Sometime as far back as the Iron Age a person decided to stash a number of coins deep in a cave for safekeeping. Fast-forward to a modern climber who discovers four of these coins and kicks off a full-scale archeological dig at Reynard’s Kitchen Cave in England’s Dovedale Valley. To date, 26 coins have been… Read more »
It’s the late 1840s in central California. No way to describe this time and place in history other than the Wild West. The Gold Rush is in full swing. American settlers are fighting to establish a toehold in the rugged terrain. Many hoped to find a fortune in gold. And a few did, in the… Read more »
Since gold was first discovered, people have wanted to know how to make it. Unfortunately, alchemy is not possible. But how is gold — or Au, its elemental name — created? Though geologists have had theories for years about how the Earth creates gold, it wasn’t until recently that scientists discovered how the universe creates… Read more »
Imagine firing up your metal detector, waving it back and forth over the earth rhythmically. You hear the long-awaited ping, and begin to dig into the dirt, not knowing if you’ll find a tin can, or something a little more interesting. Now imagine discovering that ping was set off by a treasure from the 7th… Read more »
On May 5th, 1862, an army of Mexican citizens and soldiers defeated a well-armed French troop nearly three times its size. The battle at Puebla was a moral victory for Mexico, but it was not a battle that led to independence. Mexico declared independence from Spain on September 16, 1810. A commemorative coin was issued… Read more »
Each year around St. Patrick’s Day, people start thinking about rainbows and the pots of gold coins that lie at the end of them. Well, some of us would like to believe so. But where did this Irish legend start? There are actually at least two competing theories. The Emerald Isle is dotted with large… Read more »
Upon reading a newspaper account of his demise, Mark Twain wrote to the New York Journal, “The report of my death was an exaggeration.” Much the same could be said about last year’s reports of the “end of the gold era,” which seem to have been way off the mark in light of the recent… Read more »
With the start of the Winter Olympics, the whole world has turned its eyes toward Sochi, Russia — and everyone is dreaming of gold. Here are some details about the tradition of awarding medals in Olympic history, as well as the lowdown on the gold, silver and bronze medals at this year’s Olympic Games in… Read more »
If you visit the Australian town of Dunolly today, you’ll probably run into more than a few modern-day prospectors hoping to strike it rich with their metal detectors. There’s a good reason gold seekers still descend upon the town. Just ten miles away lies the site of the discovery of the largest solid gold nugget… Read more »
The most talked-about coin of 2013 isn’t made of metal, produced by a mint, or accepted in vending machines (yet). This year may be remembered as the year of the bitcoin. And while the bitcoin has captured headlines and imaginations worldwide, don’t count out the humble metal coin just yet—unless it’s the Canadian one-cent piece…. Read more »
