Prove it.
By the time its over they will probly get to keep the can.
Tax-wise, the mint already took the writedown, so it gave up possession of those coins.
You can bet the government will get it’s grubby hands on it one way or another.
Story I heard says the cans were filled gradually with new coins over the course of a few decades, long before the mint theft.
Finders keepers
They should have kept their mouth shut.
There was a case a few years ago where a guy found some gold coins that had never been issued - the design itself had never been issued. They were a new design that were being made when FDR declared it illegal to own gold.
He had to give his 20 or so $10 gold coins back to the gov’t for face value. People claim it was because the coins should have been returned to the gov’t in the thirties - but I’m not sure - I think it was more that they were stolen.
BUT - wouldn’t the statute of limitations for the theft be over by then? Unless the gov’t could argue that the crime of “receiving stolen property” had just occurred.
>>So, does the State of CA claim it, or the thief’s heirs? <<
>>Prove It<<
I am pretty sure the thieve’s heirs would be SOL.
California, OTOH, may unilaterally decide to use Eminent Domain (or something similar).
If I was this couple I would get the heck out of Cali TONIGHT to someplace like Texas that respects property rights. Even then I would plan on escaping to a country that won’t tax or seize the coins (Monte Carlo?) since California could reach them in Texas via subpoena.
With millions of dollars at stake, it isn’t worth the risk of hanging around while California puts dozens of lawyers on the job of finding a way to steal it.
If the state doesn’t claim the gold, they will be paying through the nose in state and federal taxes. I would have been tempted to only sell a few coins at a time and keep the rest hidden.
There is no logical reason to shout about finding such things.
All you do us open yourself up to ambulance chasing lawyers and a proctology examination by the Gub'ment...
Go buy a nice floor safe and sell the coins slowly and report it on your taxes when you do and you will do fine.
Did someone find my gold coin stash?
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
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.
Goldbug ping.