JOHANNESBURG(BullionStreet): Staggering $3.5 million is the total price bidders paid for half of gold collections left behind by a Nevada recluse.

Walter Samaszko Jr who died last July was so reclusive that weeks passed before authorities discovered him in his modest home in Nevada.

The 69-year-old who had lived so simply had a vast collection of gold coins worth millions of dollars stored in old ammunition boxes in his garage.

There boxes contained 2,900 Austrian coins, many from 1915; more than 5,000 from Mexico; at least 500 from Britain; 300 U.S. gold pieces, some dating to 1880; and more than 100 US gold pieces as old as the 1890s.

In total, about about 60 kilograms of gold coins was auctioned off Tuesday in a courtroom to pay for government taxes and fees. gold is to be sold at auction, which was expected to net about $3m.

Another auction for the larger half of the collection is due to take place soon. Among the coins were meticulous records of the purchases dating back to at least 1964, when gold averaged about $35 per ounce. It currently sells for nearly $1,600 an ounce.