Myers Depot Metal Detectors

$10,000,000 in Gold Coins!!

DirtyRob said:
Just finished the pcgs article. PCGS got all 1,411 gold coins authenticated and graded. It took almost a year to do it. These were found last February! No way I could stay quiet that long! Holy cow!
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I am from around this area, and this is a big surprise to a lot of people. Lucky it was on there own land, or else you would see a 25 year battle take up in the CA court system. This could be anywhere in the stretch of the Sierra Nevada range. But I am thinking it could be between Grass Valley/Nevada City area, but I could be wrong. A lot of abandoned mines out there and mining camps.
 
With the date range involved my guess is that the coins once belonged to a collector, especially since they were sorted in date order. Obviously there is a dark history to the coins in one way or another. Otherwise there would be reports of these high quality coins being stolen or something. You would think a post-hole bank would be farther away from the road than what the photo I saw makes it appear where they were found. I think I would swing a detector up and down the entire road where the find was made. The likelihood of finding a silver hoard/collection, think half dollars and Morgans, would be fairly high I would think...

Mr. Kagin is a highly respected numismatist (coin dealer) with probably 50+ years experience. He has written a book about pioneer gold that is very interesting. The finders made a good choice when they selected Mr. Kagin's company to handle the coins. He was able to get them graded and now they will realize the highest prices that they should. If the finders had cleaned the coins prior to grading the coins wouldn't have been graded. Grading services do not grade cleaned coins, at least those that are harshly cleaned. They do sometimes but it is for professionals to determine if they are slabbed or bodybagged...
 
Incredible! Best find I heard of, was about 4 yrs. ago, a couple buy a house and in the attic they find a............ "Rembrandt". Rembrandt is very difficult to prove and most of his paintings he didn't sign. Anyway, they were able to keep it and it went to auction for..... $83 MILLION dollars. Dumb luck seems to work for a lot of people. I'm lucky to just find a decent Merc. Dime once in awhile. lol
 
Mr5HolesinOne said:
With the date range involved my guess is that the coins once belonged to a collector, especially since they were sorted in date order. Obviously there is a dark history to the coins in one way or another. Otherwise there would be reports of these high quality coins being stolen or something. You would think a post-hole bank would be farther away from the road than what the photo I saw makes it appear where they were found. I think I would swing a detector up and down the entire road where the find was made. The likelihood of finding a silver hoard/collection, think half dollars and Morgans, would be fairly high I would think...

Mr. Kagin is a highly respected numismatist (coin dealer) with probably 50+ years experience. He has written a book about pioneer gold that is very interesting. The finders made a good choice when they selected Mr. Kagin's company to handle the coins. He was able to get them graded and now they will realize the highest prices that they should. If the finders had cleaned the coins prior to grading the coins wouldn't have been graded. Grading services do not grade cleaned coins, at least those that are harshly cleaned. They do sometimes but it is for professionals to determine if they are slabbed or bodybagged...
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That is a very good point. Yes it would seem strange that these coins are over a 47 year span, and it perfect shape.
 
Mr5HolesinOne said:
With the date range involved my guess is that the coins once belonged to a collector, especially since they were sorted in date order. Obviously there is a dark history to the coins in one way or another. Otherwise there would be reports of these high quality coins being stolen or something.
Click to expand...

I would guess he just took part of his pay and chucked them in a can instead of a bank. It was very common back then to do this. The money would be safe from fire and thieves also banks were privately owned and often very untrustworthy not to mention you may be two days travel to a bank and back.

Payment in gold was the most common form of currency transaction in many areas California and once you filled one savings can you put it in your tree and start another.

Your boss hands you your (paycheck) gold coins from the bank and often right from the closest mint, you spend some and save some... actually very common and would explain the condition and sequence of the coins.
 
papaharley03 said:
That generation of the Great Depression were/are ardent about saving for a rainy day because they saw what could happen and feared it may happen again in their lifetime. That, plus the fact that many of them didn't trust the banks with their money.
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If only we were still on a gold standard and our coins were still actual silver and gold socking some away for had times would be a good idea. Stashing paper money, not so much...
 
Has anyone asked this question? Will these finders be able to keep it without the feds intruding, and if so, what's the IRS get out of this windfall? Is it maybe sheltered at the 35% rate that the top one percent get, or is it a special rate? martin
 
Martin_V3i said:
Has anyone asked this question? Will these finders be able to keep it without the feds intruding, and if so, what's the IRS get out of this windfall? Is it maybe sheltered at the 35% rate that the top one percent get, or is it a special rate? martin
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treated just like ordinary income, will be taxed at 39% (top marginal rate). technically it is taxable in the year that it was found, I think.
 
Treasure trove law applies here. State and Feds will get 47% of the value estimate of 10 million dollars, payable in full this year. So it really pays to advertise your finds....NOT! They should have melted them down and spent the gold a little at a time.
 
Ol' Dave said:
Treasure trove law applies here. State and Feds will get 47% of the value estimate of 10 million dollars, payable in full this year. So it really pays to advertise your finds....NOT! They should have melted them down and spent the gold a little at a time.
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53% (less expenses) of $10 million is still a pretty good pay day.

What would the melt value have been ?, considerably less than their face
value I would guess ?
Also what would the penalty have been if they hadn't been declared ?

As I asked before, does anyone know the latest on this story ?
I would be very surprised if the final payout is/was anywhere near the
published estimate. Unless there is/was a good day at an auction.
 
The finders should also get a 10% idiot tax for being so transparent
to gov't burglars. 47% is ridiculous and unacceptable.
 
Well Now they are facing arrest charges for not reporting the find to the Police department in their town. Seems to be a law in California that you have to place a ad if over so much money to see if there are any heirs to the money or the owner can claim it . Also saw where they are referring to a theft from some guy who use to work at the mint and stole a bunch of gold coins at about that amount . Jees it goes on and On
 
Who knows. Maybe we will never know the whole story. That seems like an awful lot of money for a miner to earn and then bury. I might be wrong but I didn't think "caches" were as common in the late 1800s as they were decades later. You would think almost $30,000 in coins could be tracked to a certain person in the area. Local tales or rumors? I wouldn't be surprised if someone else (govt or private) tries to lay claims to this fortune.
 
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