A specially selected gold coin from the ‘Hackney Hoard’ is now on display at Hackney Museum, the only part of the collection that will be available for the public viewing.

The $20 ‘Double-Eagle’ has been donated by the owner Max Sulzbacher, son of the original hoard owner. The remaining hoard, which was auctioned on 29 November 2011, consists of 77 coins, minted in the United States between 1854 and 1913. They are all $20 ‘Double-Eagle’ coins and were discovered in the back garden of a property in Hackney in 2007.

Mr. Martin Sulzbacher and his extended family moved to Hackney from Germany in the late 1930s. He was interned as an ‘enemy alien refugee’ and sent to Australia, his wife and children were interned on the Isle of Man. The extended family remained in the Hackney home and buried the coins in the garden for safe keeping in early 1940. On 24 September 1940 the house in London was bombed and his family killed. On his release Mr. Sulzbacher, his wife, their four children, and the four orphaned children of Martin’s brother Fritz, all returned to London. He was unable to locate the coins despite a detailed search.

However in 1952, as work started on a new building on the site of Mr. Sulzbacher’s former home, a hoard of 82 $20 American gold coins dating to 1890 was discovered in a glass jar. The hoard was awarded to Mr. Martin Sulzbacher by the coroner at the time, and now his son has been awarded the most recent find, which he sold at auction.

The coin will be on display, along with the original jar and papers, and a poignant British penny dated 1940 that was excavated amongst the rubble of the bombed house, from Tuesday 29 November. Hackney Museum is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday: 9.30am - 5.30pm. Thursday: 9.30am - 8pm, Sat: 10am - 5pm. Closed: Sunday, Monday and Bank Holidays.

Hackney Museum, Ground Floor, Technology and Learning Centre, 1 Reading Lane E8 1GQ