A husband and wife struck gold last month… in their backyard.
The man and woman were walking their dog on their property in California when the woman noticed a strange looking, rusty can in the ground.
They started digging, and eventually uncovered eight metal cans. The cans were full of gold coins–1,427 of them.
It turns out that the coins are very valuable. In fact, they’re worth more than $10-million.
According to Wikipedia, it’s the biggest discovery of its kind in U.S. history.
The coins date from 1847 to 1894. They are $5, $10 and $20 coins that, if taken at their “face value” (in other words, the amount of money stamped on them) add up to $27,980.
But being old and rare, they are worth much more than that today.
The collection has been nicknamed the “Saddle Ride Hoard,” named after a hill near where the coins were found.
Many of the coins are in “pristine condition,” which means they look almost as good as the day they were made and aren’t damaged or discoloured.
One of the coins is known as an “1866-S No Motto Double Eagle,” and is worth about $1-million.
No one knows where the coins came from, or how they ended up buried in cans.
The couple wishes to remain anonymous. That means they don’t want anyone to know who they are so they’re not telling the media their name or exactly where they found the treasure.
The couple told CNN (a news network) that they plan to sell most of the coins and to give some of the money to charity. They will use some of the money to pay off their house and property.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Jonathan Tilly
Writing/Discussion Prompt
What was the best thing you ever found and where did you find it? Why was it valuable to you? Compare your found treasure with several classmates. What do your stories have in common?
Reading Prompt: Demonstrating Understanding
Restate the the four most important ideas and details from today’s story. Order your points from most to least important.
Primary
Demonstrate understanding of a variety of texts by identifying important ideas and some supporting details (OME, Reading: 1.4).
Junior
Demonstrate understanding of a variety of texts by summarizing important ideas and citing supporting details (OME, Reading: 1.4).
Intermediate
Demonstrate understanding of increasingly complex texts by summarizing important ideas and citing a variety of details that support the main idea (OME, Reading: 1.4).
Grammar Feature: Ellipses ( … )
Like all punctuation marks, ellipses are a grammatical tool that writers can use to communicate a variety of different things. The first sentence of today’s article includes an ellipsis.
A husband and wife struck gold last month… in their backyard.
When used in this way, what do you think an ellipsis communicates to the reader? Where have you seen ellipses used in a similair way?
