‘Empty’ box full of dirt actually contained hidden treasure coins worth $1,000 – but find raises ‘perplexing’ question

A BOX containing coins worth thousands of dollars was found but the find has raised questions.

The suspected time capsule was accidentally found during renovations on a monument at a college.

3

3

3

This nearly 200-year-old lead box was discovered on the grounds of the West Point military academy in West Point, New York in May.

Six coins and a commemorative medal were in the box but its initial discovery raised eyebrows, according to CBS News.

The box was opened live on stage at the college but nothing was visible in the capsule, except dirt. 

The valuables were later discovered by West Point archeologist Paul Hudson in his lab.

READ MORE ON COINS

SILVER LINING

I found an ordinary-looking coin in an estate – it's worth $3.17 million

GIVE A TOSS

I found coins worth $25k in our house - we didn’t care so I did the right thing

Hudson said: “Before long, lo and behold, there's the edge of a coin sticking out, and I thought, well that's ok, that's something, that's a start."

“When I first found these, I thought, man, you know, it would have been great to have found these on stage."

The coins discovered were a liberty dollar coin from 1800, a 50-cent coin from 1828, a 25-cent coin from 1818, a 10-cent coin from 1827, a five-cent coin from 1795, and a one-cent coin from 1827, according to a West Point press release.

A medal that commemorated the completion of the Erie Canal, in 1826, was also found.

Most read in Money

STRIKE GOLD

Americans to get check from $6.66m settlement and no bank statements are needed

HUGE CHECK

Thousands can claim payment up to $10,500 from $675,000 settlement

SO LONG

Beloved grocery store closing after 28 years - shoppers were told by a note

BYE BEE

Applebee’s permanently closes restaurant doors with goodbye note to ‘valued’ diners

Some coin expert websites have suggested that the potential price of these valuables could be between a few hundred to one thousand dollars. 

Hudson added that the discovery had also raised many questions, according to Insider.

He said: “So it is a little perplexing again that we have this enormous box even with the coins in it.

“It answers one question for us, which is when was this put in, but it also raises a lot of other ones.”

These questions included why were those coins chosen and whether was there anything else in there that may have decomposed over the years.

He added: “My best guess at this point is that [the coins were] just simply supposed to be representative of their time, representative of what was important to them at that time.”