The Baltimore Gold Hoard: The Amazing Treasure Discovery by Two Teen Boys
On August 31, 1934, two teenaged boys made the discovery of a lifetime, when they unearthed two copper pots filled with gold coins in the basement of a Baltimore, Maryland house. It was in the middle of the Great Depression, and people all over the country were unable to find work, and were constantly on the verge of losing their apartments. Many were unable to feed their children, and were suffering from the dust bowl affecting food production, and the strange weather fluctuations — such as dust storms, heat waves, and extremely cold winters.
The two teen boys — fifteen-year-old Henry Grob, and sixteen-year-old Theodore Jones — had formed a club they called the ‘Rinky-Dinky-Doos’. Both boys had no father, and were relying on government aid. That hot summer afternoon, the teens decided to dig a hole in the basement of the Eden Street tenement building, where Jones lived with his mother.
Newspaper reports from that time, stated that the boys had been digging the hole so they could bury ‘secret club papers’, or perhaps ‘cards, dice, and chips’. But to Jones’ surprise, his shovel hit something hard. He reached in, and fished out something flat and round. Jones thought that it was a medal at first. But Grob quickly corrected him, and told him that it was actually a $20 gold piece. They were shocked…
