Posted on 02/26/2014 7:49:29 PM PST by BunnySlippers
The mysterious haul of gold coins discovered by a Northern California couple while out walking their dog – and valued at $10 million – may well be a previously undiscovered bounty that an employee of the San Francisco Mint was convicted of stealing in 1901.
The couple, who haven’t been named, stumbled across the haul of 1,427 rare, mint-condition gold coins, nearly all dating from 1847 to 1894, buried in the shadow of an old tree on their Gold Country property in February 2013.
The face value of the Saddle Ridge Hoard, as they’ve called it, added up to about $27,000, but some of the coins are so rare that experts say they could fetch nearly $1million apiece.
The couple went public with their amazing discovery on Tuesday, and treasure enthusiasts have been quick to suggest that the coins could be the same ones stolen by Walter Dimmick, an employee of the San Francisco Mint in the late 1800′s, reports Altered Dimensions. Dimmick began working at the mint in 1898 and by 1901 was trusted with the keys to the vaults – until an audit revealed a $30,000 shortage in $20 Double Eagle coins, six bags in all.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
“The finders would have been wise, perhaps, to first establish residence outside of California,”
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Better yet, outside of the US.
EPA will probably fine them for the old can.
Who knows what is laying around that mint. In 1980, I think, they opened an old vault and found something like 2 million mint silver dollars stored which no one knew about. Government sold them to collectors.
Did someone find my gold coin stash?
No, it is MY gold coin stash. I buried it in N. Cali last year. I can prove it too. All of the coins are gold color.
Thieves Among Us
Some people get strange ideas about stealing our nation’s assets. Here are some examples.
In Sheep’s Clothing
Could it be that Chief Clerk Walter Dimmick had betrayed the trust placed in him? It certainly seemed that way when the San Francisco Mint discovered that six bags of gold coins were missing from one of the vaults, together worth $30,000!
Only someone who could open the vault and had free access to the building could have removed that many heavy coins without being detected.
The Chief Clerk, Walter Dimmick, was able to get into the vault at the time the money was stolen. He was also the last one to count the bags of coins every night before the vaults were closed. Yet he denied knowing where the money might be.
Since he had already been caught learning to sign the Superintendent’s name (forgery), taking money from the pay envelopes of other Mint employees (theft), and stealing other government funds in his care, a jury eventually found him guilty of stealing the $30,000 in gold double eagles and of two other charges.
At 46 years old, Walter Dimmick began to serve his time (almost seven years of hard labor) at the San Quentin prison in California.
The 1,500 gold coins were never found.
http://www.usmint.gov/kids/coinnews/mintfacilities/sfo/#thieves
Shouldn’t they have rusted by now?
/S
S Ok.
Yer a Capital person....
LOL
This is awesome. I just got a glimpse on Fox.
The publicity about these coins is from the dealers handling the coin sale to drive up prices. They are being sold as from the “Saddle Ridge Hoard” to put a mystique about them which some people will pay a premium for such as, things from the Titanic etc. They are nice coins in their own right and could have been sold quietly for almost as much money but someone got greedy.
They were 1933 $20 St Gaudens, the standard issue $20, but not “authorized” allegedly. The family that found them in an uncle (?)s estate sent ALL of them to the treasury to ask if they were real. My opinion is that they were to stupid to deserve them, but the government shouldn’t get to hold on to them either, they should be sold.
They fought it in court until 2011 or 12.
Goldbug ping.
What is that building?
“My opinion is that they were to stupid to deserve them...”
Yes - perhaps it wouldn’t have done them any good anyway. Not me though! Like the bumper sticker says, something like “Please God, send us another Oil Boom, and I promise I won’t piss it away this time!”
No, these were stashed as obtained, I believe the stasher obtained at least the early ones from “free coinage” and was a miner or mine owner/shareholder.
Uncle Dimmick left me those coins in his will. If that story won’t fly, I can make up another.
2.5 pound Yorkie puppy. But it was acting aggressive.
They are only selling one at a time, infrequently.
The Granite Lady, 2nd SF Mint.
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