GGG Ping?.........................
Saddle Ridge California is about to be overrun by “bird watchers” with metal detectors.
Very poor opsec, if that’s the real name of the place.
Earlier thread if anyone is interested in reading the comments thereon;
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3127146/posts?
Very cool.
Fail.
Kagin said the gold pieces, many of which are in pristine condition, were struck between 1847 and 1894.
However, the writer gets several Win points for using "hoard" instead of "horde."
And now that's over with, cool story. I hope the discoverers enjoy their windfall!
Here comes the IRS. Should have kept their mouths shut. But they got their 5 minutes of fame.
Good thing for them this isn’t England
If history is any indication, this little find is going to destroy their lives.
They have got to be among the most stupid people to ever walk the face of the Earth for telling anyone about this, especially being so ‘public’ about it. I most likely would have quietly put it in a safe deposit box at a solid bank and contact a trusted(HA!) attorney to explore options. I know one thing for sure, at around the top of my ‘to-do’ list for that type of situation would be getting the hell out of California.
Their stupidity alone makes them undeserving of such a find, because it will cause them to inevitably lose it in one way or another. Either by government/bureaucrats wanting their piece of the action, or by outright theft from others. I have a bridge to sell them, and I think they’ll actually buy it!
My Mother is 88 years old, and she said that back in the old days that people usually buried there money by very large old trees. They needed a solid marker so they could come back and find it. In fact about 20 years ago, my parents bought a place and found an old coffee can buried close to a tree, and it had about 10 old silver dollars in it.
Their first mistake was telling ANYONE about the find.
The second is being a resident of California - or maybe that’s ‘first’....hard to find a difference, really.
I guess they never heard of “shovel and shut up”. Now Uncle and every scammer will bee looking for a slice.
These people are, at least based upon the story, blithering idiots.
First of all, you don’t come out in public about it. Privacy is only one reason. Another is that you have to make absolutely f’ing sure that under CA law you have the right to keep the find, and that there are no possible claims against it or your property. As an example, what if this was the product of a bank robbery 120 years ago? I guarantee that some existing bank owns the assets of the bank from which this was stolen, and thus it might have a claim to recover the property...only research could find that out. What’s the freaking rush? Sell a couple and use the proceeds to hire a good lawyer.
Second, even if you do, you do so for a much smaller amount. So how do you know what is a smaller amount? How about actually going to a bookstore and buying a coin valuation and coin grading guide - for cash, far away from your home - and put together your own list. At the very least, you then know if the coin dealer is ripping you off. Alternatively, they could set up several companies and send the coins in (again, over time) to PCGS and have the valuations done that way (plus have authenticity verified and guaranteed, plus have a higher market value due to the coins being “slabbed” by the best in the business).
Third, talk to a tax advisor. I am quite sure that holding the coins for at least 1 year after the find will make the holding eligible for capital gains treatment (which reduces the tax bite). Also, if they change their residence to Texas, Florida or one of several other states with no personal income tax, and THEN sell the coins, they’ll eliminate state-level taxation.
Fourth, why wouldn’t you sell it piecemeal over the course of several decades? F’ing morons, they’re going to lose about 45% of the value to taxes. I’d have gladly advise them how to save money for a paltry 10%.
Yes, these are morons...and they deserve to get a lot less than they could have, all for the sake of publicity.
Great for them. But now, your gold is worth a teensy bit less than it was a few days ago.