{"id":7624,"date":"2021-07-13T16:44:16","date_gmt":"2021-07-13T14:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thomasnumismatics.com\/?post_type=actualites&p=7624"},"modified":"2021-08-10T14:35:57","modified_gmt":"2021-08-10T12:35:57","slug":"redfield-collection","status":"publish","type":"actualites","link":"https:\/\/thomasnumismatics.com\/en\/blog\/redfield-collection\/","title":{"rendered":"The Redfield Collection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lavere Redfield was an eccentric, savvy investor in stocks and real estate. He made his fortune through shrewd investments. When he died, a massive treasure trove of silver dollars was discovered in his Nevada home. The Redfield collection is indeed one of the largest treasures of Morgan dollars found in the United States and is now the delight of many numismatists. <\/p>\n\n

Numismatist Lavere Redfield <\/h2>\n\n

The collection of a lifetime <\/h3>\n\n

Lavere Redfield was an American businessman, landowner, numismatist, roulette player and philanthropist. He was born into poverty in October 1897 in Utah and moved to Idaho shortly after World War I, where he worked as a potato farmer and store manager. Ten years later, at the beginning of the Great Depression, he moved to Los Angeles. <\/p>\n\n

Upon his arrival in California, he decided to invest his savings and began buying unwanted stocks at a low price. He apparently had a knack for picking the right investments and eventually made a fortune. <\/p>\n\n

In 1935, he bought a farmland and a large stone house in Reno. With his wife Nell, they were part of the wave of millionaires courted by the state of Nevada, which claimed no taxes. <\/p>\n\n

Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Redfield would procure bags of silver dollars and store them in the basement of his home. He would go to the bank to buy $1,000 bags and bring them back in his car himself. <\/p>\n\n

Redfield’s treasure: a hidden fortune <\/h3>\n\n

Hating banks and paper money, as well as the government, Redfield chose to keep his treasure in his own home. In 1960, he was convicted of tax fraud by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the U.S. federal government agency that collects income and other taxes. He preferred to serve an 18-month sentence in federal prison rather than pay his debts. Upon his release, he returned to Reno and continued to accumulate silver dollars. <\/p>\n\n

In order to remain inconspicuous, he walked around town poorly dressed. Redfield would sometimes walk from his Forest Street mansion to downtown Reno, while he owned numerous vehicles. It was never clear whether he didn’t want to spend his money or whether he preferred to keep a low profile. He reportedly begged Rollan Melton, the publisher of the local newspaper, the Reno Evening Gazette, not to publish his picture, so that people would not know what he looked like. <\/p>\n\n

However, rumors spread quickly. There were many attempts to rob him and to break into his house. No one ever got their hands on his treasure of millions of dollars, hidden in the false walls of his house. <\/p>\n\n

The Redfield Collection <\/h2>\n\n

Morgan and Peace dollars<\/h3>\n\n