The Fabulous $10 Million Saddleback Ridge Gold Coin Hoard
Instructor: Bob Bair
This presentation describes the February, 2013 Saddleback Ridge discovery of 1,427 buried gold coins in California, by a couple walking their dog through their wooded property. Containing (mostly $20 Liberty) gold coins dated from 1847-1894, this “buried treasure” realized over $9 million for its finders, and is the most valuable land-buried gold coin hoard ever found in the United States.
Robert “Bob” Bair has been involved in numismatics since 1956, first as a collector, then as a coin dealer starting in 1987. As a boy growing up in northwestern Wisconsin in the 1950’s he began collection coins that he received from his newspaper route, and a lifelong passion was born. Bair holds masters degrees in U.S. History (1970) and Educational Administration (1994).