Sounds like government has ownership when it finds all that gold that people are losing when they have their tragic “boating accident.”
But seriously, if there is a statue of limitations on a criminal charge for the theft, that should apply to an ownership claim as well. But a person could sell two or three pieces a year at coin shows without arousing suspicion and the sale would be in cash for a “family heirloom.”
I agree,people should clam up about their property and finds on their own property.
“There is a precedent in this sort of case where the government has taken back property. The daughter of Philadelphia jeweler, Joan Langboard had been selling off ‘Double Eagle’ gold pieces found in a family safety deposit box, with the last one being sold at a Sotheby’s Auction for $7.5 million in 2004.
But in 2011, a jury found that the ten pieces sold off by the Langboard family had been stolen from the government in 1933. Ironically, the only reason the US Treasury knew about the gold pieces was because Mrs Langboard wasn’t convinced of their authenticity.”