# Can you identify this story about a silver hoard? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [June 9, 2025, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-story-about-a-silver-hoard/1019401 "2025-06-09T23:47:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-story-about-a-silver-hoard/1019401/1 "2025-06-09T23:47:17Z")
It was about a farmer who finds a huge hoard of silver and pulls it out piece by piece. Kinda spooky. It was in a collection with a story about a man who learned how to see through things (which I think was made into a movie?). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-story-about-a-silver-hoard/1019401/2 "2025-06-09T23:49:11Z")
The Mildenhall Treasure, by Roald Dahl? ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-story-about-a-silver-hoard/1019401/3 "2025-06-09T23:56:42Z")
Well, that was quick. I’m guessing the other story is his too. Well done and thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-story-about-a-silver-hoard/1019401/4 "2025-06-09T23:59:53Z")
Just for completeness, the other story (after which the collection was named) was “The Wonderful Tale of Henry Sugar”. And the one about the silver was nonfiction. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-story-about-a-silver-hoard/1019401/5 "2025-06-10T00:05:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Just for completeness, the other story (after which the collection was named) was “The Wonderful Tale of Henry Sugar”. Which was indeed adapted as a short film by Wes Anderson several years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-story-about-a-silver-hoard/1019401/6 "2025-06-10T01:45:53Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And the one about the silver was nonfiction. Right. And not what I would consider spooky? > **[Dahl-Mildenhall-to-post-2ns74cf.pdf](https://web.archive.org/web/20211006124013/https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.pc.gsu.edu/dist/6/45/files/2017/09/Dahl-Mildenhall-to-post-2ns74cf.pdf)** > > 484.90 KB ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-story-about-a-silver-hoard/1019401/7 "2025-06-10T11:01:24Z")
I don’t know. Something about the tone of it spooked me as a teen. Can’t say why. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-story-about-a-silver-hoard/1019401/8 "2025-06-10T13:00:32Z")
I guess finding any human artifacts that old on your own land would be kind of spooky… but for the payout the finder got, I’d put up with an awful lot of spookiness. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-story-about-a-silver-hoard/1019401/9 "2025-06-10T13:22:09Z")
The finder didn’t get much of a payout, compared to what he _could_ have got. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-story-about-a-silver-hoard/1019401/10 "2025-06-10T16:06:16Z")
Well, they just should have been honest! There’s your lesson for today! ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-identify-this-story-about-a-silver-hoard/1019401/11 "2025-06-10T16:11:51Z")
if Dahl’s story is true (there are some doubts) the finder was cheated by the man who hired him, told that that the discovery was not valuable and not told about the reporting requirements.