If You found a Treasure Chest would You tell anyone ?

[gman7665]

Thanks for all the replies , To be Honest I have Not Found any Treasure Chest, But am kind of Torn between 'Fame' or 'Riche's' , I believe I could live a much better life ,Not having to look over My shoulder and worry about everything in between . I can say that I would have to Think about it for a long time before telling the Right Person , But I believe You could make more by having Your Name on the Find and in a Museum for Life, Without all the Paranoia and Guilt...

 

[dieselram94]

No guilt or paranoia. But if talked about you will have remorse...what's to feel guilty about?

sent from a potato...

 

[Msbeepbeep]

You can have all the fame, I will take the treasure.

 

[dieselram94]

You can have all the fame, I will take the treasure.

Absolutely, I prefer to fly under the radar. I sure don't need attention...

sent from a potato...

 

[Old Dude]

of Course I would tell someone !

I don't distrust Everyone

Don't think I could keep my mouth shut either. Pretty sure tax collectors, IRS or any government affiliated "officials" would not be on my approved list though!

 

[ivan salis]

why tell anyone ? --do you crave "fame" and do you like being "broke"? --because both will occur most likely in short order -- of course you will get some fleeting fame as the guy who found treasure * --then the misery begins --the govts --local ,state and federal will get involved and try to snatch it from you on some grounds or another --if that fails they will all "tax" you heavily on it , then "others" will try to claim it as theirs --old insurance companies that paid out for "loss" , shipping companies of record that were robbed by pirates , kin folks of folks and business of old that were robbed --the folks who's land it was found on --the list goes on and on --after fending off all the "greedy grabbers" in court , paying off the lawyers and the govts --you'll be lucky if you get a dime out of it --if you open yer trap that is.

rule number 1 --you can have fame or treasure --both seldom can you have both --so "pick one" and if you pick "treasure" you must keep your mouth shut -- because that's the cost of having treasure.---treasure is trouble , as was wisely said .

 

[Boatlode]

Sell it piece by piece to private collectors. Don't sell too much at one time. Spread the profits around in various offshore bank accounts.

 

[BosnMate]

If I was hired to do some remodeling to an old house, and found a stash while taking a wall apart, my conscience would require me to give it to the property owner. If I found a stash of stolen jewelry or money, I'd couldn't live with myself if I didn't do everything I could to return it. Both of those have happened, not to me, but locally. A friend found a cigar box with cash and jewelry in it, and a contractor found gold coin in a garage. According to the news, the contractor gave the gold to the home owner. My friend didn't turn his find over to police, but extensively searched for the owner locally and with advertisements, and nobody claimed it. I think I'd do a find of obviously stolen stuff the same way. I don't trust turning valuable stuff over to anyone else. But a treasure chest in a cave on federal land, or a large nugget out of the river, then that's my problem, and one I'd really like to have, and nobody else would have to worry about what I'm going to do with it. I think it's called "money laundering," and when it's out in the open, pay your taxes, nobody needs to know anything different than your story of how you got the money.

 

[Frankn]

If I was hired to do some remodeling to an old house, and found a stash while taking a wall apart, my conscience would require me to give it to the property owner. If I found a stash of stolen jewelry or money, I'd couldn't live with myself if I didn't do everything I could to return it. Both of those have happened, not to me, but locally. A friend found a cigar box with cash and jewelry in it, and a contractor found gold coin in a garage. According to the news, the contractor gave the gold to the home owner. My friend didn't turn his find over to police, but extensively searched for the owner locally and with advertisements, and nobody claimed it. I think I'd do a find of obviously stolen stuff the same way. I don't trust turning valuable stuff over to anyone else. But a treasure chest in a cave on federal land, or a large nugget out of the river, then that's my problem, and one I'd really like to have, and nobody else would have to worry about what I'm going to do with it. I think it's called "money laundering," and when it's out in the open, pay your taxes, nobody needs to know anything different than your story of how you got the money.

I go along to a certain extent. Example: I was driving down the road and noticed that there was money blowing around. I stopped and the kids and I got out and collected it. I had about $50 and my son said he had $80, AND THE WALLET. I looked at the wallet and it had ID's. I told the kids that the money had a name attached so the $250 belonged to someone. We drove over to his house and gave the wallet to his wife. The kids were depressed so I gave each $10 as a reward and we headed to the mall.

I would not return a cash that I considered "LOST IN TIME'. That is a cache with no positive ID. I figure the true owner is long gone and no one after him has done anything to earn it. I hate to see these claims from old insurance companies. They took the payment for assuming the risk and lost. Over the years they have not been looking for it. You put forth the effort to find it and they step up to claim it.
The age of the cache is a big factor. As far as I am concerned there is no real connection between and old forgotten cache and anyone except the finder. Just my point of view. Frank...

 

[DDancer]

Well put Frankn.

As to Fame. Well Fame is for rich people who can afford the loss that will ensue from advertising the find of any treasure. That and egotists or narcissists or any ists except detectorists in my opinion. Its always nice to do a good deed... return a wallet, a ring or items that have a good chance of making someones day a little brighter. But just as Frankn said.... if its long gone and buried its yours. What you do after that... well enough said hehh

 

[BosnMate]

Probably in 1947 or 48 we were driving down a country road, miles out in the pucker brush in those days, a back road that would eventually link you up to a hiway to Yosemite, so the loss was probably off a tourist car. There was a zipper bag along side the road. Dad stopped and picked it up, in it was a suit with a $20 bill in the pocket, which would probably relate to close to $200 today. No Id anywhere, the suit fit my dad perfectly, and we kept the money. Figured the bag was on the top of someones car and worked loose and was lost to them. Nobody felt guilty, but if there had been a name and or address this all would have been returned. Another short treasure story of sorts. During WWII cigarettes were rationed. My dad worked at the coast and drove probably 20 miles a day round trip, half of it on a back road. There was a wide spot at the edge of the back road, and when he got off work at midnight one night, at the edge of the wide spot was a large case of cigarettes. Dad thought it fell off the delivery truck, and he brought it home. He got up early the next day so he could return the cigarettes to the company. When he did, they treated him with contempt and didn't even say "thank you." Ticked my dad off, he smoked the brand he'd given back. Very same spot, very next night, very same thing. He smoked every one of those, which is probably why he had a heart attack and died a few years later. The thinking was it was a black market deal and he got there between the delivery and pickup. Nobody drove that back road that time of night, gas was rationed, and the only reason my pop was there was that's when he got off work.

 

[Escape]

Bosnmate..Good story!

 

[Old Dude]

I go along to a certain extent. Example: I was driving down the road and noticed that there was money blowing around. I stopped and the kids and I got out and collected it. I had about $50 and my son said he had $80, AND THE WALLET. I looked at the wallet and it had ID's. I told the kids that the money had a name attached so the $250 belonged to someone. We drove over to his house and gave the wallet to his wife. The kids were depressed so I gave each $10 as a reward and we headed to the mall.

I would not return a cash that I considered "LOST IN TIME'. That is a cache with no positive ID. I figure the true owner is long gone and no one after him has done anything to earn it. I hate to see these claims from old insurance companies. They took the payment for assuming the risk and lost. Over the years they have not been looking for it. You put forth the effort to find it and they step up to claim it.
The age of the cache is a big factor. As far as I am concerned there is no real connection between and old forgotten cache and anyone except the finder. Just my point of view. Frank...
View attachment 975922

Hey, why don't we send this thread to all the major insurance companies with your post highlighted? Who knows, maybe they might hire some of us "pros" to help recover their "losses"! I have at least 10 more long years before retirement and would not object at all to spending it in a semi-retirement activity, lol. We just unionize and make our demands that we keep all we find not related to "their" loss.

 

[voodoo]

no. Silence. only silence. silence is the elusive gold. shhhhhhhh

 

[G.I.B.]

No, I never told anyone.

 

[CaperBoy]

Deny, Deny, Deny. The 3 rules of a major treasure find. Or you can alert the authorities who'll seize it, and who will mostly claim historical value, give you 10 cents on the dollar if your lucky, a hearty handshake, a thank you and a "don't let the door hit you on the way out". Gee that was kind of cynical.

 

[FLauthor]

There was a Urban Legend of a couple who lived on Treasure Island in the 1930's who built a shack from Driftwood and tin. Each had long probes that they pushed into the beach sand. Locals thought they were kooks and ignored them for a few years. One day, those kooks drove into town with a brand new 1936 Cadillac, dressed to the Nines. They went into a few places from people they knew and showed them handfuls of Escudos and several large gemstones before departing to who knows where. Residents went out to the beach and checked the old shack and in the distance saw a big pile of sand aways from the shack. In the bottom of the hole was a square shape like a chest had been there for a long time. Then they knew those kooks were probing for Pirate treasure. Makes a good story but don't know if it actually happened.