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The Baltimore Hoard

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:60.00 USD Estimated At:100.00 USD
The Baltimore Hoard
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Fuller, Perry W. CATALOG. AUCTION SALE OF UNITED STATES GOLD UNEARTHED IN BALTIMORE MARYLAND BY THEODORE JONES AND HENRY GROB, MINORS. Baltimore, May 2, 1935. 8vo, original printed gray card covers. 16 pages; 438 lots. Smithsonian stamp on front cover, with handwritten note. Near fine. Scarce. Over $11,000 in face value of United States gold coins from $1 to $20, dated 1834-56 and apparently buried about the time of the Civil War, were unearthed by Jones and Grob in the cellar of a building in Baltimore on August 31, 1934. Poorly catalogued (condition, though apparently generally excellent, was described only as “fine” or “very fine” and no branch mint-marks are noted for the nearly 3,000 1849-56 gold dollars in the sale), the hoard brought slightly under $20,000, most lots selling for little above bullion value. Only four coins were deemed worth of a note on rarity: a “very fine” 1856-O $20 is termed VERY RARE; a “very fine” 1849-O $10 is called RARE; inexplicably, a “fine scratch on date” 1841 [1841-O?!] $5 is termed VERY RARE; and a “Fine” 1847-O $5 is called RARE. Twenty-seven 1838-55 Charlotte half eagles and twenty Dahlonega half eagles, nearly all “Very Fine,” were included. Leonard Augsburger’s Treasure in the Cellar tells the story of this remarkable hoard and its discovery. Augsburger notes that 3,000 copies of the catalogue were printed. Few appear to have survived, especially in numismatic venues.