The first of thousands of 19th century, U.S. minted gold coins discovered by a California couple last year have been auctioned off.
One coin- part of a batch worth nearly $11 million- went for $15,000 on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported.
The couple, who have remained anonymous, came across the 1,427 gold coins while walking their dog on land surrounding their northern California home. They were found in mint-condition buried under the shade of a tree.
The coins, ranging from $5 to $20, were made at the San Francisco Mint between 1847 and 1894. A few were auctioned off at the Old San Francisco Mint on Tuesday night. One $20 coin was sold for $15,000, the AP reported.
"This couple is so thankful and feeling so blessed, and they have been really looking forward to this day," Don Kagin, the coin dealer representing the firm handling the sale, told the San Francisco Chronicle. "It's a big day."
The discovery came about when the husband and wife first saw the top of an old canister sticking up from the grown under the tree. Upon digging they found the canister contained a set of gold coins with a liberty head design.
"It was a very surreal moment," the husband previously said according to the San Francisco Chronicle. "It was very hard to believe at first."
The Gold County couple went back and found eight more canisters filled with coins, which Kagin calls the largest discovery of gold coins in U.S. history.
It is not clear how the Gold-Rush era coins ended up underground. One theory is the coins were stolen by stagecoach robber Black Bart, according to the AP. Others believe the coins were taken by infamous outlaw Jesse James.
Most of the remaining 1,400 coins are to be sold on Amazon.com and Kagins.com, Kagin told the AP.
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