Old Article: Hoard of Coins Unearthed at New Orleans Bank

Wahoo554

A recent Gerry Fortin reference to this hoard in the context of 1841-O quarters piqued my interest. Here’s the 1982 NY Times article describing the find and the frenzied efforts of droves of people to scoop up all they could like Mardi Gras doubloons. Too bad the contents of the hoard will never be known. The article is a somewhat entertaining read. So New Orleans. The only thing missing is Ignatius Reilly getting knocked over in the fray.

https://www.nytimes.com/1982/10/31/us/workers-unearth-old-coins.html

edwardjulio

NLH

JBK

"Old Article"???

I recall that story when it happened.

It always stuck in my mind because of a quote from one of the searchers.

I did not see the statement in the linked article, but the person found two quarters stuck together and said on the outside they were dirty and tarnished but the sides that were face to face were "perfect" (the term MS70 stuck in my mind but I doubt it would have been used back then in that situation).

Of course, that was certainly an exaggeration since perfection is almost never achieved (especially in the coins' era).

But I do recall the story and it is not that old.

Coinosaurus

So sad there will never be a good inventory.

A couple years back Jeff Garrett had a set of about 15 coins in a holder from the New Orleans hoard. Grainy, uniform dull gray with decent detail, but not nice coins. Cool set though. He wanted a lot for it.

Desert Moon

Yes the New Orleans hoard coins are "grainy, uniform dull gray with decent detail, but not nice coins". Here are mine below, despite these claims, CAC loves them, so what does that tell ya? I guess that JA guy has bad taste as we all know .

Wahoo554

@spacehayduke how was provenance verified on your NOLA hoard quarters?

Desert Moon

There is no documented provenance for these quarters or any from this hoard, we just know that most 40 and 41-O quarters extant today came from this hoard, so 'probably' should be added to my post above.

Coinosaurus

There are hundreds (thousands?) of 1840/1841 New Orleans quarters listed in auction catalogs prior to this find.

koynekwest

I think most of the currently known Mint State1841-O doubled die obverse quarters come from this hoard.

ricko

That would have been exciting.... The article says the backhoe operator got most of the coins... I wonder what he did with the ones he got. Cheers, RickO

NumisOxide

I have an 1841-o quarter which I'm pretty sure came from this hoard. No way to really prove it.

amwldcoin

Years ago I had a 41-O Quarter I bought in a big deal with an obv. that would qualify as a 64-65 and a reverse that was corroded to H + back. That's when I learned about this hoard.

koynekwest

@coinJP said:
I have an 1841-o quarter which I'm pretty sure came from this hoard. No way to really prove it.

Is it the doubled die obverse? That wouldn't prove anything but it's worth more than the normal die. Here's an image of one-

DCW

That's a great article! Thanks for posting it

NumisOxide

@koynekwest said:

@coinJP said:
I have an 1841-o quarter which I'm pretty sure came from this hoard. No way to really prove it.

Is it the doubled die obverse? That wouldn't prove anything but it's worth more than the normal die. Here's an image of one-

Not sure. Will check tomorrow.

jonruns

Some of the coins have dirt in the crevices like Spacehayduke's 1840-O quarter and I've seen scrapes on some of the recovered gold coins supposedly from contact with the backhoe...

Thanks for sharing that old article!