Now that is a lousy idea. Here’s why.
A US gold coin is easily “authenticated”. A few of the coins in the hoard are worth about $1 million dollars each, to collectors. All of them worth far more than the melt value. The gold content of a $20 gold piece is about $1600 at today’s spot price, or near enough.
But if someone actually were to melt one down, it isn’t worth near $1600 any longer. It’s just a blob of unrecognizable gold, and without assay a dealer can’t be sure of the purity. At least that’s what they’ll claim anyway.
They’d probably offer about 75% of the actual value, maybe even less. Not sure exactly, but most definitely a big discount.
So a coin worth $1 million is turned into maybe $1000 bucks? Stupid!
The coins weren't worth $1, $1k, or $1m to those that found them once they had to turn them over. They were worth $0.
As the article said, the “Saddle Ridge Hoard” had a gold value of $2.5 million and $10 million of numismatic value to the government.
As for a "blob" of unrecognizable gold, you must never have dealt with gold "eggs" that are common in foreign countries but are also traded amongst U.S. gold merchants. They pay well for untraceable gold.