1839 gold medal of Revolutionary War general called the "most shocking and important discovery" in years

When numismatist John Kraljevich of Fort Mill, South Carolina opened a box containing a unique solid gold medal that an auction house asked him to authenticate, his jaw dropped.

"My reaction was somewhere along the lines of, holy (expletive)," Kraljevich said. "As soon as I laid my eyes on it, I knew what it was."

Indeed, it was the original and only gold Daniel Morgan at Cowpens Medal struck by the Philadelphia Mint in 1839.