[july4thfreedomfoundation]

The Saddle Ridge Hoard was found in April, 2013 by a couple who were walking on their property in the California Gold Country, hours east of San Francisco.

They saw a rusty can sticking out of the ground, went to investigate, and realized it was loaded with uncirculated $5, $10 and $20 gold coins.

The couple took the can home, returned with a metal detector, and found another can or two.

The coins included a $20 1866 gold coin without the motto “In God We Trust” ..... an extremely rare coin worth $1 million by itself.

The coins were determined NOT to be the coins that were stolen from the U.S. Mint in San Francisco in the early 20th Century. The mint said they, the mint, had no claim on the coins. Apparently they were the stash of a private citizen long ago.

Some of the coins were minted in Georgia in the 1830’s.

The coins were placed with a top-notch coin dealer in Tiburon, California and were graded by Pacific Coast Grading Service in Newport Beach, Calif. Some of the coins were auctioned on Amazon last May.

The numismatic value of the hoard....$10 million.

Of course, the couple will have to pay income taxes to the IRS and State of California from the sale of any coins.

[SunkenCiv]

• The Saddle Ridge Treasure of U.S. Gold Coins
• According to Donald Kagin, Kagin's has an exclusive arrangement with Amazon.com to sell the coins through their collectibles store. This arrangement is the first major sale of coins made through Amazon. John and Mary have also chosen to use the funds to cover their personal debt and donate to several local charities. They have additionally chosen to retain some of the coins for family heirlooms and keepsakes.
  
  Following the initial discovery of the coins, there was widespread speculation that the hoard represented the discovery of the 1901 theft of $30,000 from the San Francisco Mint by employee Walter Dimmick. Kagin's and the U.S. Mint ruled out this theory, stating that the Saddle Ridge Hoard is unlikely to be part of the mint heist, due to the diversity in the face value and condition of the coins. On March 4, 2014, The U.S. Mint stated that " do not have any information linking the Saddle Ridge Hoard coins to any thefts at any United States Mint facility", and " done quite a bit of research, and we've got a crack team of lawyers, and trust me, if this was U.S. government property we'd be going after it."
  
  Other disregarded theories contend that the hoard is a hidden stash of gold buried by Jesse James, or loot taken by Black Bart, who was known for robbing stagecoaches. A theory has also been advanced that the hoard was part of a treasure supposedly hidden by the Knights of the Golden Circle, to be used to fund a second Civil War. The predominant theory attributes the cache to an unknown individual who chose to bury the coins rather than trust the banks to protect his wealth. While the couple who found the coins have remained anonymous and the location of the find is undisclosed, several individuals have attempted to claim the gold coins or a share of the profits, asserting that the money belonged to one of their relatives or associates. -- WikiPedia
• Keyword: saddleridgehoard