Posted on 03/04/2014 4:39:40 PM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist
A California couple who found a stash of buried gold coins valued at $10 million may not be so lucky after all. The coins may have been stolen from the US Mint in 1900 and thus be the property of the government, according to a published report.
The San Francisco Chronicle's website reported that a search of the Haithi Trust Digital Library provided by Northern California fishing guide Jack Trout, who is also a historian and collector of rare coins, turned up the news of the theft.
The California couple, who have not been identified, spotted the edge of an old can on a path they had hiked many times before several months ago. Poking at the can was the first step in uncovering a buried treasure of rare coins estimated to be worth $10 million.
(Excerpt) Read more at gma.yahoo.com ...
That’s just about the stupidest comment with respect to this story I’ve heard... congrats.
Just curious, any anecdotes about what kind of things you had happen as a result if talking you would be willing to share?
It isn’t THAT stupid. Flushing 12 million in numismatic value (coming with extremely high risk of confiscation), in exchange for a far safer 2 million in scrap value is very rational for some people’s situations.
Risk,,,, Benefit. Its a balancing act
The statute of limitations expires in 7 years, after which you get to keep the gold, even if you robbed bars of gold bullion out of the U.S. Government repository at Fort Knox, so long as you can prove you remained in the jurisdiction for the full 7 years.
Stupid is as stupid does. Anyone could see this coming mile away, and they deserve everything that they won’t get. They should have said nothing to anyone, set up a dozen different companies in different states, and gradually sold off the coins over 10 or 15 years.
I sincerely hope that these idiots are big government liberals, since it would be the height of irony for them to have been screwed by the very government that they worship.
Family story is that my great grandfather did just that. Wonder how far away from where they lived these were found.
You could have EASILY gotten these to market for the numismatic value. All they had to do was say they were handed down through the family, etc... It’s not to difficult to come up with a plausible story that doesn’t involve putting blood in the water for pestilential bureaucrats or lawyers.
And it is the lawyers who will burn this trove. I already predicted on another thread that there are lawyers right now trying to noodle out that location and as soon as they get it, they will title search that place and contact the surviving relatives of EVERY single person who ever held title to that land and be approaching them with “Do you think there is ANY possibility that you’re [insert relative here] ever stashed things on his former property that he actually meant to be passed down?”
From what other treasure hunters I’ve talked to have told me, you can win every one of those hits, but you end up spending most or all of the treasure defending against them...
As for melting them, I LOVE old real money. That money is the absolute symbol of formerly free America and the sweat of the founders children and grandchildren forging a nation. Melting them is one more tiny step to eliminating the individualist symbolism that represents true American spirit.
Tell that to the people that were stupid enough to send their 10 1933 St Gaudens to the treasury for “verification”...
Grandpap always refered to that time as “Back when Roosevelt stole everybodies gold”.
Roosevelt ranks way up there in my top American douchebags list.
Unlike other metals, gold does not deteriorate. This is why gold dug out of Egyptian tombs looks as new as the day it was minted or cast into an object.
https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL31253.pdf
The above link goes to a pdf document describing the federal statute of limitations and listing the various time limitations. I think the longest time is 20 years for a major art theft. All the others are less except for terrorism, various types of murder, and sex trafficking in children, nuclear weapons, biological weapons; these sorts of crimes have no statute of limitations. I did not read the statute in great detail but the only reference to banks and financial institutions involved murder during the commission of the robbery. I think they are home free. Please note, as always. free legal opinions are worth what you paid for them
Government has mineral & property rights, i.e., gold & cannons, e.g., man digs up circa 1760’s cannon in side of back yard hill & Uncle Sam claims it.
I played blackjack. I played fast and heavy. In the matter of a couple months I gathered about $180,000 from this. Of course I didn’t keep a secret, and people I barely remember came out of the cracks. Also some of my family members and my circle of friends seemed to begin treating me differently, like a subtle jealousy. Maybe I was different as well. One guy, I barely knew, asked me to lend him 1200 to buy bike rims for his road bike. He didn’t give me the impression that he had any real interest in paying me back. My girlfriend at the time, complained that I could have afforded “better” gifts. I got rid of her, as fast as I could.
I lost over half of my winnings, before I quit completely, and never brought up the subject again with anyone I knew.
“I once had an experience where I found myself instantly more wealthy. I regretted telling anyone about it. These folk should have never said a word.”
Dont you just hate it when that happens, my long lost beloved uncle castlegreyskull?
“It’s not the coins lost from the mint.”
Then its coins used in a drug deal /government
There is some truth to this.
My Aunt who I spoken with maybe 10 times in my life asked me to help her with a mortgage payment when she heard of my good fortune.
I’m reminded of the Aesop tale of the fox and the crow.
I never thought they were lucky in the first place. Given that sewer of a state they live in, and given the proclivities of the federal govt, I knew they'd never see a dime.
And people saying they should have sold it in secret? Yeah, coins worth a million $ each would be a cinch to keep secret.
Me? I would have melted it down for just the gold. At least it would be something. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if the pigs in kal took it and somehow managed to penalize the couple for the discovery.
When you have the superior firepower, there is no statute of limitations.
No they don’t. Unless you’re in some other country. Stuff may fall under the antiquities act if it’s on federal land, but in the west, you can claim minerals on open federal land and they’re yours (pursuant to 1872 mining law et. al.).
East operates under leases.
Private property is also private mineral rights unless they’ve been separated in the past (See the many whiners in N and S Dakota with respect to neighbors making a mint on oil rights while they get jack because they bought land for less that didn’t come with them).
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