What if we buy from a bank Silver coins at face and were stolen?

Darth Walker

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Jan 10, 2009
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Following up with the article of the son who robbed his dad. Lets say we go to a bank and score big silver. Later happens that the coins turned to the bank and the same coins we got were stolen. Will we be in trouble legally. I mean. We got them from a Bank (a Federal institution) in a legal way and we did not know there were stolen.

DW
 

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Darth Walker said:
Following up with the article of the son who robbed his dad. Lets say we go to a bank and score big silver. Later happens that the coins turned to the bank and the same coins we got were stolen. Will we be in trouble legally. I mean. We got them from a Bank (a Federal institution) in a legal way and we did not know there were stolen.

DW

No, you will not be in trouble legally since you bought them from the bank. The investigation would end at, "do you still have these coins." Unless they take down your info.

My 2 wheat cents.
 

Just would not feel right if I knew it was stolen. The guy seemed in good spirits when I saw a clip of him. But must be killing him inside to know it was his son and friends that stole from him. For me I know it wold suck to give it back to the right owner, but would also hope people would do the same for me if that happened to me.

Robert
 

sultan of silver said:
Just would not feel right if I knew it was stolen. The guy seemed in good spirits when I saw a clip of him. But must be killing him inside to know it was his son and friends that stole from him. For me I know it wold suck to give it back to the right owner, but would also hope people would do the same for me if that happened to me.

Robert

Right, but if you scored 2 rolls of 90% how would you know its hot? Should we all check the news each week?
 

Its like finding a stray $100 bill on the sidewalk.
There are so many possible sources, so many liars, etc.

Unless the victim could identify SPECIFIC COINS WITH SPECIFIC CHARACTERISTICS I think it is impossible to pin down the source, even with the coincidence.

And believe me, some of us CRH'ers have seen a LOT of coincidences.

Keep on Rollin' !
 

i will give you my opinion since you asked. just keep in mind that my opinion is based on alabama law. state laws can vary greatly.
1) if you bought the coins from the bank you could not be charged with receiving stolen property or possession of stolen property.
2) in alabama the victim of a theft must be able to prove that the property that you are in possession of was stolen from them before the police will release the property back to the victim. most of the time this is done by serial numbers or photographs of the property. when it comes to coins i think that would be kind of hard since they do not contain serial numbers and collectors don't engrave their initials on them.
3) if a teller tells the police that they sold the coins to you and they can provide the police with your name then it would most likely get you a knock and talk. an investigator would probably come to your home and ask you some questions. if you tell the officer yes i bought the coins and i still have them, then the officer will ask you to surrender them. if you tell the officer that you sold them gave them away or whatever he might ask you some questions and try to find the next person but really that is about all he can do. at this point is where you can run into trouble if you refuse to surrender or say you don't have them when you do. if you try and sell the coins after you have been informed that they are stolen then that makes you a fence and you could be charged depending on how aggressive the district attorney is in your area.

one final point to ponder---we probably all have found coins in boxes from banks that have been stolen from somebody some where at some point in time.
 

silvercop said:
i will give you my opinion since you asked. just keep in mind that my opinion is based on alabama law. state laws can vary greatly.
1) if you bought the coins from the bank you could not be charged with receiving stolen property or possession of stolen property.
2) in alabama the victim of a theft must be able to prove that the property that you are in possession of was stolen from them before the police will release the property back to the victim. most of the time this is done by serial numbers or photographs of the property. when it comes to coins i think that would be kind of hard since they do not contain serial numbers and collectors don't engrave their initials on them.
3) if a teller tells the police that they sold the coins to you and they can provide the police with your name then it would most likely get you a knock and talk. an investigator would probably come to your home and ask you some questions. if you tell the officer yes i bought the coins and i still have them, then the officer will ask you to surrender them. if you tell the officer that you sold them gave them away or whatever he might ask you some questions and try to find the next person but really that is about all he can do. at this point is where you can run into trouble if you refuse to surrender or say you don't have them when you do. if you try and sell the coins after you have been informed that they are stolen then that makes you a fence and you could be charged depending on how aggressive the district attorney is in your area.

one final point to ponder---we probably all have found coins in boxes from banks that have been stolen from somebody some where at some point in time.

DAs have FAR more important things to do than chase coins. I really doubt anything would come of it. Like the bike that was stolen from me in college. Nothing will be done.
 

namster said:
silvercop said:
i will give you my opinion since you asked. just keep in mind that my opinion is based on alabama law. state laws can vary greatly.
1) if you bought the coins from the bank you could not be charged with receiving stolen property or possession of stolen property.
2) in alabama the victim of a theft must be able to prove that the property that you are in possession of was stolen from them before the police will release the property back to the victim. most of the time this is done by serial numbers or photographs of the property. when it comes to coins i think that would be kind of hard since they do not contain serial numbers and collectors don't engrave their initials on them.
3) if a teller tells the police that they sold the coins to you and they can provide the police with your name then it would most likely get you a knock and talk. an investigator would probably come to your home and ask you some questions. if you tell the officer yes i bought the coins and i still have them, then the officer will ask you to surrender them. if you tell the officer that you sold them gave them away or whatever he might ask you some questions and try to find the next person but really that is about all he can do. at this point is where you can run into trouble if you refuse to surrender or say you don't have them when you do. if you try and sell the coins after you have been informed that they are stolen then that makes you a fence and you could be charged depending on how aggressive the district attorney is in your area.

one final point to ponder---we probably all have found coins in boxes from banks that have been stolen from somebody some where at some point in time.

DAs have FAR more important things to do than chase coins. I really doubt anything would come of it. Like the bike that was stolen from me in college. Nothing will be done.
If cops did track down stolen property then how would pawnshops stay in business?
 

The only way is if there is serial numbers on them that they can track. Say you have a PCGS slab and have the slab number. They can enter the number into a stolen property system. Anyone caught with it could be liable for possessing stolen property. They always recommend documenting or etching numbers onto valuable items you have (well don't do it to coins). I recall helping arrest some guys long ago that were part of a crew of car thieves. It was obvious that that's all they did for a living. Their whole room was just full of stereos, tools, and trickets you'd find in people's cars. The only item that the guy got arrested for a felony was one single stereo that the serial number was recorded in the system. All those other stereos and car rims painted a picture but could not be used as evidence they committed a crime. I recall the guy even had a single Morgan dollar sitting on his shelf. Probably a stolen coin from one of the cars. Funny how I paid attention to coins back then too.
 

Pawn shop laws in Maryland are tough! The shops are closing down aat a rate o about one per month. If the new laws don't keep them from getting items the cops shut them down. Theses so great auctions to go to.

Sorry to hijack your thread DD
 

OK, how do you know if those 3 solid rolls of 1963 ben franklin halves, BU, along with those 3 morgan dollars, one being a CC(Carson City) were stolen you boght from the bank?

Chances are, either it was stolen and dumped at a bank, or the person was clueless about silver.

People are despirate for their drugs, booze, and cigarettes.

my 2 cents.
 

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