Jesse James: Hidden Treasure

cmerlo1

I just watched a very interesting documentary on the History Channel. A treasure hunter was looking for some of Jesse James' buried bank robbery treasure in Kansas, and actually found a stash of Morgan dollars and gold pieces! Later, they found a small gold bar buried under a tree. A very cool show- I think they're running it several times tonight... the first 2 coins they found were 1880 Morgans that had been buried in a mason jar...

DenverDave

Seemed like a set up, everywhere they dig they hit...

Then leaving it up in the air about the safe, stinks of Geraldo Rivera hipe...

Stuart

The Fort Knox show currently on the History Channel is also very interesting!!

JZrarities

I love that Central America picture.

Last week I just finished reading 'Ship of Gold'...decent book.

Bigrig52

It was a good show but i believe it was all a fake..Thats just like the Gold Fever show,they put all the gold in their machines to look like they find it to get people to join their club....Just my opinion

coindeuce

<< <i>I just watched a very interesting documentary on the History Channel. A treasure hunter was looking for some of Jesse James' buried bank robbery treasure in Kansas, and actually found a stash of Morgan dollars and gold pieces! Later, they found a small gold bar buried under a tree. A very cool show- I think they're running it several times tonight... the first 2 coins they found were 1880 Morgans that had been buried in a mason jar... >>



The program was based on this book, in which the author wrote his of experience of deciphering codes of "The Knights of the Golden Circle". Legend(not the dealer) has it that more hidden caches are still located in the Superstition Mountains of Arizona, on Federal Land.
From Publishers Weekly
"Conspiracy connoisseurs tired of contemplating whether Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone will feast on this tale of the 19th-century doings of the Knights of the Golden Circle. According to treasure hunter Brewer (aided by Bloomberg News editor-at-large Getler), who attempts to unravel their secrets in hopes of finding millions of dollars of hidden gold, the KGC was a sinister group of influential Southerners intent on engineering the secession of Southern states. They supposedly conspired to split the 1860 Democratic convention so that a weak candidate would emerge, guaranteeing Lincoln's election and support for secession-a deep game indeed. Losing the Civil War sent them underground, where, the authors say, political theorist and KGC member Jesse James, whose death they faked, led them to amass a fortune primarily through the pedestrian crimes of bank and stagecoach robbery and, more creatively, by collecting a multimillion-dollar award from Mexican Emperor Maximilian as repayment for aiding Maximilian's tottering regime. They hid their treasure, preserving knowledge of its whereabouts through a series of devilishly complex symbols known only to initiates for the day the South would rise again. Brewer believes some of his relatives were "sentinels" charged with protecting the KGC's hidden treasure. As fanciful as the group's history sounds (and the authors admit it is heavily based on circumstantial evidence), Brewer is convincing that the code existed and that he deciphered some of it, and his treasure hunting meets with modest success. In the end, this is a curiosity that will strain many readers' credibility, but leave a lingering "Maybe." Photos, maps."

blu62vette

those coins were just to clean coming out of the ground.....

Justacommeman

<< <i>those coins were just to clean coming out of the ground..... >>



Were they in slabs and or CAC'd?

That could be a clue of some type...................MJ

Moonbiter

<< <i>those coins were just to clean coming out of the ground..... >>



I agree, those shots had to be staged. Weather or not they found something there earlier who knows, but when the camera was there, it was staged imo. Also, anyone notice how they treated those coins? The guy took that gold coin and rubbed the dirt off with his finger.

blu62vette

<< <i>

<< <i>those coins were just to clean coming out of the ground..... >>



I agree, those shots had to be staged. Weather or not they found something there earlier who knows, but when the camera was there, it was staged imo. Also, anyone notice how they treated those coins? The guy took that gold coin and rubbed the dirt off with his finger. >>



and they way there were sitting in the holes. Very odd. Still an interesting show.

zeebob

<< <i>those coins were just to clean coming out of the ground..... >>



DING-DING! We have a winner. That was exactly what I thought when I saw them come up and the dude start rubbing them. No way the coins had been in the ground for 100 years - no chance. Thank you for the sanity check Todd!

njcoincrank

For those of you interested in the Knights of the Golden Circle, please stop by my table this week in Baltimore. I will have a very interesting item pertaining to them there.

njcc

cmerlo1

<< <i>

<< <i>those coins were just to clean coming out of the ground..... >>



I agree, those shots had to be staged. Weather or not they found something there earlier who knows, but when the camera was there, it was staged imo. Also, anyone notice how they treated those coins? The guy took that gold coin and rubbed the dirt off with his finger. >>



The rubbing of the coins really bugged me! Staged or not, it was fun to watch...

gecko109

<< <i>It was a good show but i believe it was all a fake..Thats just like the Gold Fever show,they put all the gold in their machines to look like they find it to get people to join their club....Just my opinion >>




The Gold Fever show is not "staged". However, the gold you see them recover happened over the course of 4 or 5 days, and by over 20 people working the claim in some instances. There is real gold still out there in the rivers and creeks. Below is a photo of the nuggets I have found just in a Creek in West Central Indiana. The gold here represents about 30-40 hours of hard work. Just imagine what could be found in Alaska or Northern California given the same effort. By the way, gold is not even native to Indiana!

RWB

The “Discovery” channel producers are not known for accuracy. Most of their productions are fantasy dramatizations closer to Science Fiction. As someone else mentioned, it was all too easy, convenient and "pat."

ziggy29

Sure that wasn't really Al Capone's vaults?

barbershopper

If it really happened, I give it 1/1000 the stash belonged to Jesse, a distant cousin of mine.

It's not the History Channel now. Just History.

JT

Spiff

Is it impossible for the coins to have the least amount of tarnish on them if its sealed in a mason jar AND burried? it would be no differnt then leaving raw coins in a fire/water proof safe for many years especially when its burried.. There shouldn't be much if any tarnish on the coins even if they are silver.. jmo.

ricko

There are very few TV shows I trust anymore. Have had three acquaintances that took part in 'reality' shows and the staging and play acting they had to perform was incredible..... even more than that - unbelievable 'to the participants'. No doubt in my mind that show was fabricated. As for rubbing the coins, they are not numismatists, so that part is perfectly understandable. Cheers, RickO

firstmint

Ever heard of Father Kino? How about Milton Rose or Chuck Aylor?...and just who was the "Lost Dutchman"?

The Superstition mountains have been thoroughly combed since the early 20th century. The only "lost" treasure ever found was in cache's, not in mines.

Nearly 100 books have been written since 1930 (begining with J. Frank Dobie's "Coronado's Children") about lost buried treasure in the Superstitions. It just ain't so!

If it weren't for the continuing (unvalidated) tales for lost treasure in the Superstitions, we would have never had the "Franklin Hoard" of western Pioneer & Territorial pieces which began appearing in 1952. This will be extensively covered in my forthcoming book "John J. Ford, Jr., and the "Franklin Hoard".

COALPORTER

From what little I understand, the 50-cent piece was mostly what the banks held in bullion reserve and traded with each other. It would be much more believable and waayy cooler if they dug up a few bags of seated halves.

yellowkid

<< <i>

<< <i>those coins were just to clean coming out of the ground..... >>



Were they in slabs and or CAC'd?

That could be a clue of some type...................MJ >>




All balderdash of course, but fun!!!

goldmine266

I watched both shows Jesse James and Fort Knox. Cool stuff. I want to see part two for Jesses treasure. I wanna know whats in the last hole

tbarreca

Aside from "real" vs. "staged," etc., imagine how cool it would be to have a coin slabbed as: "Ex-Jesse James Collection"!!!

Talk about provenance!

yellowkid

Just thought of Al Capones treasure, could this possibly be as big?

Walmann

<< <i>Aside from "real" vs. "staged," etc., imagine how cool it would be to have a coin slabbed as: "Ex-Jesse James Collection"!!!

Talk about provenance! >>



Not sure if it would be good for a dealer to offer that for sale, good chance the buyer might feel like they're getting robbed.

mr1931S

Shows like this are often done by reenactment.This doesn't mean the show is "fake."

What do the silver and gold coins coming out of the ground need to look like to make believers out of some of you?

It looks to me like the soil is very sandy where they made their finds.One would not expect dirt to be clinging to coins that were in the ground in a mason jar.Even if the mason jar got broken at some point,sand wouldn't stick to the coins.The coins would like petty much like they did when buried. And for a reenactment,they may not have used the same coins that were actually found.

I find the story to be quite believable.What am I missing here?

DenverDave

I did not see a disclaimer at the beginning of the show, maybe there was...?

If you metal detected... You know coins in "any ground" do not look like that after 120 Plus Years...!