# Northern Californian couple finds a huge stash of gold coins on their property **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 25, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-californian-couple-finds-a-huge-stash-of-gold-coins-on-their-property/682241 "2014-02-25T18:25:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-californian-couple-finds-a-huge-stash-of-gold-coins-on-their-property/682241/21 "2014-02-25T21:55:55Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I could be wrong, because I have never dealt with mint coins (if these are in that good condition) but if they are not collectible and only valuable for the gold content, I don’t think this would be a problem. There are plenty of coin dealers around the country who deal in these. The problem is getting the money in some form (such as cash) that won’t be tracked. Maybe one or two at a time, and maybe paying a small discount for cash. These are worth a lot more than their weight in gold. You’d just lose a lot of money if you sold them for scrap. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-californian-couple-finds-a-huge-stash-of-gold-coins-on-their-property/682241/22 "2014-02-25T23:02:08Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > _Quietly_ cash in a pristine 1866 Double Eagle? > > Good luck with that. You could certainly use it as collateral for a loan. Anyway, it’s likely that the previous owners of the property would have to be notified and if they weren’t interested in reclaiming what would they could easily claim would be their property, then you might be able to legally claim them. ---
**Author:** ![Marion\_Wormer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@Marion\_Wormer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Wormer)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-californian-couple-finds-a-huge-stash-of-gold-coins-on-their-property/682241/23 "2014-02-25T23:19:54Z")
From the SFGATE, the story of a couple who dug up $10 million dollars in 19th Century gold coins on their property. [http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Gold-Country-couple-discovers-millions-in-buried-5266314.php#photo-5937962](http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Gold-Country-couple-discovers-millions-in-buried-5266314.php#photo-5937962) Let’s say, they owe their dogs a lot. If they hadn’t taken them out for a walk, they’d have never known. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-californian-couple-finds-a-huge-stash-of-gold-coins-on-their-property/682241/24 "2014-02-25T23:31:26Z")
[Northern Californian couple finds a huge stash of gold coins on their property](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=716759) Same forum, about 6 threads down as of this posting. ---
**Author:** ![ThisUsernameIsForbidden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ThisUsernameIsForbidden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisUsernameIsForbidden)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-californian-couple-finds-a-huge-stash-of-gold-coins-on-their-property/682241/25 "2014-02-26T03:13:39Z")
I wonder if you could use the proceeds for business expenses and then write that off. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-californian-couple-finds-a-huge-stash-of-gold-coins-on-their-property/682241/26 "2014-02-26T03:25:19Z")
This story has been on the local news here in the Sacramento area. One report said it was 50 miles from where gold was discovered (Coloma), but some of the printed articles seem to indicate Tiburon - which is just north of San Francisco (about 150 miles away). They are being quiet about the location, and the names of the couple. As an aside, with the drought in full swing, the American River thru town is running near record lows - so people are out in the river banks searching for gold in areas normally under a few feet of water. I think finding the loot in old cans is a far easier way to do this. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-californian-couple-finds-a-huge-stash-of-gold-coins-on-their-property/682241/27 "2014-02-26T03:51:03Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > Since they are able to sell it, it must be in their undisputed possession. That didn’t take long, I thought it usually took a long time to establish possession. According to the Wiki, they dug them up a year ago, so maybe it takes a year (or maybe it took a year for them to go over every square inch of their property with a metal detector…). My aunt has a house on Sutter Creek; all she ever dug up was rocks. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-californian-couple-finds-a-huge-stash-of-gold-coins-on-their-property/682241/28 "2014-02-26T07:30:29Z")
Remember that story a while ago, where someone discovered some uncirculated mint gold coins in an attic, and send them to some Govt office to be evaluated, and the U. S. Mint confiscated them? I’d have been real careful who I talked to this time. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-californian-couple-finds-a-huge-stash-of-gold-coins-on-their-property/682241/29 "2014-02-26T09:00:02Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Just as an aside, in the UK, the Crown ie the government not the actual Queen, has first dibs on things that are deemed treasure trove (this find wouldn’t qualify, as the coins aren’t old enough). The finder gets paid the full value of the find as a reward if the Crown wants to keep it, and that is not taxable. If the find isn’t of great notability - no museum wants it, I guess - it gets given to the finder to do what they like with. Any subsequent sale by the finder may be subject to capital gains tax. > > Is there any similar holdover in the US from the old “King owns everything” days, or has it moved on? Sounds like you’re better off if the Crown _does_ want to keep it - no tax! ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-californian-couple-finds-a-huge-stash-of-gold-coins-on-their-property/682241/30 "2014-02-26T19:24:14Z")
Now that it is legal for US citizens to own gold, many people seem to have forgot that there was a time when it was illegal to own gold. You had to turn in your gold to the federal government. It was in 1933, the Emergency Banking Act. If you had gold you were required to turn it over to the government, at the price they set. It was not legal for US citizens to own gold again until 1975. I think this was somebody’s personal stash who buried it around the 1930’s instead of giving it back to the government. Random link explaining this. [http://goldcoin.org/numismatics/the-great-confiscation-gold-ownership-was-illegal-in-the-usa-from-1933-to-1975/165/](http://goldcoin.org/numismatics/the-great-confiscation-gold-ownership-was-illegal-in-the-usa-from-1933-to-1975/165/) ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-californian-couple-finds-a-huge-stash-of-gold-coins-on-their-property/682241/31 "2014-02-26T19:42:11Z")
Merging the topics. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-californian-couple-finds-a-huge-stash-of-gold-coins-on-their-property/682241/32 "2014-02-26T21:14:56Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > I think this was somebody’s personal stash who buried it around the 1930’s instead of giving it back to the government. Random link explaining this. The newest of these coins was dated 1894, so I think the stash dates from the nineteenth century. If it had been buried in the 1930s, surely there would have been at least one coin newer than 1894? ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2014, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-californian-couple-finds-a-huge-stash-of-gold-coins-on-their-property/682241/33 "2014-02-26T21:54:07Z")
I completely understand why they’re keeping the location a secret. But from a historical standpoint I’d love to know–who owned the property over the years, who died (if anyone) shortly after 1894, and how many times the property has changed hands since. The coins had a face value of $28,000–certainly a good stash in the late Nineteenth Century, although not extreme wealth. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2014, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-californian-couple-finds-a-huge-stash-of-gold-coins-on-their-property/682241/34 "2014-02-27T01:52:51Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Is there any similar holdover in the US from the old “King owns everything” days, or has it moved on? In the US, there never was a “King owns everything” to holdover from. In the UK, William the conqueror conquered England, which simplified land ownership. In Aus, Captain Cook claimed the east coast for the crown, which simplified land ownership.\* As an example, New Orleans was bought from the French, who got if from the Spanish, who got it from the French, who hadn’t imposed a simple land title system like that the English inherited from the conquest. \*Aus land ownership was eventually complicated by recognition of traditional ownership, but is being re-simplifed by conversion of traditional ownership rights into standard title ownership. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2014, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-californian-couple-finds-a-huge-stash-of-gold-coins-on-their-property/682241/35 "2014-02-27T20:50:03Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Remember that story a while ago, where someone discovered some uncirculated mint gold coins in an attic, and send them to some Govt office to be evaluated, and the U. S. Mint confiscated them?.. Yes - a previous discussion: [Double Eagle owners have coins confiscated. Any chance of getting them back? - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=331981) ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2014, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-californian-couple-finds-a-huge-stash-of-gold-coins-on-their-property/682241/36 "2014-02-27T20:52:51Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Yes - a previous discussion: [Double Eagle owners have coins confiscated. Any chance of getting them back? - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=331981) Yes, thanks for the link. I didn’t remember enough details to even search for the link. If I found a stash of gold coins, I’d worry about this. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2014, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-californian-couple-finds-a-huge-stash-of-gold-coins-on-their-property/682241/37 "2014-02-27T21:27:37Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > I completely understand why they’re keeping the location a secret. But from a historical standpoint I’d love to know–who owned the property over the years, who died (if anyone) shortly after 1894, and how many times the property has changed hands since. I’d especially want to know all that if I were a descendant of that former landowner. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2014, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-californian-couple-finds-a-huge-stash-of-gold-coins-on-their-property/682241/38 "2014-02-27T22:05:48Z")
[This post](http://mashable.com/2014/02/26/saddle-ridge-gold-coins-stolen-1898/) on [Mashable.com](http://Mashable.com) mentions a 1901 theft from the San Francisco Mint of $30,000 in gold coins by a clerk at the mint. So perhaps the coins are from that theft? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2014, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-californian-couple-finds-a-huge-stash-of-gold-coins-on-their-property/682241/39 "2014-02-27T22:25:13Z")
[Here](http://www.usmint.gov/kids/coinnews/mintfacilities/sfo/#thieves) is another tale of the stolen SF Mint coins. 1,500 coins. Just a few years after the latest mint date. They were never recovered … until now? Given the “uncirculated” condition the coins are claimed to be in and the number, this is looking fairly good. This would be unfortunate for the finders. They would still be US government property. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2014, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-californian-couple-finds-a-huge-stash-of-gold-coins-on-their-property/682241/40 "2014-02-27T22:30:45Z")
According to the articles, one of the coin dealers explicitly says the coins _don’t_ appear to be stolen. This is based on their dates, which form somewhat of a sequence over many years, and the fact that they are arranged more-or-less chronologically in the cans where they were found. This suggests the coins were collected over the years, and not taken all at once in some kind of heist. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-californian-couple-finds-a-huge-stash-of-gold-coins-on-their-property/682241.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-californian-couple-finds-a-huge-stash-of-gold-coins-on-their-property/682241.md?page=3)