Another "hypothetical" find... Gold coins

[Limitool]

keep it and keep my mouth shut, if your close to retirement all the better, nothing like a place in the sun

Been retired since 06' and I believe the majority of you would do as I would and just go home with the coins. But it would be so hard (as someone mentioned above) to not post pics and tell the world. And then trouble begins. I guess my feelings are that if the coins haven't been moved for 100+ years then it's open season. But I bet every time you call up a dealer or a collector you always get asked.... "How did you come across them"? And to tell them that you just found them sounds stupid. I guess you'd get your "story" straight after selling them one at a time and telling your "story" 100+ times. Unclebuck is right.... enuff said!!!!!!!!!

 

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[uglymailman]

There was a pretty good story on here about 4 yrs. ago from a guy (don't remember his handle) who had found a bootleggers horde. Found on neighbors (?) property. He took it home, took pics. of his bathtub nearly full of gold coins and posted on his computer. After thinking about it he deleted everything, destroyed his computer, sold most of them all in one bunch to a coin dealer for pennies on the dollar, retired and moved to another state.
After seeing the 10 million found in California, I'm inclined to be like the couple of posts that say "I'd find them, one at a time". Another thought is to take a vacation and stop in every town I could with pop. of say 10k. Most of them will have a "we buy gold for cash" shop. I'd peddle them say 2 or 4 at a time and if asked would say my Grandad left them to me and settle for 80% of value. The shop owner would be happy and so would I. Be a nice way to see a lot of the country.
After selling what you want to, either after a road trip or over a number of years, if your conscience got to you from Karma or Religious reasons, bundle up some cash and send it to the land owner (you don't have to say where it came from) or give it to some charity (remember charity begins at home).
Good luck.

 

[Limitool]

Had a guy today pull up into my driveway yesterday. Asked if I owned much property around here. Told'em about 12.5 acres. I asked him if I could help him with something? He states he's somewhat of an "historian" and wanted to know if I'd explored much between here and the Duck River. I responded every square inch. He asked if I ever came across any outcroppings or anyplace someone could stay in and stay dry. I said... "Like a cave" and he responses "EXACTLY, but the nearest one is about 2.5 miles away and I've looked at all of them"... "in this day and age all caves are documented" he stated. I asked what he was looking for. He stated nothing in particular just trying to tie up some "loose ends". He thanked me and left. Not all caves are documented or thoroughly explored yet in this day and age.

 

[BC1969]

I know...

 

[Limitool]

Makes ya wonder why this guy picked my driveway to pull up into and inquire. And yes I have an undocumented cave, unmapped and I believe another entrance is possibly around to this one. But I totally believe there's another cave close by that was landslide shut long ago. I know exactly where it is... but damn it's gonna be a job to hand dig out. No machinery possible... ALL HAND WORK.

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Looks like you have a project!
When you found the mounds with markings didn't you ask some people if the markings had historical importance? If so maybe they finally got around to getting back to you, and now want to map the unknown.

Either that or the guy has info on something from a story that went on in your area, probably involving treasure.
But then I'm sure you probably are familiar with your local legends!

 

[Limitool]

Looks like you have a project!
When you found the mounds with markings didn't you ask some people if the markings had historical importance? If so maybe they finally got around to getting back to you, and now want to map the unknown.

Either that or the guy has info on something from a story that went on in your area, probably involving treasure.
But then I'm sure you probably are familiar with your local legends!

The guy NEVER mentioned anything about what I had already found and explored. And there's no doubt he was looking for "something" but he would not share with me. And yes I'm aware of some local legends. This cave is so close to the Duck River and Natchez Trace that it falls into an endless possibility of possible hiding places or hideouts. And to find out it's an undocumented cave was really surprising. And, YES I tried to find out something about the etching on the mound located just after light but thus far have no leads. Stay tuned....

 

[Keppy]

Been retired since 06' and I believe the majority of you would do as I would and just go home with the coins. But it would be so hard (as someone mentioned above) to not post pics and tell the world. And then trouble begins. I guess my feelings are that if the coins haven't been moved for 100+ years then it's open season. But I bet every time you call up a dealer or a collector you always get asked.... "How did you come across them"? And to tell them that you just found them sounds stupid. I guess you'd get your "story" straight after selling them one at a time and telling your "story" 100+ times. Unclebuck is right.... enuff said!!!!!!!!!

For me i would keep the coins … And it is very easy for me not to tell what i have …. I never tell of my finds or post pictures .. I do not believe in telling the world or my best friend of my finds...

 

[Boatlode]

If the property owner had no idea the gold existed then its finders keepers. Its not like you found his lost wallet.

 

[Dave Rishar]

Some of us would do the lawful thing and some of us would not, but all of us would do what's right for our particular situations. Things rapidly become complicated from this point on.

Why do we metal detect, or dowse, or pan, or dumpster dive, or do whatever it is that we do? The answer is simple: we are looking for valuable things. They may not be valuable in a monetary sense, but they're valuable nonetheless or we wouldn't be looking for them. This implies an element of greed. I and others dig up some trash during our hunts, and while we're quick to point out that we're performing a service in doing so, I don't expect that there are too many people here or elsewhere that intentionally dig up trash simply to improve someone else's real estate. We do it accidently or we do it intentionally to unmask targets, but we don't do it just because we're good people. We do it with the expectation of an eventual payment. I can with total honest say that I'm not in this for the money, but if all there was to dig was bottle caps, crumpled up foil, and pull tabs, I would take up another hobby. You would too. Recovering valuables is part of the attraction; remove that part and we'd all find other things to do with our time.

Once we've established why we do these things, we can address what we'd do when we found the proverbial motherlode. What we (you, I, and everyone else) would do is assess our situation and do what's right, and this can vary quite a bit. It also requires a very specific scenario. Who is the landowner? What exactly was found? What is the situation of the finder? It will all matter.

I would probably tell the landowner. I say "probably" because while I don't need any additional income, I certainly wouldn't mind it, and while I could give up a fairly large amount of free money for nothing other than bragging rights and maintaining my own personal integrity, everyone has a price. If I found something that could be easily moved and would provide for my needs for the rest of my natural life, and it was discovered on the property of a person that was also already set up for life...well, that's a very tough question for me. But anything short of that, I would probably tell them. I'd probably get screwed in the process, but my needs would continue to be met, I'd have a great story to tell, and I'd gain much enjoyment from posting pictures about the horde that I found (but had no claim on, nor obligations to) all over the internet and watching the greedy landowner squirm while the vultures went after them. (It shouldn't need to be said that if they'd decided on a fair division of the fruits of my labor between us, I'd be more than happy to shut up about what was found.)

That's what's right for me. Only you know what's right for you.

 

[trikikiwi]

I am not trying to pretend to be someone I am not, a pure angel type, but me and my conscience wouldn't be able to live together, if I had the privilege of hunting someone's land/property and I didn't disclose ANY finds to the owner.
I know everyone has different personal circumstances, yet if you weren't given the opportunity to find whatever the treasure, then you would be no richer anyway.
I'm a strong believer in 'what goes round, comes round' otherwise known as Karma.

(Anyone can test the theory of Karma by just doing a good deed for someone )

Mike

 

[Gold Maven]

Well here's a true story along these lines.

A limestone/coal mining company was grubbing some land before mining a few miles from my house, my uncle managed the company for the very wealthy owner.

Two workers were clearing an old house, barn and some trees, one guy with a chain saw, and an old Amish guy running a D-8 dozer.

As the Dozer man shoved the barn over, he thought he saw some gold coins, he got down to look, and sure enough there was a nice pile of mid to late 1800's coins on the ground.

They were hidden above a wooden ceiling in the bottom floor of the barn. The saw man was cutting, so the amish man grabs his lunch box, stuffs it full of coins, goes back to work, and never mentions it to his co-worker.

After a week or so, his conscience got the best of him, and he went to the company owner to ask what would happen if an employee would find treasure on company property. The Boss assured him that the finder would get a nice big chunk of the treasure, so the Amish man confessed and brought the coins in.

This was right before the gold price spike in the early 80's, but the value was still around 300k. The Owner sold the coins, and the Amish guy never got a penny.

Research showed that a fairly wealthy family had just moved into the area in the 1880's, built a nice house and barn, and then the husband died unexpectedly, and his wife didn't know where he had hid their money. That old barn was right along a dirt road, hiding it's secret for 100+ years.

 

[empty_pockets]

.............Choice Is Yours.........

 

[coinbug]

You are trespassing on private land, and then find yourself pondering how much of what you find you ought to steal...

There's a worse hypothetical for the landowner, I suppose. You might have fallen and injured yourself, and then wondered whether and how much you ought to sue them for.

 

[Limitool]

No.... I didn't say I was or would be looking for any gold coins nor anything of value. I just asked if I could explore, walk, drive ATV, hunt and play with Grandkids. Yes was the answer. I just wondered if someone found something of great value under these conditions what would someone do?? Wasn't looking to steal anything of the landowner's. I would never steal anything from any anybody after their hard work.

 

[Bottlecapbill]

It's a tough situation. I can say pretty honestly my actions would depend on the character of the people who let me use their properly. See, the average non treasure hunting person(people) don't know what we know. They'll talk for the prestige. That talk can and most likely will ruin things for everyone. When you get into large amounts of money, even people you can trust become enemies quickly. Gold fever is a thing!

So.........I think first off since they granted me permission to hang out on their property, I would hold the loot in limbo. Then I would ask them for permission to metal detect/treasure hunt on their property. Maybe make up a story about how something looks interesting....etc. If they said no.......and had an err of greed in their eyes, I would leave it at that and never talk to them again. If they granted me permission with a smile, I would draw up an agreement about what to do with any finds and have them sign it. Heck you may even pay a lawyer to draw up something pretty concrete at this point, since you already know the outcome.

Next wait a while and find say........one gold coin. Bring it to their attention and test their reactions again. If they get greedy and want to fight over it, hand it over to them and never talk to them again. If they want to tell the world about it....even after I suggest they keep it secret..........I'd never talk to them again. If they're happy and live up to their agreement, no questions asked, putting their trust in you then I would slowly arrange to find more treasure a bit at a time. If at any time they tried to cut me off......or go to the media I'd suddenly stop finding anything.

Hmmmmmm after writing this all out I think I changed my mind. There's no way in hell this will end well lol. Shut up........cash in. It sounds cruel but, the reality is no matter how generous you are, there is a 99% chance it will go bad for you. If you really feel bad maybe you could arrange an anonymous donation through a lawyer one day years later. Or even cash in the mail box.

 

[Limitool]

It truly is a tough call.... landowner lives 70 miles away, there's NOTHING around except woods, hills and hollows. 1000's of acres of unbroken timber. If somebody actually did find something it surely isn't his (landowners) except he did buy the land and what's on or in it... but meaning he didn't "earn" it or put it there. If he knew it was there he'd have went and gotten it. He doesn't even know there's a cave and he said he's searched all over his property.

 

[BC1969]

Nothing around at all ? So just how did you stumbled upon the bag in the middle of 1000's of acres ?
There's more to the story..gimme details, mystery is making me crazy lol.

Mike

Edit: oh snap..I'm already crazy..its making me normal

 

[Limitool]

Nothing around at all ? So just how did you stumbled upon the bag in the middle of 1000's of acres ?
There's more to the story..gimme details, mystery is making me crazy lol.

Mike

Edit: oh snap..I'm already crazy..its making me normal

"So just how did you stumbled upon the bagS in the middle of 1000's of acres?" The story says there's 2 of them and not bags but old leather like saddle bags. And the story says I didn't stumble upon them.... I crawled my ass off into a dark small spot looking. I'm the one who would have to be CRAZY!!!!!

 

[releventchair]

Were I to find such it would get relocated if not the current property owners personal cache.Probably split into fractions too with in reason.Once secured any potential future negotiation for whatever reason like pictures of finder on a trail camera or witness(s) leaves finder with the upper hand. If I thought the current landowner was looking for it and bought the land to search he might find a little of it,enough only to think its value was overestimated, though it would likely inspire more searching. Cover any tracks and visit once only,(to late).