Redfield Hoard
The Redfield Hoard was the stash of about 407,000 silver dollars owned by LaVere Redfield. It came to light after his death in Reno, Nevada, in 1974. Redfield didn’t trust banks or paper money, so he spent years quietly building a huge pile of silver dollars—mostly Morgan and Peace dollars.
His hoard was discovered during investigations of two burglaries. In 1952, police found a secret basement room in Redfield’s stone house containing 270,000 silver dollars and stamps; Redfield said he was forced to take the money to the bank. A second burglary occurred in 1963, when thieves removed two safes after feeding Redfield’s dogs steaks; newspapers later claimed as much as 100,000 dollars were stolen, though that figure is disputed by later researchers.
From the mid-1960s to 1974, Redfield kept adding to his stockpile, eventually exceeding 400,000 coins. When he died, hundreds of bags of silver dollars were found in his Reno home and garage. He used money from stock investments to hoard coins and bought the coins because he distrusted paper money. He was nicknamed the “Silver Dollar King” after the 1974 discovery.
In 1976, the hoard — weighing about 12 tons — was sold to A-Mark Financial for 7.3 million dollars (about 40.3 million in 2024). The coins were sold individually, with many later graded by major services and placed in Paramount slabs. The collection consisted entirely of Morgan and Peace dollars. Redfield was described as eccentric, anti-government, and ruthless in some biographies.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 22:11 (CET).