Is there really lost Civil War Gold as depicted in my novel Treasure of the Diary—Gold Treasure just waiting for someone to stumble upon it or the clue to its hiding place? As Oscar Wilde noted, Literature always anticipates real life. Validating the legends of buried Civil War gold, a Kentucky farmer just unearthed a 150-year-old fortune dubbed the Great Kentucky Hoard. This unearthed bounty is a testament to the time-honored legends of the lost Civil War Gold. It is likely that whoever hid the gold left clues behind as is the case in the novel Treasure of the Diary.
The Great Kentucky Hoard is a historic treasury of seven hundred United States gold coins minted during the tumultuous years of 1862 and 1863. The treasure's denominations range from $1 to a staggering $20. To truly grasp the magnitude of this discovery, consider the value of each 1863 gold Liberty double eagle coin. Depending on its condition, a single coin is likely to sell anywhere from $100,000 to a jaw-dropping $400,000 at auction.
Kentucky, the heartland of several intense Civil War skirmishes between the Union Army and the Confederate cavalries led by Nathan Bedford Forrest and Kentuckian John Hunt Morgan, has always been shrouded in intriguing tales of buried treasures. The theory goes that this gold was buried as a safeguard against advancing enemies. With the discovery, the legends of lost Civil War gold, whispered rumors of riches concealed by those claimed by war or disease, suddenly seem much less mythical. The Great Kentucky Hoard underscores that truth can be as strange - and as captivating - as fiction.
And so it is with Treasure of the Diary—another unearthing of Civil War gold. The story is set in two contrasting timelines that connect the distant past and the present, tracing the quest for a cache of buried gold weighing an astounding half-ton. It weaves Civil War miseries and the lure of hidden gold into an intriguing and educational mystery that is available in print, digital and audio formats.
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Collins’s books are available from neighborhood bookstores and online sources. E-book editions are available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks, Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes,and directly from Audible.com.