"I don't know what you're talking about, Louis."
Posted on 04/23/2017 8:57:01 AM PDT by blam
LONDON (AP) — British officials say they've been unable to trace the rightful heirs to a trove of gold coins found stashed inside a piano and worth a "life-changing" amount of money.
The school that owns the piano and the tuner who found the gold are now in line for a windfall after a coroner investigating the find declared it treasure. But a couple who owned the piano for three decades before donating it to their local school will likely miss out.
Coroner John Ellery said Thursday that, despite a thorough investigation and a public appeal for information, "we simply do not know" who concealed the coins.
The hoard was discovered last year when the piano was sent for tuning in Shropshire, central England. Under the keyboard — neatly stacked in hand-stitched packages and pouches — were 913 gold sovereigns and half-sovereigns minted in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Piano tuner Martin Backhouse said when he found the pouches and slit open the stitching, he thought: "Ooh, it looks like there's rather a lot of gold in this."
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at newstimes.com ...
I think it was incorrectly declared 'treasure' which qualifies him for a share.
Where's your gold, eh?
Thomas Shelby
Oh, that was me.
I misunderstood what William Devane was telling me.
No wait, I bought my gold based on what Glenn Beck told me.
So, just go ahead and send it back. Thanks.
British find, British law.
and a public appeal for information,
Less than 2 weeks go, two Brits found a large quantity of gold bullion in the fuel tank of an old battle tank they purchased.
Funny country, the UK.
Gold Found In Captured Iraqi Tank
A collector from the United Kingdom found gold bars in the fuel tank of the old Soviet T-54 tank, bought by him on eBay, writes the tabloid The Sun.
a variation of a saying of Ben Franklin - Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead.
That’s just it: this is a two-man permanent secret, as men don’t cleverly stitch and sew pouches around coins.
Wow...
Dude can’t be British though.
He’s got nice chops...
Must be French....
Finders fee.
I’d be looking back to Jewish owners in WWII who were either on the run from Nazis, or whose belongings were confiscated.
The couple who owned the piano presumably only sold the piano, not the gold. Even if they didn’t know it was in there, they should get it back.
It is the opposite of that: It was declared treasure, so the finder and owner split.
It’s a good thing they were fairly modern coins, or the government would have declared them gov property. In any event, the tax man will get most of it.
If they can prove they new about it then it is all theirs. They can claim the gold was theirs and they left it there by mistake. Of course they will need some way of substantiating that claim. If they cannot then they are out of luck. You canno claim something you never owned. Same as if I dig up buried treasure in my backyard. The previous owner gets nothing.
I suppose it’s even possible that the gold got in there *after* it was sold.
If he was a retired sailor he would have.
Sailors used to do a great deal of sewing.
But what if two dead men got up to fight and back to back they shot each other? Still dead. /s
From the Treasure trove act 1996
Objects substantially made from gold or silver but are less than 300 years old, that have been deliberately hidden with the intention of recovery and whose owners or heirs are unknown.
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