The Great Kentucky Hoard was a collection of more than 800 Civil War era coins found in the cornfield of a Kentucky farm in 2023.
What Coins were in the Great Kentucky Hoard?
The coins were dated between 1840 and 1862 and had a face value of $1,200. Most of the hoard was comprised of Type I, Type II, and Type III gold dollars issued from 1854 through 1862. Several of the Type I-Type III gold dollars were unique and valuable. The hoard also held three 1862 gold dollars with a doubled die obverse classified as FS-101, as well as eleven 1861 gold dollar coins in medallic alignment instead of coin alignment.
In addition to the multitude of various gold dollars, there were 20 $10 Liberty Head Gold Eagles and eight $20 Liberty Head Gold Double Eagles. The $10 Liberty Gold Eagles were dated from 1840 through 1862 and the $20 Double Eagles were dated between 1857 and 1862. The crowning glory of the Great Kentucky Hoard was the number 1863-S Liberty Gold Double Eagles present. The 1863-S Liberty Gold Double Eagle is rare, and there were 18 of them in the Great Kentucky Hoard.
How Valuable was the Great Kentucky Hoard?
The Great Kentucky Hoard had a face value of $1200, which is just more than $24,000 adjusted for inflation. However, due to the numismatic rarities and historical value, the hoard sold for more than $3 million.
Finding the Great Kentucky Hoard
Plowing a field loosens and turns soil five to eight inches deep before seeds are planted. In the early 2020s, an unnamed man noticed something strange in a freshly plowed field on his property in an undisclosed part of Kentucky. The man stopped to examine the ground, which he said looked out of the ordinary. As he brushed away soil and gently dug with his fingers, gold and silver coins began spilling out.
The more he dug, the more coins came into view. When the entire hoard was uncovered, the farmer had amassed more than 700 gold coins alone.
Who Buried the Great Kentucky Hoard?
Why would someone bury what is equivalent to the annual salary of more than seven Union soldiers?
The coins’ dates led experts like Ryan McNutt, a Georgia Southern University archeologist, to believe the hoard may have been deposited prior to General John Hunt Morgan’s failed raid in June 1863. General Morgan spearheaded a campaign that summer that swept over numerous states, including Kentucky. Although his campaign was altogether unsuccessful, the looming threat of raids might have been enough to drive many citizens to bury or hide their valuables.
They may have lacked confidence in their local bank since many Americans were aware of the risks posed by the banking system of their day. They had seen major financial failures in 1837 and 1857, and the FDIC was not established until the Great Depression. The pressure exerted by the Civil War may have been felt in greater measure throughout states with declared neutrality, as some of these states found themselves mired in the figurative trenches of the war. Amid the threat of raids, it makes sense for someone to gather their money and bury it, especially if General Morgan was leading a campaign nearby. However, like most coin hoards and buried treasure, the owner and their intentions will remain a mystery.
