Truthfully I'm getting a little short tempered with this STUPID story.
I know the owners/finders of the Saddle Ridge Horde. The problem with the assumption that THEY blew it is the simple fact is to this day you don't know who the owners/finders are. It has never been made public who the owners are or where they found it. They have never made anything about themselves or the find public.
The horde itself was made public by Kagin when the owners paid him to estimate a value and then refused to sell the coins through him. That's when Kagin went public with their find. It's clear he tried to out them to force them to make a quick sale.
Without getting into the details some of the coins were sold and Kagin paid for his very unprofessional indiscretion. That settlement is private just as the names of the finders and the location of the find is to this day.
It's STUPID to assume that the finders announced anything. They were and are very private individuals who are neither stupid or exposed. The Saddle Ridge Hoard is the largest known discovery of buried gold coins that has ever been recovered in the US.
Kagin on the other hand has had
several unsavory episodes like this one. I would never consign anything to his auctions. His reputation in the high end auction business is pretty much in the toilet after those episodes. Outing your clients and making bogus claims to sell nuggets, coins or real estate are not great career moves.
