1902-O NGC graded Morgan silver dollar from the Fitzgerald Collection

The Fitzgerald Hoard was a hoard of casino chips, silver coins and collectables which were stored in a warehouse in Reno, Nevada. The entire hoard was purchased by a California coin dealer named Ron Gillio. The hoard was named for casino owner Lincoln Fitzgerald. The hoard included 100,000 American silver dollars.

Background

Lincoln Fitzgerald ran three casinos in Nevada: The Nevada Club which was in downtown Reno, Fitzgeralds Casino & Hotel, Reno and he Nevada Lodge in Lake Tahoe.[1] After a 1949 assassination attempt and as a result he began sleeping at one of his casinos.[2] He stayed on the second floor of The Nevada Club in a steel walled apartment. He was referred to as reclusive by the Reno Gazette-Journal.[3] He began saving collectables and silver dollars from his casinos and his restaurant in a Reno Nevada warehouse.[2]

History

California coin dealer Ron Gillio purchased the hoard after visiting a warehouse outside of Reno Nevada. The hoard in the warehouse included gambling equipment, sealed treasury bags of silver dollars, casino chips, and other casino related merchandise.[4] The hoard contained many trinkets as well, things like commemorative casino spoons, coasters, key chains and matchbooks. Gillio called the items in the warehouse the Fitzgerald Hoard.[1]

The hoard included 100,000 American silver dollars which were in safes.[1] Gillio purchased everything and he claimed that it took 60 days to clear out the warehouse. He did not disclose the price that he paid for the hoard but the casino chips and silver dollars had a face value of US$500,000.[1] In June of 2004 Gillio held an auction in San Francisco to sell some of the items from the hoard.[5] The Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) graded and slabbed the 100,000 Morgan and Peace silver dollars in the hoard.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Vogel, Ed (4 June 2004). "His Nose for Rare Coins has Scored Again". The Modesto Bee. Archived from the original on 4 November 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  2. 1 2 Skorupa, Susan (1 June 2004). "Auction". Reno Gazette-Journal. Archived from the original on 4 November 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  3. ↑ "Past". Reno Gazette-Journal. 13 November 1995. Archived from the original on 4 November 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  4. ↑ Rexford, Peter M. (5 June 2004). "Gamble Pays Off In Collectable Chips". The Sacramento Bee. Archived from the original on 4 November 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  5. ↑ Skorupa, Susan (1 June 2004). "Casino History on the Auction Block". Reno Gazette-Journal. Archived from the original on 4 November 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  6. ↑ Bretz, Rick (27 August 2015). "Pedigrees & Hoards: The Fitzgerald Collection". Coinweek. CoinWeek LLC. Archived from the original on 5 November 2023. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
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