
In February 2013, a couple in Northern California discovered eight metal jars containing more than 1,400 gold coins from the 19th century buried under their house. Most of this gold money was produced in San Francisco, where the theft of 6 bags of gold coins worth about 30,000 USD occurred in 1901.
That’s why the San Francisco Chronicle recently hypothesized that the two incidents are related. However, historians and top officials at the US Mint – where the newly discovered gold coins are produced – don’t think so.
“There is no connection between the coins found and the theft,” spokesman Adam Stump said. We have researched quite a bit, if those gold coins were the property of the US government, they would have been confiscated.”
Part of the Saddle Ridge treasure worth an estimated $10 million. Photo: UPI
Mr. Don Kagin of the Kagin Company, specializing in antique coin appraisal, also rejected the San Francisco Chronicle’s hypothesis. “The most reasonable hypothesis is that they belonged to someone who worked in the mining industry at that time,” he said. This person may bury money underground because he does not trust the bank. If they are money stolen in 1901, there must be coins produced in 1901, 1900, 1899. However, the gold coins found were only produced from 1894 onwards.”
Six bags of “Double Eagles” gold (20 USD gold coins) flew wingless from the US Mint on June 29, 1901. Investigators searched for months and finally concluded that Walter Dimmick, the agency’s secretary, was the culprit even though he insisted on innocence. To date, the stolen gold remains unknown.
Meanwhile, the total face value of the gold coins found (called the Saddle Ridge treasure because it was found near the hill of the same name) is only about 28,000 USD but experts say they can be sold for at least 10 million USD.
The above coins have denominations of 5 USD, 10 USD, 20 USD, and were produced from 1847-1894. Many of these 1,427 gold coins are still new. The “star” in this treasure is a gold coin produced in 1866 with an estimated price of nearly 1 million USD. It is still unclear how the coins got to the above mentioned land and who their real owners are.
The couple who discovered the Saddle Ridge treasure decided to keep their identities secret to avoid scrutiny from people rushing to find gold. They plan to have Kagin Company sell most of the treasure, mainly on Amazon, next May. The money collected will be used to pay off debt and give to charity.
