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 Replies: 154 / Views: 22,501 |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
5282 Posts |
Just amazing the condition of the coins, lucky arid conditions and the big old tree.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
4326 Posts |
Quote:Wonder if that website is actually official... Someone could have just created it to send people to the Amazon listing using their referral id. Not sure what Amazon pays affiliates but if its around 2% of the price, that's some decent money as well. Did you notice the bottom left corner, "(c) Kagin's" and the Kagin's branding all over it? Oh, yeah, they hired somebody to market this for them...
-----Burton 50 year / Life / Emeritus ANA member (joined 12/1/1973) Life member: Numismatics International, CONECA Member: TNA, FtWCC, NETCC, OnLine Coin Club Owned by four cats and a wife of 40 years (joined 1983) |
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Moderator
 United States
157722 Posts |
Quote:
Could have been an OCD train robber. Couldn't bury his loot without making sure that all the dates were put in separate cans. Like if Sheldon Cooper robbed a bank  I feel certain that Sheldon would prefer a train to a bank. 
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Moderator
Canada
10433 Posts |
I noticed PCGS created a unique label for those coins. Definitely a marketing strategy going on there. I tried looking up some of the PCGS certification numbers that you see on the photos, but I only get the message, "That Cert is not available for display". Also, the online PCGS population report does not reflect these new coins. That 1886-S $10, for example, now tops the finest known, by two full grade points. http://www.pcgscoinfacts.com/Coin/Detail/8709?  "Discovery follows discovery, each both raising and answering questions, each ending a long search, and each providing the new instruments for a new search." -- J. Robert OppenheimerContent of this post is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses...0/deed.en_USMy ebay store
Edited by SPP-Ottawa
02/26/2014 11:29 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4326 Posts |
PCGS and NGC will create a special label that says ANYTHING you want if you run enough coins through. I have one of the "Compliments of Mad Marty" - no grade or id.
-----Burton 50 year / Life / Emeritus ANA member (joined 12/1/1973) Life member: Numismatics International, CONECA Member: TNA, FtWCC, NETCC, OnLine Coin Club Owned by four cats and a wife of 40 years (joined 1983) |
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Valued Member
United States
426 Posts |
I wonder if there's any chance this couple found the $30,000 stolen from the San Francisco Mint by Chief Clerk Walter Dimmick during the turn of the century. Some things to think about are the face value of what was found is just $3,000 shy of the amount stolen, the mint state condition of the coins, the total amount of coins stolen vs the amount found (1,500 & 1,427), the stolen coins were double eagles and never found. This is very interesting at the very least! http://www.usmint.gov/kids/coinnews...ilities/sfo/Quote:
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. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4233 Posts |
That's a very interesting theory, made a lot of news in 1901, and apparently a Congressional investigation here. 25 (or 50?) million dollars in vaults designed for 5 million. 6 bags ($5000 each, 250 coins) of double eagles disappear and are never found. However, the hoard only goes up to 1894, and the mint theft was in 1901. Would the 6 vault bags contain a seemingly sequential assortment of pristine coins from 1847 through 1894, and none from 1895 to 1901? Reading the imbedded link and numerous news accounts of the trial, I get the impression things were a bit sloppy at the mint. Seems possible that someone else was stealing a few coins here and there over a long period of time, but the Dimmick idea is intriguing. He either sounds like quite a scoundrel, or a scapegoat. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1761 Posts |
Quote:
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. The newfound treasure now having been 'conserved' and locked in plastic, I'm guessing it's too late to check for W.D.'s fingerprints. The question now becomes, what will be the entry fee to own a piece of this historic legacy? There must be some fairly common dates and *relatively* low end pieces in that stash. When the Amazon floodgates are opened, I forsee a modern day gold rush of 'buying the slab, not the coin', just to claim ownership of a portion of 'Saddle Ridge'. What I would buy is a full color catalog telling the whole story in photos, and showing every coin. This is definitely a find for the ages.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4233 Posts |
Quote:
DISHONEST EMPLOYEES It will be noticed that the years between 1894 and 1898 are not taking into consideration in giving the above statistics. ... Soon after being installed in his position Mr Leach, in acquainting himself with the duties of his position, discovered that there was a systematic plan of stealing going on in the coiner's department: but so cunning and careful were the dishonest culprits, coupled with the fact of official position, that it was difficult to locate them with criminating evidence. A foreman was arrested, an assistant coiner was discharged, and the abnormal losses ceased. I wonder who those two employees were?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8137 Posts |
They did a story about it on NBC news last night.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
I'm starting to wonder how this will affect the prices of all other gold coins in the country... small hoards are found and dumped into the market every few years, but nothing like this!
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Valued Member
United States
425 Posts |
This still makes me wonder if it is true? Somebody correct me here but a few years back wasn't there a Coin Museum that had a number of coins stolen by the new Collections Manager? Was it in Colorado Springs, Colo.? He got nabbed for selling some one-of-a kind coins in the collection but I remember them saying that a unknown number of donation coins, high grade gold coins were missing.
There is only one picture of the storage can still in the ground, but I am not seeing very much rust stain in the dirt around it? 1970's and 80's we did alot of digging on the farm, trashpiles, old wells, and ACW camp sites. 120+ years in the ground and a tin can should just about be gone!
Can any one say what these cans came from? They are not medical cans like "Russian Salve" or "Burn Ointment" and clearly not gun powder or perc. cap tins.
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Valued Member
Ireland
131 Posts |
This even made the news over here tonight. Delighted for the couple .... looks like they are being 'handled' well. Hope they don't offload the entire hoard but keep a couple as keepsakes of this stroke of massive fortune.
Norm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4233 Posts |
Some articles have stated that they intend to keep a few of the coins, and a video interview of Kagan on ABC says they intend to keep the cans.
Update on my post above - William Clarkson seems to be the "foreman" in the quote, employee in the rolling department, arrested and tried (twice) in 1898, for stealing raw gold, not coins. Supposedly $1200 worth went missing in a year or so; was only formally charged with $70 worth. Not sure if he was ever convicted. I think my sleuthing is at an end, but it has been interesting to see how much theft from mints was going on in this time period. Someone at Carson City was also busted for stealing $80,000 in gold bullion. The Dimmick theory still seems plausible except for the 1901 timing. I'm curious if the government would still have a claim if it was proven to be stolen from a mint 120 years ago, but it seems like all these bases would have been covered by the sellers.
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Valued Member
United States
425 Posts |
OK, been doing some research on "Tins". These tins seem to be two differant styles of Snuff tins. I could not find any old snuff tins w/out the brand stamped into the lid,(these have nothing on the lids). But they seem to be dated more around 20th century. Seems that the snuff containers of the 1850's were more often of glass. More like a old gin bottle w/out the neck. But I could be very wrong!
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Replies: 154 / Views: 22,501 |
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Posted 02/26/2014 09:57 am
