Stack's Bowers $40,000 Coin Treasure Hunt: San Francisco This Week, Boston Next
Rare coins worth $300 to $4,500 are hidden in public spots with daily Instagram clues. San Francisco runs through Oct 24; Boston is Oct 27–31.
Written by Admin User
For the second October in a row, Stack's Bowers Galleries has turned four American cities into a treasure map. Its Treasure Hunt 2026 has hidden about $40,000 in rare coins and collectibles in public places, roughly $10,000 per city, with riddle-style clues posted on Instagram. Miami and Philadelphia are done. The hunt is in San Francisco through Saturday, October 24, and wraps up in Boston, October 27–31.
Here's how it works, what's been found, and what's still out there.
How the hunt works
Each city gets a five-day run. Every day, a prize certificate is hidden somewhere publicly accessible, and a clue pointing to it goes up on that city's Stack's Bowers Instagram account. The company says nothing is buried, and you never need to dig or enter restricted areas. Each clue narrows the search to a general area, so the certificate could be just around the corner from where you start looking.
Prizes have approximate retail values from about $300 to $3,500 or more, and according to the tracker site TreasureHuntDB, each city saves its biggest prize for the final day. Participation is free. Stack's Bowers also offers sign-ups on its website for updates and early clues.
If you find a certificate:
- Take a photo of yourself holding it at the spot where you found it.
- Scan the QR code on the certificate and send the photo to Stack's Bowers.
- Redeem it at that city's Stack's Bowers gallery.
Winners can keep the prize, consign it to a future Stack's Bowers auction, or take a cash buyback offer.
Miami and Philadelphia: what we know
Miami (October 6–10) opened the hunt with a theme built around Florida's coastal history and shipwreck treasure. Stack's Bowers hasn't publicly announced which coins were found or who found them, and we found no press reports of the Miami winners.
Philadelphia (October 13–17) drew the biggest response so far. Organizers told 6abc it had the strongest turnout of the four cities, and one certificate was found within minutes of its clue going up. Clues posted daily at 5:30 p.m. on @stacksbowers_philly, and the hunt was co-run with the local scavenger-hunt account Find the Cash PHL, which posted videos of each certificate being hidden. Axios reported the Philadelphia prizes included:
- A 2011 five-coin American Silver Eagle set
- A 1934 $500 bill
- A Saint-Gaudens $20 gold double eagle worth about $3,500 as the grand prize
Winners redeem at the Philadelphia gallery at 1735 Market Street. Kerry Loughran of Stack's Bowers told 6abc that certificates can be redeemed for coins, currency, or bullion.
San Francisco this week: an 1877 gold coin for the finale
The San Francisco leg runs October 20–24. Clues post daily at noon on @stacksbowers_sf, with each certificate at a different city landmark. According to ABC7, Saturday's grand prize is an 1877 gold coin struck at the San Francisco Mint, worth about $4,500. Store manager Joe Pielago noted it was worth only $20 when it was minted. He described earlier cities, where hidden cameras caught hunters arriving minutes after a clue dropped, as "respectful chaos."
Prizes are claimed at the new San Francisco gallery at 333 Pine Street, in the historic Mills Building. It opened in August, so this is the gallery's first treasure hunt. As of October 21, no San Francisco finds had been publicly reported.
Collector context: If the grand prize is an 1877-S $20 Liberty Head double eagle, as the $20 face value suggests, it's a coin with real history. The San Francisco Mint struck 1,735,000 of them, the first year of the "Type III" design at that mint. Most survivors grade in the low Mint State range. Auction records show MS-62 examples selling for roughly $4,500–$5,500, consistent with the value ABC7 reported. Stack's Bowers hasn't published the grade.
Boston next week: the final stop
The hunt closes in Boston, October 27–31. Clues will post on @stacksbowers_boston and lead hunters through the city's historic streets and parks. Winners redeem at the Boston gallery at 84 State Street, next to Faneuil Hall. Stack's Bowers hasn't announced the Boston prize list yet beyond the $10,000 total.
Boston hunters have a head start in one way: last year's edition gives a sense of the style. In October 2025, all five Boston certificates were found and redeemed. On day one, a hunter found a 1907 $2.50 gold piece in the bushes at Downtown Crossing, following a clue that referenced colonial Pine Tree shillings and the site of Boston's original mint. Another certificate turned up at Faneuil Hall Marketplace. Other 2025 Boston prizes included an 1881 Morgan dollar and a 1924 Saint-Gaudens $20 worth about $3,500. Expect clues that reward knowing your local coin history.
Why an auction house hides coins
Stack's Bowers traces its roots to 1933, when Joseph and Morton Stack founded the firm in New York City. It held its first public auction in October 1935 and merged with Bowers and Merena in 2011. Now headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, it is one of the hobby's largest auction houses and served as official auctioneer of the 2026 ANA World's Fair of Money in Pittsburgh.
The treasure hunt began in 2025 to mark 90 years since that first auction. Stack's Bowers president Brian Kendrella framed it as a way to share the hobby with the public, and the company brought it back this year with San Francisco added. It's clever marketing for its five retail galleries, but it also puts real coins in new collectors' hands, which is good for the hobby.
Make a weekend of it
If you're hunting in Boston, pair it with a local show: the Devens Coin Show and the West Springfield Coin Club show are both on Sunday, October 25, and the First Sunday Stamp and Coin Show in Dedham returns November 1. In the Bay Area, the South Bay / Sunnyvale Coin Show is coming up November 13. See every upcoming show on our Massachusetts and California pages.
