The Saddle Ridge Hoard is a cache of 1,427 U.S. gold coins that a California couple found buried in rusty cans on their own property in 2013 — the largest known buried-coin discovery in United States history. The coins were dated 1847 to 1894, carried a combined face value of about $27,000, and were valued at more than $10 million.
The discovery: eight cans under a tree
In February 2013, a couple walking a familiar path on their Sierra Nevada foothills property — they have never been publicly identified, and are known only by the pseudonyms John and Mary — noticed a rusty can sticking out of the ground beneath an old tree. Inside were gold coins. More digging turned up eight cans in total, packed with 1,427 gold pieces struck between 1847 and 1894, most of them $20 double eagles, alongside $10 eagles and $5 half eagles. Nothing about the find was announced for almost a year while the coins were authenticated and graded; the story broke in February 2014 and made international news.
How the cans got there is still unknown. The leading theories involve a theft buried and never reclaimed, but no records have ever tied the hoard to a specific robbery, and the U.S. Mint stated it had no information connecting the coins to any mint theft. Legally, the finders kept the hoard.
What was in the cans
The hoard’s weight was in $20 gold pieces — Liberty Head double eagles of exactly the kind struck for circulation in the decades after the California Gold Rush, many of them San Francisco Mint issues. Condition was the shock: buried coins are usually corroded or cleaned by the soil, but many Saddle Ridge pieces graded mint state, as if they had been set aside new and never spent. The single most famous coin is the 1866-S $20 with the “No Motto” reverse — a San Francisco issue struck before the motto IN GOD WE TRUST was added to the design — certified as the finest known of its kind and valued in seven figures on its own. Coins like that are why the hoard’s total estimate passed $10 million on a face value of roughly $27,000.
How the coins were sold
The couple was represented by Kagin’s, the California numismatic firm, which handled grading submissions and the sale. The grading services certified the coins with the “Saddle Ridge Hoard” pedigree printed on the holder labels — that label matters, and the next section explains why. Most of the hoard was offered in May 2014 through Amazon, the first time rare coins of this scale were sold there, alongside sales through Kagin’s directly. The bulk of the 1,427 coins found buyers within the first year.
Buying a Saddle Ridge coin today
The original sale is long over, so anyone shopping for one now is in the secondary market: dealer inventories, auctions, and the occasional certified example resurfacing from a collection. Three checks separate a genuine hoard coin from a story:
- The pedigree must be on the holder label. Every coin sold from the hoard was certified with “Saddle Ridge Hoard” on its PCGS or NGC label. A raw coin, or a certified coin without the pedigree line, cannot be proven to come from the cans no matter what a seller says.
- Verify the certification number. Run the cert number through the grading service’s online lookup and confirm the coin, date, mintmark, and grade match the holder in front of you.
- Expect a pedigree premium. A Saddle Ridge coin typically costs more than the same date and grade without the label. You are paying for the story and the documented provenance — which is rational, as long as the premium is in line with recent auction results for comparable pedigreed pieces.
We do not stock Saddle Ridge Hoard coins — examples surface one at a time on the secondary market. What we do carry is the same classic U.S. gold the hoard was made of: circulated-era $20 Liberty double eagles and $20 Saint-Gaudens double eagles in About Uncirculated condition. If your interest is the denominations themselves, our $20 gold coin value guide walks through what drives prices on each type.
FAQ
How many coins were in the Saddle Ridge Hoard?
1,427 gold coins, found in eight metal cans. Most were $20 double eagles, with $10 and $5 gold pieces making up the rest.
How much was the Saddle Ridge Hoard worth?
The face value was about $27,000. Collector value was estimated above $10 million, driven by mint-state condition and rarities such as the finest-known 1866-S No Motto double eagle.
Can you still buy Saddle Ridge Hoard coins?
Yes, but only secondhand. The 2014 sale is finished; today the coins trade through dealers and auctions, and the genuine article always carries the Saddle Ridge Hoard pedigree on its grading holder.
Who found the Saddle Ridge Hoard?
A California couple on their own land in the Sierra Nevada foothills. They have remained anonymous — “John and Mary” are pseudonyms — and the location of the property has never been disclosed.