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 Replies: 154 / Views: 22,500 |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
519 Posts |
I would pour the gold coins in a bathtub and swim in them like a scaled down version of Scrooge McDuck from Duck Tales. You only live once :).
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1804 Posts |
TrueLove 68......  Welcome to the family ... CCF |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
844 Posts |
Whatever happened to "finders keepers"? T0o many greedy fingers pawing at their good fortune. That article disgust me. Good faith in humanity is taking a beating on this one. Once these peoples identity is known, "gold-diggers" will make their life miserable.  Edited by Jaymon74
03/01/2014 11:00 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4233 Posts |
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Valued Member
United States
374 Posts |
Sounds good at first, but I bet they have too many problems now. How much did the grading cost? $50,000? And then they were professionally cleaned (uh, conserved) and probably was not cheep either. Then there is the Amazon fees, tax bill and legal fees. In the end, what are they going to, end up with? Not a worry free $10 million, that's for sure. Probably better to sell a few of the lower grade / common ones, and put the rest in a safe deposit box for their heirs. It a bit like lottery winners, many blow all the cash and / or end up misterable. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1002 Posts |
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For those coins to be in such excellent condition they had to have been spirited out of the mint, one or two at a time, over many, many years. I suspect it was a long time trusted employee who had unfettered access who was just padding his retirement. Most likely he died shortly after the last coins (1894?) were canned. He started this in the mid-1850's and kept it up over 40 years. It is not unreasonable that he could have done this without raising a flag. A couple of coins a week for 40 years would be just about right for the quantity recovered.
If he had been going to a local banking house and buying gold coins every week during that period his mix would have been more diverse and the conditions would have been even more broad.
A little bit of research into former long time mint employees who lived in that area, or owned property in that area, might eventually unravel this mystery.
If they can be traced back to a former mint employee then this could get real interesting. I'm with westernsky on this one.. The condition of these is way too good. ..and I'm sure a few were "spent/changed" along the way. This could account for the spattering of smaller denominations in the hoard.. JMHO ... The coins date from 1847 to 1894. Those dates are one of the things that makes the coins so rare. Because paper money was illegal in California until the 1870s, most coins minted before then are extremely worn. However, coins in the Saddle Ridge Hoard--so named because that's what the couple named the area of their ranch where the treasure was found--are mostly in uncirculated mint condition. 
Edited by Night-Hawk
03/02/2014 04:33 am
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Moderator
 United States
16651 Posts |
Whodunit? Who cares. They are dead. They own the private property rights to the property where it was found but now the question is was it actually found on their property line or just beyond as might be the case?
swcoin.ecrater.com
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1002 Posts |
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. The case is still ongoing, as Mrs Langboard and her sons Roy and David are still appealing.
It's not only government sources who remain unconvinced of the origins of the gold coins found by the mystery couple. Internet posts and forums on coin grading websites have been littered with enthusiasts doubting the claims of the couple that the eight cans of coins were just ‘found' in such good condition despite being over 150 years old.
One aficionado says: ‘I wonder how long they were really buried in the backyard to be in that preserved state?'
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2168 Posts |
I did think of the case you reference. I wonder is they were all shiny when found as well and no weather. But time will tell.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4233 Posts |
That quote about the Langbord case gets it completely wrong. The 10 Langbord coins were never "sold off"; they were voluntarily turned over to the Secret Service in 2004 and the family has been litigating about it ever since.
I don't think the 1933 double eagles case is a good comparison - the government has an easy time proving that none of these coins should ever have been obtained legally. Not so with the Saddle Ridge hoard.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
4326 Posts |
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There is a precedent in this sort of case where the government has taken back property. Not really. The District Court findings (2-06-cv-05315) have not been upheld on appeal. The US just filed (27Feb) for permission to file an over length brief (3rd Circuit 12-4574). Now the judges findings, "The disputed Double Eagles were not lawfully removed from the United States Mint and accordingly, as a matter of law, they remain the property of the United States, regardless of (1) the applicability of CAFRA to the disputed Double Eagles, (2) Claimants' state of mind with respect to the coins, or (3) how the coins came into Claimants' possession." IF the US can show they were illegally removed from the mint, that finding doesn't bode well for this hoard. BUT: The difference is that there were clear records that showed only one 1933 $20 was ever monetized (after the fact, but...) where here there were several hundred thousand minted - how do you show THESE were the ones stolen?
Note: I am not a lawyer, but I have a PACER account and have learned somewhat how to use it...
-----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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Pillar of the Community
United States
1002 Posts |
Thanks for the clarification on this.
Regarding the Saddle Ridge hoard, something smells funny about this
whole thing although proving anything will be difficult at the least.
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Valued Member
United States
337 Posts |
So, they were walking the dog. Did the dog help, and what is the dog's share? And the coins were under a tree, could that be considered a branch bank?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2168 Posts |
I heard this morning on one of the news channels that the find was 10 paces from an odd rock that faced the north star!
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Valued Member
United States
406 Posts |
Quote:
Regarding the Saddle Ridge hoard, something smells funny about this
whole thing although proving anything will be difficult at the least. Care to clarify? From what I have read on the Kagin's and PCGS websites, the coins were all more or less Mint State and arranged in chronological order in those several cans, dating from 1847 to 1894. It sounded to me like some old coot just loaded up all those gold coins as his personal savings account and then ... kicked the bucket. Best Regards,  George
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Replies: 154 / Views: 22,500 |
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Posted 03/01/2014 6:26 pm
