A couple named John and Mary were walking their dog in their backyard when they happened across the top of a decaying canister poking out of the ground. Of course, they dug it out with a stick and then brought it inside. When they opened the container, they came across a batch of discs immersed in dirt. The couple cleaned them and discovered they were actually $20 gold coins from the 1890s. They rushed back to where they found the first canister and found seven more cans! In all, the couple discovered over 1,000 coins. Weirdly, the couple reburied the coins to hide them and contacted a coin dealer named Don Kagin.
[Image via Pinterest]Kagin spent the next several months trying to restore the coins. John & Mary made one of the best scientific discoveries in terms of finding old coins that were likely long since gone. In total, John & Mary found 1,427 coins in all that had been minted between 1847 and 1894. The face value for these coins totaled $27,980 but Kagin felt they were worth a lot more. Some of them were very rare. In fact, a dozen of these coins are among the best surviving in the world. Due to Kagin’s expert opinion, the total coin collection is now valued at $11 million. This makes the coins one of the biggest scientific discoveries that one found around their home.