US recluse's gold coin cache brings in US$3.5m at auction

The tale of a mysterious Nevada recluse's gold reached a new chapter when a portion of the trove raked in more than US$3.5 million at auction.

It was the allure of mystery that pulled in some bidders on Tuesday, but for others, it was the sheer value of a collection unknown to the public before 69-year-old Walter Samaszko was found dead in his modest ranch-style home last year.

He had been dead for weeks. When clean-up crews arrived, they made the startling discovery of the vast collection of thousands of gold coins worth millions of dollars stashed in old ammunition boxes in his garage.

Alan Rowe of Northern Nevada Coin in Carson City spent US$617,000 from his own company, and another US$2 million on behalf of the Rare Coin Company of America. It was the uniqueness of the gold that drove his bidding, he said. He secured nine of the 11 lots on sale.

"Every one of us has a little hoarder nature in our culture and we all like to have things, but to this degree is quite a story," Rowe said after the auction.

He added that some of the coins would be available in the store or online for locals hoping to snag a piece of history. Others, he said, would be sold nationally.

This auction was only for the bullion coins - items that were not necessarily rare, just expensive because they were made of gold, said Alan Glover, the public administrator for Samaszko's estate. "They're buying and bidding on an ounce of gold, pure gold by the weight," Glover said.

In total, about 68kg of gold was sold at Tuesday's auction. About US$800,000 will pay various fees and estate taxes, and the rest of the profits go to a substitute teacher in San Rafael, California, who is the first cousin and sole heir to Samaszko's fortune.

There would most likely be a second auction for the larger portion of the collection which comprised the rare coins, Glover said. Because of the other coins' rarity, that sale was expected to net higher profits.

Officials discovered Samaszko's trove neatly wrapped and stored mostly in ammunition boxes. Authorities believe that his mother, who lived with Samaszko until her death in 1992, purchased most of the coins.