Press Coverage

Published by NPR on August 1st, 2017:

In 2013, David McCarthy spotted a rare coin in an auction catalog and immediately had a hunch it was the first coin minted by the fledgling United States of America in 1783. Not the first run of coins, mind you, but the very firstone.

McCarthy, an experienced numismatist (coin collector) bought the silver coin for $1.18 million.

The Associated Press writes:

"The day of the 2013 auction in Schaumburg, Illinois, McCarthy sat in his hotel room with his files and air conditioning cranked on high. He methodically convinced his boss, Donald Kagin, that the coin up for auction was the nation's first. It was a nuanced case since other dealers claimed it was a forgery. But the initial explanation was that mints tended to add inscriptions to the steel dies used to make coins after having engraved the images."

He spent the next four years digging up evidence to prove that he had indeed purchased the fabled first "500" quint.

The Saddle Ridge Treasure of over 1400 gold coins, with an estimated value of $10+ Million, will be marketed exclusively by Kagin’s, Inc. and available for purchase at a later date through Amazon.com.

SAN FRANCISCO – Feb. 25, 2014—Rare coin experts, Kagin’s  Inc., today announced that a treasure of over 1400 rare U.S. gold coins has been discovered buried on private property in California’s gold region.  The treasure was found by a couple on their property while taking their dog on its daily walk. It is believed to be the greatest buried treasure ever unearthed in the United States, with an estimated value in excess of $10 Million.

“What’s really significant about this find,” noted Donald Kagin Ph.D., president of Kagin’s  Inc. of Tiburon, California, “is that unlike other hoards and treasures, this one includes a great variety of dates, many of which are in pristine condition; add to that a wonderful human interest story: this family literally found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.”