2018 TENNESSEE MASON JAR HOARD DISCOVERY

Concealed beneath a fieldstone wall, the five jars of coins in the Tennessee hoard ranged from the late 1800s to the early 1900s and included an abundance of pre-1933 gold. Their discovery, made by the most improbable alignment of erosion, sun, and vantage point, was a formula of coincidence. Or was it? Does a treasure pick its own time to talk?

"I could see almost right away the coins were real," recalls Dunbar, who purchased the hoard. "The smell and patina matched the origin story. A true rarity: Buried treasure."

Seated in his office at Nashville Gold & Coin in early 2018, owner Kyle Dunbar answered a blind phone call, anticipating a collector's request or an investor's inquiry. Instead, he listened as a middle-aged couple, John and Jane Doe, dropped opaque hints: old, gold, silver, coins.

Dunbar poked for detail. What types of coins do you think you have? Gold? Silver? Both? American? Foreign? Denomination? Years?

Coins unseen, he believed the couple was truthful and he suspected their trove was the real McCoy. But he had to tread lightly. "I always assume other dealers have been or will be called. That's entirely understandable and reasonable. So, sometimes you just wait and leave the ball in their court."

Several weeks later, the couple phoned again: Would you want to see a few of the coins?

Rubber met road. Weeks later, skeptical and a touch jumpy, John and Jane walked into Dunbar's office. At first, they peppered him with questions, trying to gauge his integrity.

Ten minutes later, out spilled two handfuls of coins. From the jump, Dunbar knew the coins were authentic. "Oh yeah. Most of it was pre-1933 gold. Much of it was over 100 years old, with a lot of Morgan and Peace dollars mixed in."

Significantly, the coins had a peculiar appearance and feel. "I could tell where they'd likely come from: underground or stored in a damp environment. They had patina and smelled musty."

Legitimacy established, Dunbar moved to origin. "Everything has to be aboveboard. I have to make sure I'm not buying anything stolen. I have to do my due diligence. At first, like most people who make remarkable finds, these people understandably were reluctant to trust me. And then out came the story of the mason jar hoard."

Perched atop a ladder while removing debris, the hired man glanced across the back yard toward a perimeter wall of stacked fieldstone. His eyes caught a peculiar reflection of sunlight at the wall's base. He descended the ladder, walked to the wall, and saw the exposed source of the shimmer: metallic lids. Rain runoff had eroded soil, exposing the tops of several jars.

He alerted John and Jane, and the trio dug up five quart-sized mason jars, each packed with precious metal. Uncertain of value, they telephoned Dunbar, provided a few samples, and slowly built a rapport. Months after the initial discovery, John and Jane invited Dunbar to their local bank to view the entire cache in the secure confines of a conference room.

Dunbar walked into the small-town bank on Customer Appreciation Day, literally passing a potluck of casseroles and congealed salads before accessing the gold and silver in a rear conference room.

On a central table, Dunbar examined the hoard. "It was all as described. Hundreds of coins."

Dunbar bought the Tennessee hoard at a pretty price. "It was a very substantial sum of money," he notes. "I'm not sure what they paid for the entire property, but those coins gave back a sizable chunk of what they paid for the whole place."

In all his years in the precious metals business, Kyle Dunbar, owner of Nashville Gold and Coin, has met a lot of interesting people and heard a lot of remarkable stories. But this one is his favorite — and it's hard to argue with why. A couple in South Pittsburgh, Tennessee. A gutter cleaner on a roof. Five Mason jars full of gold and silver coins from the 1800s and early 1900s buried behind a rock wall in a backyard. And a small town bank with a potluck lunch waiting in the back room.

To watch the YouTube interview, see:
Five Mason Jars of Gold | A True Buried Treasure Story by Kyle the Coin Guy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OoXZk2sYPg&t=19s)

To read the complete article, see:
Buried Treasure of Gold and Silver Coins Discovered at Tennessee Farmhouse (https://www.agweb.com/news/business/farmland/buried-treasure-gold-and-silver-coins-discovered-tennessee-farmhouse)

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