Farmer Finds Over $3 Million in Civil War Era Gold Coins in Corn Field

We all dream of finding hidden treasure, and there are actually reports of multiple buried treasures in and around Acadiana.

This dream recently came true for a corn farmer when he found hundreds of gold coins from the late 1800s that had been buried on his land since the Civil War.

The Great Kentucky Hoard

A farmer got the shock of a lifetime after plowing his corn fields when he stumbled across a cache of Civil War era gold coins with an estimated value of over $3,000,000.

Details about exactly where and who found the coins have been kept secret, other than this happened in Kentucky.

The find is so significant it's being called "The Great Kentucky Hoard".

Read More: Six Buried Treasure Spots in Acadiana and What They’re Worth

Part of what makes this find so special is that it contains some of the finest-known coins from that period, like the "1863 Double Eagles and hundreds of US Gold Dollars dated 1850 to 1862, as well as a small number of silver coins" according to ngccoin.com.

The coins have been certified by the Numismatic Guaranty Company (NGC) to ensure they’re authentic and kept well-preserved.

Although the identity of farmer who found the coins has remained a secret, he did talk to Kentucky Educational Television via email about how he found them.

The farmer tells KET he found his first coin in those fields when he was 9-years-old, and ever sense that find he always walks the fields after plowing.

On this day, he was doing just that when he noticed something in the dirt.

He first found an 1856 Seated Liberty Half-Dollar approximately 20 to 30 feet from where he would eventually find the entire hoard.

Then he says he continued walking and noticed "a glint of gold" where he found a $20 Double Eagle from the 1860s.

For the next hour he says kept digging, and kept finding more gold and silver coins by the hundreds.

Once he stopped and brought the coins back to his house he realized he had just found over 800 coins, with 770 of them being gold.

Once everything fully sunk in about what he had just found and the potential value of the find, he knew he needed help.

The farmer contacted a coin dealer and agreed to work with him for the sale of these coins as long as the dealer kept his identity confidential.

After the dealer was able to identify all of the over 800 coins, "The Great Kentucky Hoard" was valued at over $3,000,000.

You can read more at ngccoin.com.