How many silver dollars were there?

  So, how many were there?  At the time of his death over four hundred 1,000 coin bags, or 400,000 silver dollars, were found in his home.  Yep, that’s four hundred thousand!   

(He must have had a very large basement!) 

The bank vault couldn’t hold all the bags.

  Some say Redfield didn’t trust banks and his distrust lead him to store the silver dollar coins in his home. However, when you think about the space these silver dollars would have taken and the massive weight all it of, where else could he put them? He would have needed the equivalent of several personal bank vaults to store it all!   His stash of over 400,000 silver dollars would weigh 22 thousand pounds!

U.S. Government minted Silver Dollar coins

What happened to the silver dollars?

  Lavere Redfield's cache of Morgan and Peace type silver dollars became known as the “Redfield Hoard”.  It was the largest silver dollar hoard discovered in decades.  After his death, in 1976, his silver dollar hoard (collection) was sold at auction.  The price paid by the winning dealer was a record breaking 7.3 million dollars.  Prior to the auction, companies that were to bid on the collection were unable to look through all of the coins due to the massive number of them.  They just didn’t have enough time or people to look at everything.  (Some accounts say that after the sale, when the coins were individually evaluated, the real value of the holdings was discovered to be three times what was paid.) 

The Redfield silver dollars were sold

  Once the estate was settled and the silver dollars were auctioned to the highest bidder, the coins were catalogued and sold throughout the world.  A good number of the bags he had saved were "S" mint Morgan style silver dollars produced at the San Francisco United States Mint.  He also had some “CC” Carson City United States Mint dollars and even had some bags of the Peace style silver dollars. Most coins graded various degrees of mint un-circulated condition, although about 15% were said to be circulated.  To sell them, some coins were packaged in special holders with labels indicating they came from the Redfield hoard.  Others were put in tubes or individual holders.  Then they were sold by the roll or by the lot to various investors or dealers. 

So, where are they now?

  Where are the Redfield silver dollars coins now?  Although dispersed a quarter of a century ago, they might be anywhere today.  Occasionally, you will find a dollar in one of the special holders with Redfield’s name on it. However, over time most have been placed in individual holders or tubes that offer more protection during storage.  (Unless they are in a special holder of some type, you can’t tell them apart from other old US silver dollars.) 

  Imagine, today when you purchase a silver dollar, you might actually hold in your hand one of original silver dollars once owned by LaVere Redfield. 

Share the passion for silver dollars

  If you like silver dollars, in some ways you share the passion for them that LaVere Redfield had.  The next time you admire a silver dollar, perhaps you will think about the Redfield Hoard and remember LaVere Redfield, “the man who loved silver dollars”.  

Buying Silver dollars today:

Rolls of old Silver Dollars for sale

American Silver Eagle 1 oz silver dollars - click here