Treasure Trove?

dan

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Location
Champaign, Illinois
Treasure Trove!

These words bring a thrill to the heart of every metal detector hobbyist.

What exactly is treasure trove, and who owns it? You'll be surprised. My latest internet radio show looks at some of the laws concerning the finding and legal ownership of treasure trove.

Just click the pink button here:
http://thetreasurecorner.com

NOTE: SOMETIMES THE PINK BUTTON DOESN'T APPEAR. IF THAT HAPPENS, CLICK THE "POD" ICON AND THE SHOW WILL PLAY AS A QUICKTIME AUDIO PROGRAM.

The show will play on your computer speakers. It runs about four minutes.
 
As usual another great post! I think in the case of personaly finding a "treasure trove" I would be excited BUT... I would keep my mouth shut.. Maybe share a few finds in a random order on this site.

On the other hand if the items were identifiable in some way I would make a good effort to return them to the owner or heirs. Without police assistance..:gettinmoney::money::heybud:
 
Great clip Dan! I doubt I'll ever be lucky enough to find a treasure trove but just in case I do some time in the future., I'll know the MA law ahead of time :).
 
Thanks Dan for all of your post, really good stuff.

I actually happened to be wondering what were the ownership rights if someone was to find one of Capt. Kidds buried treasure a few weeks ago.:thankyou:
 
Silence "IS" golden

Unless you've told the owner of the land you will show and share all finds, silence is the best course of action. Or maybe I should say, that's what I'd do. Unless the trove has some kind of iron-clad ID attached to it, I say nothing at all after scooping it up. Wealth is a horrible burden. I figure I'm doing someone else the favor of sparing them the horror.


Jennings
 
Honor?

The whole notion that people will readily share a true treasure with an unwitting "other" is nuts. Few of us are so honorable. I don't mean we would not return a class ring or somebody's wedding ring if asked to look for it. Or even if we found one and had half a chance to find the owner. This kind of return is fun and gives one a good feeling.

I'm talking life-changing wealth. You take 100 metal detector operators and and have them find a box of 1000 gold coins in Farmer Brown's back forty. The farmer is out of town. The finder is all by their lonesome counting gold coins with the cows looking over their shoulder. Cows don't talk and neither would 99 out of 100 of those treasure finders.

This is not evil. It's the ultimate human response. We're all out for ourselves. Nothing to be ashamed of. Go ahead and tell others you would give the farmer his cut. I don't believe you. I sure as hell would not.


Jennings
 
Go ahead and tell others you would give the farmer his cut. I don't believe you. I sure as hell would not.

Only one in a hundred? Believe me or not, I'm the one and I'll bet there are more of me.

This has actually happened to me. When I bought my house, the seller's lawyer made a math mistake that went $2,000 in my favor. My lawyer didn't catch it. I did, and I wrote out the seller a check for $2,000 at closing. I didn't even have to think about it.

The problem with giving Farmer Brown his half is that he may decide he wants more than half, and here come those lawsuits again. So the way to do it would be to figure out a way to get him his money without letting him know where it came from. Maybe leave it somewhere where you know he would find it?
 
Honesty? I don' think so.

Only one in a hundred? Believe me or not, I'm the one and I'll bet there are more of me.

This has actually happened to me. When I bought my house, the seller's lawyer made a math mistake that went $2,000 in my favor. My lawyer didn't catch it. I did, and I wrote out the seller a check for $2,000 at closing. I didn't even have to think about it.

The problem with giving Farmer Brown his half is that he may decide he wants more than half, and here come those lawsuits again. So the way to do it would be to figure out a way to get him his money without letting him know where it came from. Maybe leave it somewhere where you know he would find it?

Forgive me, Dan. On some level you knew a paper error on a legal transaction could someday be found and traced back to you. In your case, honesty was the best policy. Plus, 2 grand is not much money when compared to a "Change of Life" find. You ultimately did what you did because it did made you feel better to be honest. The cynic would say (me) that you did what benefited you the most in the long run. (no repercussions) This is why most of us would return a class ring. You might get 50 bucks for melt value but you get one heck of lot more joy out of returning it and seeing the person's face light up. We value the good feeling over the 50 bucks. You valued the 2000 dollars less than knowing the aggrieved party thought you a fine human being of good standing. Every man wants to be thought honorable. You also did not have to worry about the bad math coming back at you.


All of this good behavior to a point. That point is the amount of cash at stake. For you 2000 dollars was not enough to trigger the "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" button. For others it would have been.

No doubt you are a better man than me. This would not take much. My only contention is most people act solely for their own benefit. Whether that be to elicit praise from the returnee or to profit in a more avarice manner.

I've never taken any great pride in returning things that were not mine. I've always understood the dynamic at work and why we humans act the way we act. One way or another we seek check marks in our own column. Could be money, could be praise.

As to sending money secretly to the farmer so as not to give away your scent? What kind of foolishness is this? If you feel that guilty, just come clean. After all, you've already revealed yourself to us as being of saintly matter. I don't say this to be cruel. I simply don't believe any man who says he'd act differently from what I've outlined above. Remember the old English ditty about virtue: "The more they spoke of their virtue, the quicker we counted our spoons". For me this says it all.


Jennings: digging with both hands and slinking into the shadows.
 
On some level you knew a paper error on a legal transaction could someday be found and traced back to you. In your case, honesty was the best policy.

Actually, the error occurred outside the legal paperwork, and would not have been discovered further down the line, no matter how closely the contracts were examined.

Plus, 2 grand is not much money when compared to a "Change of Life" find....The point is the amount of cash at stake. For you 2000 dollars was not enough to trigger the "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" button.

This reminds me of the story of the man who asked the woman, "Would you sleep with me for a hundred dollars?"

She replied hotly, "Of course not."

He said, "Think about this for a minute. Would you sleep with me for a tax-free billion dollars?"

She slowly replied, "Well, show me the money..."

He said, "Howsabout ten bucks?"

She screamed, "What do you think I am?"

He replied, "We've already established that. We're just haggling price now."

I'm not haggling price. Watch your spoons if you like, but I'll help you watch them, believe it or not.

As to sending money secretly to the farmer so as not to give away your scent? What kind of foolishness is this? If you feel that guilty, just come clean.

Guilty? You misunderstood. Guilt isn't involved. I don't want him to know the source because I don't want him suing me for more than his share, which I deemed to be half. And if I'm the secret finder, I'm the one who does the deeming. (In my world, moral code trumps legal code.)
 
Public figure

Dan, you are something of a public figure. You have to present yourself as the pillar of virtue for the sake of your interests. I suffer no such bridle on my head. I can be completely honest without fear of losing anything in my world. I also suffer no need for others to like or respect me. It doesn't matter online. So I can be honest. You can't. I understand.


Jennings
 
Go Sox

Bet you're a Red Sox fan, too.

You must be psychic. I'm crazy for baseball and my beloved Red Sox. It's the only sport I truly follow like a kid.

I see you are from the land of Lincoln. That would make you a Cub or White Sox loser. Either one. You got no chance.

Only problem I have with my team is the two key steriod junkies are gone. Ramirez in body and Ortiz in practice. Ortiz stinks since he lost his dealer in Manny.

Wait till next year.

Jennings
 
As most of you will know, things are a little different over here in England and Wales.

In short:


If you find something which may be treasure, you have 14 days to report it.
If it is treasure, and a museum wants it, the value of the find is split 50/50 between land owner and finder.
 
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