<p>I wish I had the Bobcat rentals for Nevada.
;)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Gold-Country-couple-discovers-millions-in-buried-5266314.php”>http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Gold-Country-couple-discovers-millions-in-buried-5266314.php</a></p>
<p>This is the wildest thing I’ve read all week.</p>
<p>Wow! How amazing for them! :)</p>
<p>I’ve mostly lived in the Northeast and always hoped I’d be gardening one day and find some historical treasure. Best I ever got was a favorite earring that had gone missing. That was a good find, though. If I found that much gold, don’t think I’d put it under the woodpile. That would make me plenty sleepless. </p>
<p>Hmm, I used to live in Gold Country…should I have been digging more?</p>
<p>Our house was built in 1901 and we’ve found some maps ( not treasure) in the basement ( also some Playboy magazines from the previous owner).</p>
<p>Ive also dug quite a bit in the yard, as I took out all our grass & made trails through garden beds, but all Ive found were some old coins ( no gold) and some marbles.
Still cool IMO.
:)</p>
<p>That is a really nice story. The couple sounds as though they will be generous with their fortune. I think the person who buried them was a collector; the coins were never circulated. I hope the mystery is explained.</p>
<p>The coolest thing I ever found was a huge 6" 18th century skeleton key while digging my yard for a brick patio. My first house was built in 1903 in a neighborhood that was developed in the 1840’s. Before then it was an estate owned by William Byrd. I also found marbles and a creepy 1930’s rubber doll head. </p>
<p>I thought it was nice too.
I like that they were out together walking their dog.
Too many people would just let their dog run and risk trouble.</p>
<p>I now envision activity on the surrounding property to look like this.
<a href=“Holes Trailer | Disney Video”>http://video.disney.com/watch/holes-trailer-4beb39679e4d7e2c41e35ee9</a></p>
<p>I heard this story last night on the news, but it didn’t have the detail that is in the paper. It has my lie detector radar going off…somewhat. There is a the chance here for something “fishy” going on that is worth potential buyers of these coins looking into. I’d be interested to know the difference between the actual gold value and the “collector” value of these things. Maybe its totally on the up and up. We’ll see.</p>
<p>If it is legitimate, it shows you that if you’re burying money, make it the gold kind, not the paper kind. </p>
<p>It does seem odd that it hadnt been discovered till now. But some areas are less traveled than others.
The coins have been authenticated however( they were found last February) & the story makes sense even if it is wild.
They are selling the coins on Amazon.</p>
<p><a href=“Saddle Ridge Hoard - Wikipedia”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddle_Ridge_Hoard</a></p>
<p>Yes, but they’ve been “authenticated” by people who are in the business of selling coins. :)</p>
<p>Is there a way to tell if someone has produced a really good replica of an historic coin? Carbon dating? Anytime there is anonymity and there is a tremendous “collector value” you have to beware. However, I do think some of the detail in the story about the people who found the coins would be hard to fabricate. </p>
<p>I found it a bit odd that there was a picture of the container protruding from the ground, presumably before it had been dug up. Maybe its just my nasty old suspiciousness. Which is always very high when the subject is “collectibles”. Do serious coin collectors typically sell things on Amazon? One of my touchstones about this stuff is the old Bruce McNall case. He was not a trustworthy person. But I guess if you are paying many thousands for an old coin, perhaps you are able to take care of yourself. </p>
<p>PCGS the independent company which confirmed the find, has had complaints against them.</p>
<p>They must include
</p>
<p>That statement right there would make me suspicious.</p>
<p>This kind of reminds me of my grandmother. I could see her burying her money in her back yard and a stranger finding it years later.</p>
<p>You can’t carbon date a coin; you need carbon to do that. Coins are made of metals. If the coin were wrapped in cloth, you could carbon date the cloth. </p>
<p>It makes no sense to break up a collection and sell it piecemeal on Amazon. If they are genuine, I’d strongly suspect you could get significantly more by selling it as one or more collections. I wouldn’t purchase without further authentication–if I were a collector (fortunately we aren’t, as HI is awful to metal–high humidity, damp, salty, acid emissions from volcano). </p>
<p>Will be interesting to see if any further authentication is done and what happens going forward. </p>
<p>It sounds like all you can do is trust the company that authenticated it.
I am not sure if they are genuine or not, but I am wary of how they discovered them.
But if you stole coins & wanted to sell them, that would be one way to do it.</p>
<p>Thanks. I just read up on coin authentication. Apparently its done mostly by dealers. Also found a story about a bunch of gold coins that were given to the US Mint to be authenticated and they decided that the people who owned them had no right to them. It is apparently still under litigation.</p>
<p>If things too good to be true, I say it’s VERY good to be suspicious and wary. If I were going to lay out serious cash, I’d insist on an appraiser I chose first. Yes, this I’d one way to try to unload stolen OR forged goods. I’d think if there was any significant theft of gold coins, some actions may have been set in motion by the article and interview. If the coins are forgeries, independent appraisals would be key. </p>
<p>Will follow what happens next with interest. </p>
<p>Don’t you wonder if the previous owners of the property can come forward to make a claim? Who just stumbles across this? We live on a piece of property where the British camped on before the War of 1812 - it’s a neighborhood now but was at one time a farm. People dig up odds and ends occasionally. I also had to get the approval to put in 2 additional poles for our boat slip from the historical society. </p>
<p>I am sure insurers of any gold stolen, prior owners of the property and anyone who possibly thinks they nay have ANY claims are lchecking with their attorneys and other resources to see how they can get any portion of this treasure. Supposedly the finders have tried to trace whom the treasure did or does belong to but ended up with dead ends, from what I read so far. </p>
<p>Stolen from the mint in 1900?</p>
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