Law regarding "Show me where you found it!"

[RGINN]

Re: Law regarding "Show me where you found it!"

If I found a fabulous cache of gold coins, buried and forgotten, or unable to be retrieved by the proper owners, I would stop and think, 'If I had hidden this cache myself many years ago, what would I honestly want to happen with it?' Well, I would want to be taught a lesson.

 

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[TiredIron]

Re: Law regarding "Show me where you found it!"

OK Gary.........come clean!!!
What have you found thats causes you this distress and loss of sleep?

TiredIron

 

[savant365]

Re: Law regarding "Show me where you found it!"

Gary, I understand your question about what law would apply but it is really going to depend on a lot of factors.

Did you find it on public or private property?
Does anyone already know that you found it?
Do they know where you found it?

The list of variables can go on and on. I think if someone is trying to force you to disclose the location where you found the hypothetical 100 $5 gold coins there is going to be lawyers involved. And if there are lawyers involved it is going to depend on their ability to persuade a judge to see things their way and interpret whatever law they want to apply in their favor. Legally I think it would turn into one big nightmare.
I side with the folks who say keep your mouth shut about it. If I found a valuable cache on someone else's land and they didn't know that I had found it but told me to go hunt and have fun...it's not going to become public that I found anything. Drive to a different city and sell a few coins here and there, don't try to get rid of it all at once or someone will get suspicious. People are greedy and if they found out you found something of value they will try to get it, it's that simple.
Legally, if you found a cache like the one we are talking about I think you would be safe from litigation as long as you didn't blab all over that you found it but won't say where. I know it would be damn near impossible for me not to tell anyone but then I would think about someone trying to take it away from me and having to spend a lot of time and money in court, I think I could keep it quiet. There are too many laws on the books to pick just one that applies, i think the only ones who would come out ahead would be the lawyers. And as far as lawyers go I don't want to give them anymore then I have to.

HH Charlie

P.S.

Q: What is black and brown and looks good on a lawyer?


A: A Rottweiler

 

[oneeye]

Re: Law regarding "Show me where you found it!"

"I have no knowledge of that."
Dan

 

[Gary in Pennsylvania]

Re: Law regarding "Show me where you found it!"

OK Gary.........come clean!!!
What have you found thats causes you this distress and loss of sleep?

TiredIron

<grin!>


I wish!

I don't even have a detector yet. I am, for the most part, a lawful fella......but then there are some 'gray areas' <wink!>

I do like to know the law though.


-

 

[ivan salis]

Re: Law regarding "Show me where you found it!"

rule #1 unless their standing alomgside you at the time --people only know what you show or tell them.

 

[longsocks]

Re: Law regarding "Show me where you found it!"

I agree with most every one that has said don't talk about it just shut up.. You find gold coins, and want to sell them. Becareful of them wash them with water driy careful and when you sell, your selling part of your coin collection to survive this economic down turn... in other words survive and eat.. no one needs to know any thing more than that, about anything.. once any legal can of worms are opened trust me you wont get the lid on and will lose all you find and lots more of your own to pay legal fees....hooooraah go find the gold.. HH paul

 

[ivan salis]

Re: Law regarding "Show me where you found it!"

plus scatter the stuff around -- please don't be dumb enough to try to dump 50 gold coins at once at one spot since this will draw legal attention right away (count on it) hello !!!---- sell them one at a time at differant places --geez hate to part with the gold coin my grampa gave me for graduation but times are tough--if asked --where is it from.-- if not asked say nothing. -- spread out the sales --over a bit of time --slowly but surely sell em off . without drawing attention .--

 

[metalmolly]

Re: Law regarding "Show me where you found it!"

plus scatter the stuff around -- please don't be dumb enough to try to dump 50 gold coins at once at one spot since this will draw legal attention right away (count on it) hello !!!---- sell them one at a time at differant places --geez hate to part with the gold coin my grampa gave me for graduation but times are tough--if asked --where is it from.-- if not asked say nothing. -- spread out the sales --over a bit of time --slowly but surely sell em off . without drawing attention .--

Cash or cache. Different words that sound the same with the same method of dispersal. If you don't want people to know about it, launder it!

 

[Dan Hughes]

Re: Law regarding "Show me where you found it!"

Karl von Mueller used to say that if word gets out that you found a valuable cache, you will find yourself mired in a world of lawsuits. Not just from the rightful heirs, but everybody and his brother will find a way to claim that the loot is theirs, and your days of carefree treasure hunting are over. Because of this, the oldtimers always kept their mouths shut.

Especially in cases where the original owner cannot be discerned (caches in parks, schoolyards, and other public places), it's best not to tell anyone.

Here's the key: You may be honest, but the people who envy your find may not be.

Where you can identify the original owner (for example, there is paperwork included in the cache), then you have a harder decision to make. Personally, I would return the cache to the person who buried it (or his widow), but the farther down the line of heirs the title went, the less likely I would be to try to find them.

 

[Monty]

Re: Law regarding "Show me where you found it!"

Treasure is treasure and the less anyone knows about it the better. The worse thing you could ever do is talk to an attorney or law enforcement first thing. Now if you are aware or become aware of a large theft like say from a museum or coin collection then I think you might be looking at a knowingly concealing stolen property (a felony in most states) situation that would change the whole scenario. It certainly isn't worth going to prison for, and you will be found out, especially if you try to sell it. So, you have to use your own best judgement. The first thing I would do is shut up and do some discreet checking around but not so that I would draw attention to myself.If you don't know how to do that, you'd better learn. Monty

 

[diggingdeep]

you sell them to the highest bidder keep mouth shut ,and sell just enough to get the money you want ..just say i know of a 5 gal bucket pluss cache found ,just one coin is 500,000 to 1 million,he got half a bucket still.that why i hunt i know it out there,and i know i can find it faster than just swinging a detector although that is half of the work,,

 

[relicmeister]

Two words......Finders Keepers!

 

[Tnmountains]

4 year old topic fellas

 

[surf]

Perhaps I'm missing something in this whole mishegoss. Gary, the OP, who doesn't have a detector, and claims not to have found anything significant, was just asking one of those "will the Detector Police somehow track me down, if I ever find anything good" questions. Gary hasn't been here since 2010.

A new member, reading backwards in the archive, revived this for reasons unknown, and we're back talking to Gary...

Is there not a graveyard for forgotten posts, or ones that should be.

 

[Dixiegal]

Ask yourself "what would Jesse James do?"

 

[kwkstar]

Sergeant Schultz said "I hear nothing, I see nothing, I know nothing!"

 

[CleenSweep]

What about the law. If I found something like that it would be mine. I would tell no one aout it. If I needed money I would sell a couple off now and then. If someone would ask where you got them say your grandparents or parents left them to you....Matt

Yeah.....What Matt said....

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Remember the only true legal answer you will get will be from a lawyer in your state. Saying someone on TN told me I could keep it want mean squat in a court....

 

[Tom_in_CA]

treasure-hunter, be aware that a lawyer's job is to "stir up mud" and to "instill fear" of all the "what could happen" scenarios. Bless their hearts, but it's always in their best interest, to conjur up all sort of potential legal ramifications. Lest ...... you wouldn't need their services, to begin with.

Let me give you an example, my law teacher in college gave: There's a recurring theme where a couple goes in to a divorce lawyer, intending to make a clean and amicable split. But 2 months later, the couple each has their OWN lawyer, and are going after blood and fighting each other. Why is that? Because the lawyer will throw out subtle clues and "better be safe" and all sorts of warnings to each one, suggesting that the other is not being fair. Or getting something un-equal, and so forth. So before long, the couple each goes and gets their own lawyers, and are fighting. And then one day, they sit across from each other in court, look at each other, and think "how did we get to where we are, when we had no intention of fighting, and wanted things amicable?". As you can see, it was the lawyers who subconsciously got them to fight each other, see the "worst in the world" and so forth. Not saying it's deliberate on lawyer's parts, just saying to take what some lawyers say with a grain of salt.

If you asked enough lawyers if you can walk down Main St. with a suit made of tree bark with peanut butter spread on it, I'm sure you'd find some that would tell you that you need a parade permit, for instance. And even cite city codes that could be morphed to say such a thing. And tell you of potential fines, jail, etc... for those who didn't get such a permit. But truth be told, you'll probably be ignored if you walked down main street like that.