A rare-money gallery is hoping a treasure hunt helps ignite interest in coin collecting during a moment of surging interest in a precious metal: gold.
For five days beginning Tuesday, Oct. 28, employees of Stack’s Bowers Galleries, a rare-coin dealer and auctioneer, will be hiding certificates around Miami-Dade County, redeemable for hundreds or thousands of dollars worth of rare coins and banknotes. On three of the five days, the prizes will be gold coins, two from the United States and one from Venezuela.
Participation is open to all. It’s a fortuitous time to come upon gold coins: Gold prices are rising sharply due to the uncertain economy, with the beloved yellow metal reaching record high values, more than $4,000 per ounce, just this month.
Stack’s Bowers, which has a gallery and showroom in Miami’s Brickell area, will post clues on Facebook and Instagram at 10 a.m. each day of the hunt to give scavengers a general idea of where to look. The only hint so far: The certificates will be placed in “iconic locations.”
“Each day there will be a riddle that will tell approximately where it is,” said William Conroy, the gallery’s head numismatist in Miami. Certificate finders must post their selfies on social media, but an employee will be stationed nearby to help the winners through the redemption process, he said.
The firm has been conducting similar hunts around other cities that house its retail galleries, including New York, Boston and Philadelphia.
A new generation, accustomed to buying with credit cards and not cash, is showing growing interest in old-fashioned money, Conroy said.
“Ten years ago, we began seeing younger people collecting and buying and selling and dealing,” Conroy said. “These people are under the age of 25. It’s all due to the internet and the ability to take pictures with phones and post them in groups.”
Grand prize will be a 1975 Venezuela 1000 Bolivares coin. (Stack’s Bowers/Courtesy)
Still, the average age of collectors is about 55, and most are male (about 80%) and Caucasian, according to a blog post from earlier this year by the American Numismatic Association, a nonprofit focused on advancing interest in the history and collection of coins.
That’s about the makeup of meetings of the Palm Beach Coin Club, said its president, Tony Swicer. With 284 members, it is one of the biggest clubs in the United States, he said, and meetings usually consist of 50 to 60 men and about five women.
“It’s mostly an older group,” said Swicer, 76, a collector of Kentucky national banknotes. “We try to get younger people interested by giving door prizes to the kids.”
The Palm Beach club is one of three associated with the American Numismatic Association in Palm Beach and Broward counties; the others are in Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood. Harry Schwartz, a partner in Harry’s Coins and Collectibles in Davie, said each club meets twice a month and hosts a monthly show, where sellers display their collections and buyers look for deals.
A 1934 Cuban 1 peso coin will be among the first-day prizes during the Stack’s Bowers coin hunt. (Stack’s Bowers/Courtesy)
The Stack’s Bowers gallery in Miami hopes the high value of the scavenger hunt prizes will prompt youthful enthusiasm. Prizes will range from an 1808 silver 8 Reales coin from Bolivia, with an estimated value of $205 to $295, to the grand prize: a 1975 gold 1,000 Bolivares coin from Venezuela. A similar coin was acquired for about $2,640 at a 2023 auction.
Each winner will also receive a copy of “The 2026 Red Book: A Guide Book of United States Coins,” which the gallery calls the most popular reference work for the hobby.
Not interested in owning rare coins? Here’s an additional incentive to take part in the hunt: The winner can return the bounty and get paid its value in cash.
“We will gladly purchase the coins at the prevailing wholesale market at any time that the prize winner chooses to sell their item,” Conroy said.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: Treasure hunt (for certificates redeemable for rare coins), sponsored by Stack’s Bowers Galleries
WHEN: Tuesday, Oct. 28, to Saturday, Nov. 1
WHERE: Locations throughout Miami-Dade County, with hints posted on social media each day
COST: Free
INFORMATION: Facebook.com/stacks.bowers or Instagram.com/stacksbowers
