John McDonald of Philadelphia uncovered a hidden treasure of 563 old English and American gold coins, valued at over $5,000, from a false bottom in a chest that has been in his family for more than 30 years.
The origin of the coins remains a mystery, with most predating the Revolutionary War and featuring English guineas stamped with the head of George III.
Finds Gold Long Buried
From the false bottom of an old chest which has been in his family for more than 30 years, John McDonald, of 404 North 22nd Street, Philadelphia, recovered on Sunday afternoon a collection of 563 old English and American gold coins valued at upward of $5,000.
Who hid the treasure is a complete mystery.
Most of the coins antedate the Revolutionary War. A few of the gold pieces were stamped by the first coin presses set up in this country, but most of them are English guineas, bearing on one side the head of George III and on the reverse side the English coat-of-arms.
John McDonald’s mother bought the valuable chest a third of a century ago in a Philadelphia second-hand store. She paid only a few pennies for the plain lumber box and had it placed in the cellar of her home, where it was used as a potato bin until recently. It was four feet long by two wide and three deep.
Source: Silver City nugget. (Silver City, Idaho), 21 March 1902.
