**I wonder if they were buried in the 1930s when the U.S. government required it citizens to stop hording gold and turn in everything but the family jewels?
The coins may have been minted in the 1800s, but that might have been a nest egg that was hidden to protect it from the gold hungry government. So, if this was illegally held gold, meant to keep it from confiscation when the government called it in during the 30s, then technically it was stolen from the government and must be returned with penalties, fines, fees and possible jail time for the ones who “found” the gold.**
This from a coin forum:
**I wonder if there’s any chance this couple found the $30,000 stolen from the San Francisco Mint by Chief Clerk Walter Dimmick during the turn of the century. Some things to think about are the face value of what was found is just $3,000 shy of the amount stolen, the mint state condition of the coins, the total amount of coins stolen vs the amount found (1,500 & 1,427), the stolen coins were double eagles and never found.**
http://www.usmint.gov/kids/coinnews/mintfacilities/sfo/
This is very interesting at the very least!