$10 million of gold rush-era coins discovered in California

This is part of a much bigger haul of buried treasure. But the story’s slightly more interesting than that.

It was found last year, not by treasure hunters, but by a couple walking their dog in California. The firm representing the finders says the 1,400 gold rush-era coins could be worth a record $10 million.

“People do go out and think well maybe I’ll find some coins, and in fact, over the last few decades that we’ve been here in Northern California, people have brought us gold coins, rare coins, one here, one there, worth tens of thousands of dollars.”

The finders, who want to keep their identity secret, struck it lucky when they spotted a rusty metal can on their land and dug it out. When they found it was packed with 19^th century gold coins they searched around and found more. Who originally buried the $20 coins, and why, remains a mystery. But it’s thought to be the biggest haul of buried treasure in US history.

Most of the coins will now be sold online on behalf of the finders.

Difficult words: haul (large amount), treasure (group of valuable things such as gold), treasure hunters (people who search for valuable things), spot (see), rusty (covered with rust which is the reddish-brown substance that forms on wet iron), on behalf (for).