Four October stops for a coin-and-currency hunt
Stack’s Bowers Treasure Hunt 2026 is scheduled for October in Miami, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Boston. The auction firm’s September 23 announcement advertises collectible prizes with a combined estimated retail value of $40,000. Participants will look for hidden certificates, then redeem winning certificates through the participating gallery.
This is an upcoming event as of September 28, not a report that the hunt has begun. The year matters: search results also surface videos and reports about earlier hunts, whose dates and locations should not be used to plan a 2026 visit.
The 2026 city schedule
The official event page lists these four five-day stops:
| City | Dates in 2026 | Organizer’s local Instagram account |
|---|---|---|
| Miami | October 6–10 | stacksbowers_miami |
| Philadelphia | October 13–17 | stacksbowers_philly |
| San Francisco | October 20–24 | stacksbowers_sf |
| Boston | October 27–31 | stacksbowers_boston |
Use the account linked by the organizer for the city you are following. A repost from another city, an old screenshot or an earlier year’s clue can look relevant while sending you toward the wrong hunt.
How the certificates and clues work
According to the organizer’s instructions, each participating location has one certificate hidden per day: silver certificates on the first four days and a gold certificate on the final day. Prize previews are planned about an hour before the clues. The listed clue times are noon for Miami, San Francisco and Boston, and 5:30 p.m. for Philadelphia.
The instructions do not expressly state the timezone alongside those times. Confirm that detail through the relevant official account before making travel plans. The page also lists general weekday gallery hours; that should not be treated as confirmation of Saturday redemption arrangements.
The first finder is instructed to photograph the certificate where it was found, scan its QR code and send the requested selfie through the local gallery’s Instagram messages. Read the current organizer instructions before taking part, since the details of a live event may change.
What the advertised $40,000 does—and does not—mean
The September 23 release describes approximately $10,000 in prizes per city, with individual collectibles carrying estimated retail values ranging from about $300 to about $3,500. The $40,000 headline is the combined advertised value across all four stops. It is not a promise that one finder receives $40,000, or that every prize can immediately be sold for its stated retail estimate.
A collectible and cash are different outcomes. If you win, keep the organizer’s description and any grading or provenance paperwork with the item. Before making a sale decision, establish exactly what you received and compare it with genuinely comparable completed sales. An asking price for a different grade or issue will not settle the value of your prize.
A practical check before heading out
Start with three details: the correct city and date, the current clue on the linked local account, and that gallery’s redemption arrangements. Save the original announcement so you can distinguish organizer information from a third-party retelling. Avoid treating an unofficial message as proof that a prize is waiting for you.
For collectors, the event can also be a useful introduction to unfamiliar coins or banknotes. A successful find is the beginning of identifying and documenting a collectible, not the end of that process. Our coin collection records checklist explains how to keep the information that makes a new acquisition easier to understand later.
Sources and image: Stack’s Bowers’ September 23, 2026 announcement, official 2026 schedule and participation instructions, checked September 28. Publication time was not supplied with the announcement date. Event details can change; consult the organizer before attending. CoinHub’s unretouched 1880 Morgan-dollar photograph is illustrative and does not identify a hunt prize.