The stash included 52,000 Roman coins valued at more than $5 million.

The coins were buried in a large jar about a foot underground. The coin-filled jar weighed about 350 pounds.

Treasure hunter Dave Crisp said he started digging after hearing a funny signal from his metal detector.

stash included 52,000 Roman coins valued at more than $5 million.

“I put my hand in, pulled out a bit of clay and there was a little radial, a little bronze Roman coin very, very small, about the size of my fingernail,” Crisp said.

Historians say the coins date back to the 3rd century.

Hundreds of the coins had an image of Marcus Aurelius Carausius, a Roman naval officer who seized power in Britain and northern France, but was later assassinated.

“The late 3rd century A.D. was a time when Britain suffered barbarian invasions, economic crises, and civil wars,” Roger Bland, with the British Museum, said.

This article is about the Ten rarest Liberty Head eagles. Notice that I didn’t say “the ten most popular” or “the ten most expensive.” Readers may be surprised that this top ten list does not include any Carson City issues (although I was tempted to include the 1870-CC) and just one from New Orleans.

In looking over the list you will note that six of the ten coins are from Philadelphia and at least one or two are probably not all that familiar to even the most advanced collector of Liberty Head gold. Most of these dates have very low original mintage figures (one, the 1875, has a mintage of just 100 business strikes!) and nearly all have remarkably low survival rates. To qualify for this list, an issue requires a total population of under 50-60 coins.

In order of their rarity, here is my list of the ten rarest Liberty Head eagles.

Liberty Head Eagles

1. 1875:

The Philadelphia gold coinage of 1875 includes a number of issues with exceedingly low mintages. Only 400 examples of both the gold dollar and quarter eagle were produced but the survival rate is higher than expected. The three dollar is a Proof-only issue that has sold for over $100,000 since the 1970’s while the half eagle is a major rarity with probably no more than 10-12 known from the original mintage of 200. I believe that the 1875 eagle, however, is the rarest of all these impressive Philadelphia issues. I have seen it stated that as many as 12-15 are known but I believe that this figure is on the high side and that the actual number is more likely seven to nine. I have personally seen two or three that I would grade AU including Superior 6/97: 1541 and B&M 3/98: 2207 that were graded AU53 and AU50, respectively, by PCGS. The all-time auction record is $74,750 for an NGC AU55 sold as Lot 2102 in DLRC’s Richmond I auction in 2004.

Every business strike 1875 eagle (and I haven’t seen once since Heritage offered a PCGS VF35 in January 2006) is characterized by excessively abraded surfaces and inferior eye appeal. Some of the coins that have been certified as business strikes by both services are actually Impaired Proofs. Proof 1875 eagles have a different date position than business strikes and use a different reverse with the top of the second vertical stripe in the shield incomplete.

I believe that this is an extremely undervalued issue and if it were part of a more popular series it would be a $100,000++ coin.

2. 1864-S:

The 1864-S is the rarest eagle from the San Francisco mint. Only 2,500 were produced and my best estimate is that around 25-30 are known. Unlike its cousin, the very rare 1864-S half eagle, the 1864-S eagle is unknown in Uncirculated and I have personally seen only two that I regard as AU – The Bass III: 658 (graded AU55 by PCGS; it sold for a remarkably cheap $36,800 back in May 2000) and a coin owned by a West Coast specialist. The all-time auction record is $50,600 set in the July 2006 B&M sale by a PCGS EF45.

This is a generally well-produced issue although most have weakness on the radial lines in the stars. I have only viewed a small handful of 1864-S eagles that had any mint luster and most are heavily bagmarked. This was an issue that saw considerable circulation and the majority of survivors are very well worn.

It is my suspicion that someone is hoarding lower grade 1864-S eagles. There has only been one example sold at auction in the last five years or so, despite a combined population of twenty-three coins at PCGS/NGC. Even assuming that this number is inflated by resubmissions, my instinct tells me that some savvy collector is sitting on a group of five to ten 1864-S eagles and torturing those of us who would love to buy an example.

3. 1873 Closed 3:

All 1873 eagles (business strikes and Proofs) are found with a Closed 3 in the date. All other Philadelphia gold coins from this year are found with both an Open 3 and a Closed 3 variety. A total of 800 business strikes were produced along with 25 Proofs. There are an estimated 25-35 examples known. Unlike the 1875 and the 1864-S, most of the surviving 1873 eagles are not extremely well worn. In fact, the majority of the survivors grade in the AU range, suggesting that this issue saw little actual circulation. Most of the pieces I have seen are well struck and display satiny, slightly reflective luster. I have never viewed one that didn’t have heavy to very heavy abrasions and my guess is that most 1873 eagles were thrown into a bag and transported somewhere before being released into their brief period(s) of circulation.

The finest known is the ex: Warren Miller coin, graded MS60 by PCGS, which sold for $34,100 all the way back in October 1995. Prior to this, the coin had been sold as Stack’s 3/90: 1222. Bass III: 705 ($21,850; as PCGS AU58) is probably the second best. In all, I would estimate that there around a dozen or so in AU with most in tightly-held collections.

I recently sold a nice PCGS AU50 example to a prominent collector and this was the first 1873 eagle that I had owned in close to a decade.

4. 1863:

All of the Civil War era Liberty Head eagles are scarce (with the exception of the 1861) but the 1863 is the key rarity in this subset. In fact, I regard it as among the very rarest 19th century Philadelphia gold coins. Only 1,248 business strikes were issued of which an estimated 30-40 are known. The finest is the superb Bass IV: 683 ex: MARCA 8/91: 755 that brought $52,900 in its last appearance (an amazing bargain) after Harry Bass had paid $104,500 for it back in 1991. The second finest known is an NGC MS62 from the S.S. Republic that is owned by a prominent Western collector. NGC has also graded an example in MS60.

Almost every example that I have seen grades EF45 or below and is characterized by excessively abraded surfaces. The luster is either soft and frosty or, less often, semi-prooflike and the strike tends to be bold with the exception of the curl directly above Liberty’s ear.

It has been a number of years since I have handled an 1863 eagle and the last example that I can recall having seen was an NGC AU58 that was sold at auction by Heritage back in 2005.

5. 1865-S Normal Date:

Two varieties are known for this year. The better known is the spectacular 1865-S Over Inverted 186. The less visually impressive Normal Date is, ironically, the rarer of the two. I regard this as the second rarest eagle from San Francisco. I estimate that around 30-40 are known and nearly all grade EF40 or below. In fact, this is one of the rarest Liberty Head eagles from the standpoint of condition. I have never seen or heard of an Uncirculated example (although NGC has graded a coin in MS60) and I know of just three that I would call real AU’s (none better than AU50 to AU53).

The quality of strike is very distinctive with soft radial lines in the stars and a slightly concave appearance on the obverse. The reverse is better struck although many examples show weakness on the neck feathers. I have never seen an 1865-S Normal Date eagle that did not have heavily abraded surfaces and most have enough wear to lack any significant luster.

The record price at auction for this issue is $21,850 set by Heritage in January 2007 for a coin graded AU58 by NGC. I believe that a nice, original AU55 to AU58 could sell for considerably more in today’s market if it became available (or even exists).

6. 1860-S:

Unless you know this series, you are probably not aware of the true rarity of the 1860-S. This is a very rare coin in all grades and one that is even harder to locate than its small original mintage of 5,000 would suggest. I believe that 35-45 are known including five or six properly graded AU’s and two in Mint State. This date was unknown in Uncirculated until two were found in the S.S. Republic treasure. The finer of the two, graded MS62 by NGC, is owned by a West Coast collector. The other, graded MS61 by NGC, sold for $37,375 in the Superior May 2008; an all-time auction record for this date.

The typical 1860-S is very well worn with VF to EF detail and shows signs of having been mishandled. The strike is typically soft with weakness on the stars and incomplete definition in the centers.

7. 1883-O:

The 1883-O is the rarest eagle produced at the New Orleans mint. In my book “Gold Coins of the New Orleans Mint 1839-1909” I suggested that 35-45 examples are known from the original mintage of just 800 coins. I still agree with this estimate. Since my book was published in 2006, very few 1883-O eagles have become available and the demand for this issue seems to have greatly increased.

Virtually every example that I have seen grades in the EF40 to AU50 range and is characterized by heavily abraded surfaces. Most are Prooflike and have had their luster disturbed by rough handling and/or numismatic abuse.

The finest known example, an NGC MS61PL (earlier graded MS60 by NGC), surfaced in a bid sale conducted by a dealer at the 2008 FUN show. It was purchased by a consortium of dealers and then sold to a private collector for a record price. With the exception of this coin, very few 1883-O eagles have been seen by me in the last three or so years.

8. 1844:

I mentioned in the beginning of this article that there were a few coins on this list that were not well-known outside of the core collecting community of Liberty Head eagles. I would have to rank the 1844 as the number one sleeper in this group and it is a coin whose true rarity even surprised me as I was researching this group.

There were only 6,361 eagles struck in 1844 and my estimate is that 40-50+ are known. When you do find an 1844 eagle, it tends to be very well worn with VF and EF examples most often seen. I believe that there are fewer than ten properly graded AU examples known with most in the AU50-53 range. NGC has graded one in MS63 (I have not seen it) which may possibly be the Bell coin from 1944; they have also graded an MS61 example that Heritage sold in their January 2002 auction for a reasonable $10,063. The best example I have personally seen is an AU55 and I cannot recall having seen a nice 1844 eagle in over five years.

Every 1844 has two prominent die characteristics on the obverse. There is a horizontal die line below the first star and a series of vertical die scratches from the denticles out into the field near star three.

9. 1839 Type of 1840:

I’m not totally certain that this variety belongs at the #9 spot on the list but I have always loved the 1839 Type of 1840 and it’s my list, so I’m going to put it into this slot, deserving or not.

This issue was created after the Eagle design was remodeled in 1839 and it is appreciably different from the Type of 1838 that was produced earlier in the year. It is rare in all grades with an estimated 50-60 known from the original mintage of 12,447. This issue is usually seen in very low grades with VF20 to EF40 examples being typical. It becomes rare in AU with around ten or so properly graded pieces known. In Uncirculated it is slightly more available than some of the other issues on this list. I would estimate that there are three or four known. The finest (and one of my single favorite American coins) is Pittman: 1912, ex: Farouk, Woodin. This coin sold for $143,000 back in May 1998 and it is now graded MS64 by NGC.

10. The Coveted Last Spot on the List:

There were a number of other dates that offered strong claims for the #10 spot but there was so little separation between them in terms of overall rarity that I did not think it was fair to include one and exclude the others. These dates include the 1858, 1859-S, 1864, 1866-S With Motto, 1876 and 1877. If I had to choose one that was most deserving, I would probably pick the 1859-S, based on the fact that I have handled fewer examples of this than of the others in the last few years. But I could easily see collectors coming to the support of the 1876 or 1877 and the 1858 is certainly the best known date in this small group.

I personally find the Liberty Head eagle series to be among the most interesting in all of American numismatics. It is extremely challenging but, unlike many other hard series, it is not impossible to complete.

If you are interested in collecting Liberty Head eagles, please feel free to contact me via email at dwn@ont.com.

After passing through Peach Springs (a tank on the Santa Fe Railroad in Northwestern Mojave County), he became so weak he could ride no further in a place he called Daniel’s Canyon.

While reclining in the shade of a large boulder, he observed a buck deer emerge from a clump of bushes up the canyon.  He managed to raise his rifle and shot it and dropped it in his tracks.

Making a fire under a Juniper tree, he cooked himself some of the venison and after eating and resting started to feel a little better.  As he was resting, he idly kicked his heels in the ground and dug up some quartz and after inspecting it found some traces of gold in it.  Further digging uncovered a rich pocket of ore.

After digging out all of the gold he could carry, Harper concealed the spot with earth and brush.  He looked about thoughtfully, taking note of all of the natural landmarks, but was not satisfied he could recognize the exact spot.

Cuting off the head of the dead buck, he hung the head and antlers in the branches of the Juniper tree and mounted and continued his journey.

When Harper reached Prescott, a doctor told him he was suffering from an advanced case of  tuberculosis and admitted him to the hospital.  As the cowboys condition worsened, the doctor persuaded him to send for a brother who was in Texas.

The brother arrived shortly before Harper’s death, and before he died he showed his brother the gold and gave his brother directions for finding the ore in Daniel’s Canyon, stressing the antlers in the Juniper tree.

After the funeral, the brother had the rocks assayed and the gold content turned out to be fabulously rich.  The brother went searching for the gold and the tree with the antlers in it, but neither the gold nor antlers were ever found.

Original Post

After seven years spent prospecting for gold as a hobby in the California desert, Terry Hughes of Moorpark hit the mother lode.

On Memorial Day, the former Marine and disabled Vietnam veteran scored a “one-in-a-million” find: an 8.7-ounce gold nugget worth an estimated $10,000.

“We’re all hoping to find the big one and Terry did,” said Patrick Keene, co-owner of Keene Engineering, reportedly one of the world’s largest suppliers of portable mining equipment.

A nugget that big — about the size of an egg — is “extremely rare,” Keene said.

Hughes purchased all his mining equipment from the Chatsworth company, and on Thursday morning he took his trophy nugget to Keene for an official weighing-in.

He would not reveal the exact location of where he found the nugget, although he said it was near Randsburg.

Although gold is currently bringing more than $1,000 an ounce, the nugget is “worth nothing,” Hughes said. “It’s all relative, about what it’s worth to me.”

And he has no plans to cash it in.

“It’s not the money value; it’s the treasure value,” he said.

Hughes, 62, was hit with the prospecting bug years ago while on an outing at Lake Isabella with his oldest son, who found a “dot of gold.”

“When you get your first gold, it gives you the gold fever,” said Hughes who retired seven years ago after 32 years with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

He said his Memorial Day weekend venture started Friday when he headed for the desert near Randsburg. Others were also prospecting, but he was alone when his metal detector signaled a find.

“The last one had left about two hours before I found it,” Hughes said. “I thought I would make one last run with my metal detector.”

Previously, the largest nugget Hughes had unearthed was a 1-ounce, 7-pennyweight nugget found the week between Christmas and New Year’s. A pennyweight is about 1.5 grams.

That was “a huge find and this one is 100 times bigger,” he said.

Keene, 45, who has been prospecting for about 35 years, said Hughes’ nugget is a special find.

“From what I know, it’s the largest piece to come out of the desert in the last 20 years, at least,” he said. He has mined all over the world, and the largest nugget he’s found weighed 2 ounces, 7 pennyweight, he said.

A nugget’s estimated worth, Hughes said, is based on spot value of gold on the current market and its “collectors’ value.” He said he’s received collectors’ value estimates as high as $20,000 on his nugget.

According to the Web site for Gold Mart Inc., less than 2 percent of the world’s gold remains in the form of nuggets that may be found in rivers and streams, those filled with water as well as in dry riverbeds.

Gold in the United States is primarily found in California, Alaska and Oregon but is also unearthed in other southwestern states. Hot spots throughout the world include Australia, Africa, Russia, Bolivia and Canada.

Hughes has kept his prospecting to California and done mostly dry washing (digging, shoveling and sifting) to unearth his finds. In about 10 days, however, he plans to try his hand at underwater dredging and sluicing in the Yuba River in Northern California.

“There’s still a lot of gold out there waiting to be found,” he said. But for him it’s not about the money; it’s the adventure.

Hughes figures he has a couple thousand dollars invested in prospecting equipment; his latest acquisition is the dredging tools he’ll use on the Yuba River. Right now, though, his metal detector is in the spotlight.

He isn’t planning to return to mine the spot of his big find, comparing the exhilaration he felt Monday to being on an Easter egg hunt or a fishing trip.

He figures he’s not going to find another egg or catch another fish in the exact same spot.

“You move on,” he said. “You never, never know. Gold is where you find it.”

Visit the links for more in-depth detail and exploration.

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That’s the directive that came down from HSBC USA in late November.

It seems that everyone these days wants gold. Real, physical gold coins that they can hold in their hands, or bars that they’re assured are resting safely in a well-guarded vault. HSBC’s New York vault, for example, buried deep below its 5th Avenue tower, where it has stored people’s gold since it inherited the facility from Republic Bank a decade ago.

But no more.

HSBC has served notice to its retail customers – many of whom are simply middle-men and custodial services which store gold with HSBC on behalf of hundreds of their own account holders – that all their gold must be out of its facility by July 2010. Otherwise, folks, prepare for an unwelcome knock at your door. HSBC’s letter says that, in the absence of directions to the contrary, clients’ metal “will be returned to the address of record… at your expense.”

Picture, if you will, what the Wall Street Journal reported: “fleets of armoured cars laden with gold ferrying the precious metal out of New York.”

Where to? That’s a good question. One destination is a pair of warehouses operated by FideliTrade, the parent company of Delaware Depository Service Co. Its vaults in Wilmington have been filling up quickly, leading Jonathan Potts, the managing director, to comment that, “I have never seen any relocation like this.” Other depositories have seen a similar run.

The logic behind HSBC’s decision, according to the Journal, is simple. The vaults are being cleared of smaller clients in order to make more room for institutional holdings, because “retail customers tend to be more expensive [to service] in part because of their diverse holdings. They usually buy American Eagle or Canadian Maple Leaf coins, and bars of various weights and sizes, all of which need to be categorized and stored separately. In contrast, institutions typically buy standardized bars of 100 or 400 ounces, making them easier to store. Institutions also tend to hold the metal for long periods.”

HSBC itself didn’t say why it’s doing this (in fact, its letter wasn’t intended for public release). So, predictably, the Internet exploded with rumors that its action had more sinister motives.

Chief among them has been the tungsten story. That one, in case you haven’t already heard it, maintains that a foreign gold buyer – some say Indian, some say Chinese – found to its dismay that bars it recently purchased were merely gold-plated tungsten. (Tungsten would be the metal of choice for a counterfeiter because it’s the closest metal to gold in specific gravity, and can fool the most basic test for purity.) Some go as far as to claim that Fort Knox is full of fakes, deliberately placed there to make our official stash appear bigger than it is. A suspicion that’s easily stoked since no outside auditor has inspected U.S. gold holdings in over 50 years.

Be that as it may, the latest rumor claims that the appearance of tungsten bars at this time is going to cause widespread chemical testing of gold bars, and HSBC doesn’t want to be caught with anything bogus. Thus they’re preemptively moving their gold out, protecting themselves and at the same time laying off the need to do any testing onto someone else.

This is a great tale, but it ignores the fact that it’s largely coins and small bars that are being moved, and those are not cost effective to counterfeit in tungsten. In addition, that the story is presently confined to the Net means it’s fiction until proven otherwise. As Ed Steer – GATA activist and author of Casey Research’s Gold and Silver Daily – points out, “If it were true, Bloomberg would be all over it in a heartbeat.”

Or someone would. And even if the mainstream media failed to do their job, there’s still the absence of a smoking gun. Who’s seen the tungsten bars? What are the names of officials who can confirm the fraud? Why aren’t the Indians who’ve been ripped off waving the phonies in front of a TV camera? These questions don’t yet have satisfactory answers. Thus the rumor will have to remain just that.

Rumor #2: HSBC has less gold on deposit than it promises, and it’s doling out what it does have to its best friends. This one might make some sense if HSBC were getting out of the gold business entirely. But it isn’t. And if it does have any physical shortages, it can cover them indefinitely with paper “equivalents.”

Rumor #3: HSBC is going under. Those storing large amounts of gold know it, and they’re protecting their assets from future claims by creditors. HSBC is hiding the mass exodus of gold by claiming to have ordered it. No way to confirm this, of course, but the volume of gold that’s leaving means an awful lot of people know what’s happening. Word of the bank’s fragility would surely have leaked out by now. That it hasn’t makes this one highly doubtful – not to mention that HSBC likely falls into the “too big to fail” category and would be propped up if it faced collapse.

Rumor #4: The most outlandish of all. Under this scenario, Washington suspects an attack in conjunction with the terrorist trials, and it’s ordered gold moved out of New York so it isn’t contaminated in the event of a dirty bomb. (Those with the deepest, darkest level of cynicism claim that this would also provide the government with a handy excuse to default on foreign claims to physical metal – as in, sorry, it’s gone, but here’s what you’re owed in dollars.)

All of these make for spicy Web chatter, but after checking with our own sources, we believe that the truth is far more mundane, yet quite exciting in its own right. In essence, we think the WSJ’s analysis is pretty close, with a twist.

COMEX Depository Gold Warhorse Stocks

It all has to do with the COMEX. That exchange, which handles futures activity in gold, has to maintain a cache of metal with which to settle trades. As a courtesy, it will also arrange to store gold for buyers who don’t want to take physical delivery. But it has no vaults of its own. It contracts with four banks to do the actual storage, though only two maintain significant amounts: of the 9.73 million ounces of COMEX gold, Scotia Mocatta has the most, nearly 5.1 million; HSBC USA is next, with over 4.1 million.

The amount of gold warehoused by the COMEX has exploded since the metal’s bull run began in 2001, as you can see from the following chart (where “registered stocks” are sitting there with someone’s name already on them, and “eligible stocks” are awaiting either registration or delivery):

The trend is obvious, and what it means is that HSBC needs an ever-increasing amount of space for its COMEX gold. Provided, of course, that the trend remains in place. Or accelerates.

HSBC has cast its vote. It clearly believes that it’s going to be getting more gold from the COMEX, maybe a lot more, and it’s making room by giving the boot to other depositors. Perhaps the bank knows something we don’t know, or perhaps it’s just acting out of reasonable expectation.

Either way, it’s telling us that the demand for gold is going to continue rising. And coming from a major bullion bank, that’s about as bullish a signal as anyone could want. If you don’t own any physical gold, it’s time.

Right now, gold is a bit off its recent highs… so, as believers in sound money, the Casey folks are stocking up on their yellow metal before its price resumes its journey to the moon. This is the time to learn everything you can about how and from whom to buy gold, where to safely store it, gold proxies, and major gold stocks. Check out Casey’s Gold and Resource Report risk-free for 3 months – it’s only $39 per year, a mere pittance for what you’ll get out of it. Click here to learn more about gold and gold’s “slingshot effect.”

But tests on the piece by British Museum experts ruled it was a fake and probably less than 300 years old.

Gutted Andrew must now split the estimated £13,500 value with landowner David Hills and friends David Carr and Shaun Scott, who helped find it in July 2008.

The trio also found two gold coins from the Iron Age and a Viking ring, worth about £1,000 in total, but agreed to waive the cash after failing to reach an agreement with the landowner over ownership.

During an inquest held in Selby on Friday, British Museum curator Ben Robinson explained his conclusion the torc was fake: “It was too smooth, gold deteriorates over time, and it had too high a copper content in it.

Torc of Towton

“When I first saw a photo of it I was excited as it looked like a classic Bronze Age bracelet, but when I actually examined it I became uneasy.

“It was a very bright gold colour – usually over time gold will turn a dull mustard colour. It was too small to be a necklace but too big to be a bracelet.

“In short, it was a forgery as the dimension, colour and composition were all wrong.”

During the hearing, the three men admitted originally lying to British Museum liaison officer Amy Cooper about the exact location of the find to stop others raiding the site.

Metal detecting since the 80s, Andrew said he had found items worth a total of £20,000 in that time.

Coroner Geoff Fell ruled the items were classed as treasure, adding: “I don’t have a clue how the torc came to end up in this river. But I’m convinced it’s a forgery.”

The coins and ring will now go on display at the British Museum. The Independent Treasure Committee will decide the exact value of the fake torc and later decide its final resting place.

The four gold Iron Age neck ornaments, or torcs, date from between the 1st and 3rd Century BC and are said to be worth an estimated £1m… The find is the most important hoard of Iron Age gold in Scotland to date.

A young man, using his metal detector for the first time, walked about seven steps from his car and got a signal.

The four gold Iron Age neck ornaments, or torcs, date from between the 1st and 3rd Century BC and are said to be worth an estimated £1m… The find is the most important hoard of Iron Age gold in Scotland to date.

Neatorama has previously posted stories about a Viking hoard and an Anglo-Saxon hoard found in the British Isles. One factor that favors the discovery and preservation of these archeological treasures is the Treasure Act of 1996, an Act of Parliament that requires treasure hunters to turn in their finds to local authorities, but then guarantees them monetary compensation based on a market value of the treasure. In many countries without such laws, finds such as these would be sold on the black market or melted down for bullion, destroying the remarkable artistry of the pieces. The Treasure Act does not apply in Scotland, where this was found, but indications are that this fellow will be richly compensated in order to encourage others to report their discoveries.

At the BBC link the other pieces can be seen in a brief video.