A question or 2 about possible laws when finding treasure...

[BrianDickSmith]

I cant help but wonder if there are laws about what you can or can not keep while treasure hunting. I may be a little out of the loop latley but I remember a situation where it was a couple I think who found a catch of gold coins inside can type containers and it was a very big very valuable find. I remember reading about how the discoverer of this was either approached or willfully made it public about his finds and it drew obvious attention. Again I may be wrong but I remember that this person or persons had to wait a long time to be able to keep even some of the treasure.
-When do coins/precious metals become free game for who ever finds them?
-if you are legally digging do you have 100% rights to your finds no matter the value?
-Is there a value limit to what a person can keep based on what they find?
-Are taxes involved when selling treasure I find?

Thanks everyone!

 

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[ARC]

Here is a great read for you...

Couple Finds Gold Coins: When Finders-Keepers Is Legally Sound

 

[BrianDickSmith]

Have not even clicked the link yet but I bet this is the story im trying to remember. Thanks for that!!! Reading now!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Brian, When you say "legally digging", are you referring to public places? Like where md'ing is traditionally innocuous ? Or do you mean legally digging" on private land (a farmer's field with permission, your friend's front yard, etc....).

I think the answer would be different when the situation becomes public land versus private. So let's start with public land:

a) I have no doubt in my mind, that with random coins, rings, etc..., that we are all routinely ignored, right ? But if you found something SUPER valuable, that all bets would be off. Like let's say you found a private mint CA gold coin, of which only 5 were known to exist. Therefore the value is $75k. Now let's say you waltzed in to the desk clerk of whatever city, county or state or fed, or whosever's land it was found on (assuming md'ing is a non-issue at such places). And you say to the clerk:

"Hi, I found this coin on your such & such beach, park, school, desert, etc..... It's worth $75,000.00. Can I keep it for my own fun, profit and enjoyment ? Or does it belong to the entity [your] land on which it was found ?"

What do you think they are going to answer ? OF COURSE they are going to say: "You can't keep that. It belongs to us". And heck, they might even be able to cite chapter and verse law that backs up what they are saying. Because every park, beach, forest, desert, etc.... has laws in place that forbid harvesting, collecting, taking, removing, etc.... Right ? Naturally they are never enforced for if your grade school daughter picks up a seashell, or if you find a buffalo nickel with your detector. But if you ever found something very valuable, then you can bet that these boiler plate rules WOULD INDEED be invoked to result in telling you "you can't keep it".

But the above would not be the case for private land. In that case it would be between you and the property owner what you want to do with it.

Your next question is about the tax implications of when you go sell something big. I'll let others take a stab at that one

 

[BrianDickSmith]

Yup!!! exact story. Thanks again for the quick reply!

 

[Keppy]

You see the best law to follow if you find treasure ..IS you never tell anyone that you found it .. And that is the only rule you should have & remember...

 

[Tom_in_CA]

You see the best law to follow if you find treasure ..IS you never tell anyone that you found it .. ....

Tsk Tsk Tsk. Keppy we're ashamed of you Are you advocating breaking laws ? Oh me oh my.

 

[bigfoot1]

I imagine that every treasure hunter is hoping for"the big score" but without a plan if it happened you may learn is wasnt that big of a score.

public land of any description WILL have statutes declaring ownership of all property discovered above a given dollar amount...often $50.00.

on private land you will have less trouble BUT if word got out the landowner will be dealing with tresspasers for years or decades as these stories are printed and reprinted to no end.

Lesson here......shhhhhhhh....and rule #2 is that good solid agreements make for good dispersment partnerships.
Simply put move,get new friends and family,create a new life history,change your hair color..lol...OR simply shhhhh.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.... public land of any description WILL have statutes declaring ownership of all property discovered above a given dollar amount...often $50.00.....

I think you are confusing things here. The $50 (or 100, or whatever) threshold you speak of, is "lost & found laws". That if someone finds something of value that exceeds that, they have a duty to turn it in for lost & found to the police. And then (theoretically), if no one claimed it in 30 days, you'd get it back (minus processing fees, storage fees, cost of publication in a newspaper, etc....).

But I'm not so sure that laws forbidding "collecting", "harvesting" and "taking" (which are common rules for parks, beaches, campgrounds, etc....) are the same for public sidewalks.

Interesting twist on things though! I mean, if someone eyeballed a diamond ring or an Ipad 6 in a public park (where rules forbade "taking" and "removing"). And let's say they turned it in to the police, so as to be in compliance with L&F laws. Then at the conclusion of the 30 days, could the park's dept. come in and say :

"We see that no one claimed it. Yet it's still not yours. Because laws/rules there forbid "taking" and "removing" at the park".

You could try to argue that the prohibition on removing is for "park features". And man-made added articles are not "park features". However, this hasn't worked for guys in the past. Items under the ground have indeed been held to be "park features". So I don't know why items on top of the ground (an ipad, a diamond ring, a bundle of cash, etc...) would legally be any different. Therefore, no matter how you'd slice it, you can't keep it.

Odds are though, no one cares much about small-ticket items (till you start asking a bunch of silly questions to bored desk-bound bureaucrats).

 

[BrianDickSmith]

Thanks for that explination. My question was about both private property and public property (with permission) and I think you cleared up both for me. I was thinking that finds possibly followed the same rules as lets say scratch-off tickets or a casino. Anything under $600 you get it all at any store but after that its required to pay taxes. Its just rare these days to find any situation where you can somehow fall into a decent ammount of $ without some wierd law requiring you to tell the whole world or to pay a % of it in order to legally keep the rest. Of coarse my first instinct after a huge find would be excitement and the need to show it off but when you cross into that other lvl of very very valuable it changes things.
You made a good point about attempting to sell a coin or item that has a rediculus value and not having the buyer be curious about where it came from. In the situation with the california couple who found the gold coins the reason the value was so high wasent just because it was gold but the actual stamped coins made the gold even more valuable. Had the couple just melted it down to a gold bar then the concern about where they came from or who may actually own them dissipears because its now just raw metal w. no trace to its roots but because they were minted gold coins that means they were more then likley easy to pin point where they were made and depending on that will depend if they can be kept. I guess its about being logical and realizing that if you ever want to cash in on a rare find you almost have no choice but to go through the motions and hope (if not on your property) no one claims them.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Only 2 rules to remember when you find a treasure...

Rule #1
KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT!

Rule #2
"SEE RULE 1"

 

[BrianDickSmith]

You had me @ "dont tread on me" lol thanks!

 

[stefen]

In addition to what information other TN Members have provided, each individual state has a law regarding 'Found Property', and each may vary. The cache you mentioned was found in California, which is different than NY, Me, and the like.

Be well informed before you advertize you're finds.

Treasure Hunter provided some sound advice...listen and practice