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Family win back their buried gold coins, 70 years on

Holy COW!!!

The loss may have been tragic and shameful, but the return may not have come at a better time, economically speaking.

I didn't count carefully, but it looks like there's about 60 or 70 pieces there - INCLUDING what looks like 2 st gaudens sitting on top of the pile, worth about 2 grand EACH in ms65 (and with gold pushing $1500 ozt, that value may already be dated).

The others are worth at least melt value which are a tad short of one ozt, and even minus a dealers cut would be worth over a grand apiece.

There's probably not enough money in the world to erase the bad taste left by the indignities and atrocities of wwii, but at least fate has sweetened the pot a little bit for at least one family.

ADD:

Make that at least EIGHT st gaudens. I just went back and pulled the image onto my desktop and looked closely - I see at least 6 st gauden reverses in the pile as well, and there's probably a couple or few more.
 
Sheeezzz...

My previous post shows how strangely the mind of a "treasure hunter" sometimes works - I saw the glittering picture of all those gold coins and started analyzing what I saw in the picture without reading the article.

Then today, I was thinking about this hoard and wondered who the recipients were, how the cache was lost and how it was found, and (get this): I decided to go back and see if there was an article with the picture that explained any of these things.

Yes folks, I'm serious. I'm not really stupid, but I sometimes play a stupid person in real life(note 1). I was so overwhelmed by all the pretty coins that I didn't even SEE an article, much less read it!!

Still, it gives me an ersatz benchmark for my "on the fly" estimation skills. The article clearly stated right up front that there are 80 coins, not "60 or 70"; which isn't a terrible quick estimate. And where I estimated an average value of roughly 1000 DOLLARS per coin, the "official" estimate is 1000 POUNDS per coin, making my estimate about 60% too low (£1000 ~ $1600).

So my estimating skills lean towards the light side it would seem (perhaps a consequence of experience in life. I remember my MD newbie days where every coin I dug that I'd never seen or heard of must have been worth a billion bucks! :lol:)

And of course, my sentiments to the awarding of the cache to its rightful heirs remain unchanged.

And yet, this opens the door to yet ANOTHER "problem" that drags on every detectorists heels like some ball and chain: Just what are the differences between "lost property", "misplaced property", "abandoned property" and "treasure trove"?

Prima facie, these coins seem like they would be "lost property", and generally the current property owner would automatically assume legal possession (in the U.S. anyway). But this is a "special case": The money was buried with the INTENT to retrieve, and it only became lost as a result of extraordinary events. This might turn into a case of "misplaced property", or to put it under a different light "property misplaced by proxy" which would make the finders liable to return the cache to its rightful owners - IF they were known, which turns out to be the case here. I do feel a sorrowful empathy for the (undoubtedly excited) finder in this case, but I think the court ruled justly.

As technology (and dumb luck) advances, the courts are increasingly forced to revisit these laws, sometimes with NOT so "righteous" decisions (most notably in cases where the state takes interest in things the state should probably have no interest in except by territorial claim, or some other ridiculous excuse, like say: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8083298.stm )


It's a fascinating, even if frustrating or infuriating, aspect of common law that will probably never cause any of us to get a subpoena, fortunately.

Umm...did I say "fortunately"? I'd give my right arm to find something big enough I had to fight for!! :lol:

Be that as it may, could these laws obligate us lake and field hunters in any way? What are the legal aspects of cashing in that gold highschool ring with initials on it? I would think that MOST highschool rings are probably researchable and returnable - but I don't even try to do that. I rationalize my gold ring finds as just as "lost" and "abandoned" as any 1964 washington quarter and I consider it MINE. It works well in practice, but may not actually hold up in a court of law if fate ever dictated I had to argue my case before a judge. On the flip side, if fate ever brought me face to face with the person who lost it, I'd just hand it over and trade stories over a beer! :lol:

As you can see, I do love stories like the one posted here by Alan. First they get our fantasy juices working and they make our little weewees twitch like we'd just seen a beautiful babe in a miniskirt, but after the initial thrill wears off, it raises deeper issues that are fun and interesting to think about - more like meeting a beautiful babe with a brain!

But enough of this...it's raining here now, and I'm going to go sit back and wait for it to stop and see if I should make the trip out to an old field I've been pondering about. :yes:

Mike

Note 1: old timers may recognize this snide remark as a paraphrase of a famous line used by robert young in an ancient tv commercial alluding to his role as dr welby. ;)
 
...cases where the state takes interest in things the state should probably have no interest in except by territorial claim, or some other ridiculous excuse, like say: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8083298.stm )

After referencing the above link which is 2 years old, I decided to go look to see if any further developments have occurred in the case. Here's the latest:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/the-battle-for-the-mercedes-millions-2207470.html
 
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