Wells Fargo Nevada Gold Collection

"An exciting, once in-a-lifetime opportunity."
– Greg Roberts, President, Spectrum Numismatics

"One of the most extraordinary rare coin discoveries I've seen in the last 25 years!"
– Joe Battaglia, Chief Market Analyst, Goldline International, Inc.

"Even after viewing these coins, it is hard to comprehend the scope and quality of this incredible hoard."
– Mark Salzberg, President, Numismatic Guaranty Corp.

The Wells Fargo® Nevada Gold Collection has received considerable press from the coin industry. To read some of the articles about the $20 Saint-Gaudens gold coins of this collection, please click here.

Introduction

The Wells Fargo^® Nevada Gold hoard is an amazing collection of more than 15,000 1908 No Motto $20 Saint-Gaudens gold coins. The hoard was purchased for more than $10 million and was the largest price paid for a collection of coins at the time by a very wide margin.

These uncirculated coins contain much rarity, beauty, condition, and profit potential. In outstanding condition, over 95% are graded Mint State 65 or better. When Greg Roberts, President of Spectrum Numismatics was asked to rate the magnitude of this collection on a scale of 1-10, he responded "off the scale."

For all the phenomenal facts that are known about this collection, more are not. Use the following links to learn more about the double eagles carrying the Wells Fargo® Nevada Gold pedigree and their surrounding mystery:

The Origin

A collector with foresight and the necessary means acquired this collection of $20 Saint-Gaudens gold coins in 1917 and promptly hid them for safekeeping. There they remained undisturbed for more than 50 years. Hidden away from the public, these stunning coins survived several significant events that meant the end of many other Saint-Gaudens coins—including gold confiscation via executive order in 1933.

In the early 1970s, the coins were taken out, sorted, inventoried, and resealed. They did not see the light of day again until their inspection and sale in 1996 to Spectrum Numismatics.

Although the buyer is known, the seller is not: Roberts signed a strict confidentiality agreement guarding the privacy of the previous owners. No agreement was needed to guard many other facts about this enigmatic collection; Roberts was only provided the most basic information.

The Sale

When Roberts first met with the unnamed owner, he was shown only a couple hundred coins. When negotiations heated up over the next couple months, Roberts learned that significantly more coins existed, although at the time he believed the number to be between 6,000 and 7,000.

Not until they met again was the true number known: over 15,000 $20 Saint-Gaudens gold coins. The meeting took place at a Wells Fargo® bank in an undisclosed city in Nevada. The coins were held in a large walk-in vault, which formerly served as a Federal Reserve Bank where silver dollars were stored in the 1960s and 1970s.

The double eagles were rolled in paper tubes, placed in canvas bags, and stored in screw-top boxes in this vault. The coins were still surrounded by gold dust when first inspected.

The Pedigree

While Wells Fargo® does not claim to be the owner of these coins at any point in their history, their name is used for the pedigree through a special marketing agreement. The name was selected because of where the coins were stored and the deal was negotiated and struck. This pedigree is carried only by these beautiful coins.

Few names conjure up more images of either gold or the Old West. For no less than one and a half Centuries, Wells Fargo® has been a name that implies trust, confidence, and value. It is a name that is steeped in Americana.

Taming the Wild West

In 1850, Henry Wells and William Fargo founded an express delivery service by the name of American Express. They aimed to exploit the boom that the United States was experiencing out West due to the Gold Rush. The American Express Board of directors, however did not think the bonanza would last.

Therefore, Wells and Fargo left American Express in 1852 to form Wells Fargo & Company. When Wells Fargo® opened their doors for business, they soon learned that the prospectors needed much more than just a delivery service. They needed a reliable postal service, a safe place to put their gold, and a place where they could redeem their gold for money. Wells Fargo® set up a system to accommodate those needs.

At the time, the U.S. Postal Service only delivered to certain larger towns in California and seldom to any boomtowns. Even when they did, service was unreliable at best. If a prospector’s wife sent a letter West via Wells Fargo®, though, it was sure to reach its destination.

Riding Shotgun

Getting gold and silver out of the ground was only the beginning of the difficulties faced by prospectors in the gold country. Roads were rough and undeveloped, there were long stretches of wilderness between towns, and law enforcement was virtually non-existent. All these hardships virtually unknown in America today made sending hard-won earnings safely back home extremely difficult.

Wells Fargo provided Americans out West with secure transportation. Outlaws soon realized there were two kinds of coaches that were too dangerous to rob: those with “U.S. Federal Government” written on the side, and those with “Wells Fargo & Co.”

Eventually, prospectors had gained so much confidence in the company that they used Wells Fargo® coaches to ship their most precious cargo out West: their families.

Trustworthy Wells Fargo® agents purchased gold nuggets and dust while offering a fair price based on accurate scales. They also accepted gold deposits to prevent their clients from being robbed and issued paper gold certificates in return. These paper certificates made transporting assets over long and dangerous distances considerably safer and more convenient.

Wells Fargo also serviced the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859. This Lode was the source of much of the gold and silver found in the coins of the era.

The banking business that Wells Fargo® is known for today grew out of the service of buying and safeguarding the prospectors’ gold. By 1918, Wells Fargo® had 57 banking offices in the state, and had merged with the Nevada Bank.