I have a lead on several gold coins but...

[applecrack]

I have a lead on several gold coins and one large chunk of gold. This is the story. Several years ago I was looking for some place to take my three small children just to get out of the house while mom was working. I found this little tiny auction in a very small town about an hour away. So I thought the kids would enjoy the ride and something new. So I loaded the kids up and we went to the auction. From the moment we walked in we were a spectacle. It's not often a stranger comes into your community by himself let alone with three small kids. We were greeted with all the hospitality of a true American small town. So it became our regular Thursday night trip. The kids loved eating popcorn and i always got some type of toy for the kids. Well we would sit in the same spot every week. That spot just happen to be next to this elderly male. My kids being kids would often talk to the old man and he must have been a father and grand father because he had a way with the kids that only a grand father could. During the auction I would often buy old coins or foreign coins and give them to the kids. One auction the old man brought coins for each of the kids. After giving my kids the coins he pulled me aside as if to prevent others from seeing what we were doing. He looked over his shoulder a couple time and then pulled out something wrapped in a tissue. When he opened it there was a large beautiful gold coin. He said hold that. I did. He quickly took it back and wrapped it up and put it back in his pocket. We sat back down and he began to tell me his story. He said his family was one of the first families to settled in this town many many years ago and owned lots and lots of land. He said a couple years ago his father was approached by a group of Indians who wanted to put a casino up on his property. They would pay just under 4 million dollars for the property. During the deal one of the lawyers stoled close to half a million dollars from his father. The lawyer was convicted and ordered to pay restitution. Because of this his father was very wary of the process and wanted payment in gold. So his father was paid in gold coins and one large chunk of gold which he kept in a safe in his house. He said everything was fine for a couple of years until his father started to age and lose he faculties. So the family went to the fathers house to take all the money and important papers and put them somewhere safe. When they opened the safe all the gold was gone. The family asked the father where the gold was. He said he had buried it a couple years ago but couldn't remember where. The old man said his father had recently passed and the whereabouts of the gold were somewhere on their five acre plot of land where their father lived. I offered to help metal detect it from them and he said he would think it over. The next week the old man showed up as usual but he had a younger man with him. I went to say hi and the young male said "is this him?" The old man said yes. He looked at me and said "leave my father alone and I don't want you talking to him anymore". He grabbed the old man by the arm and led him out the door. He never returned to the auction and to this day I have not seen him. This was a couple years ago. Any thoughts?

 

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[Mackaydon]

Welcome to Treasure Net !!
Suggestions: Contact the son (or current owner) and attempt to make a deal with him; 50/50 if found, for example--suggest he can watch you every minute if he prefers.
You may also wish to verify the story of the lawyer and the stolen money; no doubt that would make local headlines in some paper.
If you can't find the story in archived papers, try the local library for the name of the local historian and ask him about the story.
Don.......

 

[releventchair]

In cases where survivors with legitimate claims exist it can get dicey.With no explanation from the son it seems at a guess greed or plain entitlement is present. I would start a file. Track the story backwards as far as possible. Learn the families names and keep tabs on them, things happen,people leave a site for varied reasons. I would not approach them till assured the story pans out though I,m not doubting the old timer on hearsay. Often a cache is left in place,it happens. Time can leave it accessible or not.There may be more going on the younger man did not want to explain. Were I to contact him my first concern would be to apologize if your actions interfered with the old mans enjoying time out of the home as that,s good for folks and you shared similar interests. Regardless of why the not wanting you to detect,a small cut of a recovery for recovery,s sake seems most likely IF allowed through permission at all. People are people,sounds like you met some nice ones in a small town. Gold can make em crazy though!

 

[applecrack]

I have researched the old mans story and it checks out. Every detail. He also told me his father invented a part or something for his company. That to checks out as he has a patent on a part he made. He also mentioned that his father has another type of precious metal that was given to him for working at this company. He said it was worth more then gold and very rare. He didn't want to go into detail with me on that day and we never talked after that so I have no idea. The old man told me a lot about himself and even gave me a magazines that he was apart of the feature story. He was a race car driver. At first I honestly thought he was just spinning yarns to my kids but every word he said rang true with little effort upon doing research. And just so you know I say "old man" in the nicest way and with no malicious intent what so ever. He was one of the nicest people I have met on this planet and I truly thank him for being so nice with my kids who couldn't wait to go see him every week as did I. Thank you for your advice guys and girls. I am new and will always listen to others opinions.