I finally found something that can survive an association with Nazis.
Gold and silver.
A trove of around 15,000 rare gold and silver coins worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 million is about to go up for auction.
About 10,000 coins were buried in a European garden for over 50 years after their owner hid them fearing the Nazis were about to invade.
Now granted, hiding something from the Nazis shouldn’t taint it. But this is Nazis we’re talking about, and we now live in a world where things that aren’t associated with Nazism at all in real life are smeared as being Nazis. You’ve probably heard that political activists and vandals have been defacing Teslas with swastikas because they don’t like Elon Musk.
On that note, I’ve got some bad news for Volkswagen owners.
Anyway, according to the co-owner of Numismatica Ars Classica (NAC), the outfit running the auction, the owner of the coins was a Europe-based heir to a family business. As the threat of a Nazi invasion grew, the man put the coins into envelopes, placed them in cigar boxes, sealed the boxes in aluminum casings, and buried them. The man’s wife was the only other person who knew the coins' location.
Ultimately, the Nazis did invade. Soon after, the man died of a stroke.
In the mid-90s, the widow decided it was time to unearth the collection. NAC was chosen to produce an inventory and valuation of the coins. The treasure trove wasn’t publicly revealed until 2022.
According to NAC, there has never been a coin collection of higher value offered for public sale. The company plans to sell the collection in 15 separate auctions over several years.
The collection includes coins spanning from 20th-century England all the way back to ancient Greece. Perhaps the most valuable coin is a 100-ducat gold piece dated 1629 from the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III of Habsburg. The coin weighs 350 grams (11.25 troy ounces) and is valued at $1.4 million. At the current price, the gold alone is worth nearly $34,700.
An MSN article about the coins highlights an important characteristic of gold and silver that supports their use as money. They don’t deteriorate over time, and they maintain their value. A gold coin buried in a garden for 50 years is the same gold coin as when it was minted 1,000 years ago.
As MSN put it, “The decades underground have not impacted their condition.”
“A couple of the boxes were broken and the paper failed on some envelopes, on which their owner had recorded their acquisition and other details.”
But the coins were just fine.
On top of their intrinsic value, the coins are a historical gold mine (pun intended). David Guest helped evaluate the coins, noting that they are a piece of history you can clasp in one hand.
“Coins were the mediation between leaders and their subjects, a projection of image and power. They were a way to celebrate peace or war. They were the social media of their day.”
But can the coins escape the shadow of Nazism?
I imagine so, since the coins themselves weren’t Nazi, and they weren’t owned by Nazis.
But this raises a question.
Would the Tesla vandals accept a gold coin with a swastika engraved on it?
This would be an interesting sociology experiment. You could hand people a 1-ounce gold coin emblazoned with the Nazi symbol, emphasizing that the metal itself is worth $3,000. Would people take it? I mean, you can buy a lot of spray paint for three grand.
I wouldn’t hesitate for a second.
And no. I don’t like Nazis. (Things people shouldn't need to say in 2025.)
But at the end of the day, gold is gold, no matter what is printed on it. And the beauty of gold is that it can always be melted down and reformed with no loss in value!
By the way, if you want gold and silver coins without any Nazi association, peruse our website. You'll find plenty to choose from!
About the author
