MiddenMonster
Bronze Member
Is there a treasure hunter's equivilant of the 3 S's?
In the Western U.S. there is a rule of thumb called the 3 S's that ranchers invoke when they see an endangered species--Shoot, Shovel and Shut up.? Is there something similar for treasure hunters?? I imagine the initial inclination for anyone would be to shout it to the world and boast about it, but for some common sense will prevail.? Example:? Say you find a cache of 1000 gold coins.? You collect them, remove them from the site...and then what?? Do you slowly cache them in for their numismatic value??
I've talked to several people about what they would do if they found a bag with a large sum of money inside with no identfiers whatsoever.? I was surprised that a lot of people said they would turn it in.? I then tell them the true story about a family in Texas that found more than $300,000 in a bag at the end of their driveway.? They wanted to do the right thing so they turned it in to the local police station, and were told that if it wasn't claimed within 30 days it would be theirs.? The 30 days passed and it wasn't claimed, so the people went to the police station to collect their windfall.? Lo and behold!? The federal government, the state government, county government and city government suddenly decided that this was "drug money", and each skimmed off their tribute.? The family was left with $80,000--and still had to pay income tax on that.
To me, the treasure find would be similar.? While it might not be declared to be drug money, some money-grubbing government agency is bound to find a reason to take it away from you, hence my question.? I haven't found any treasure of this magnitude, but rest assured that if I did, you wouldn't be hearing about it.? When involved in discussions like the above, I tell people that if I found a million dollars that couldn't be identified I'd immediately take it home, split it among pillow cases and toss it in the washing machine.? I'd run it on the permanent press cycle for about 12 minutes, light detergent, with two rinses.? Then I would toss the pillow cases in the dryer before I counted the cash and put it where I felt it was safe.? But it's not like I've thought a lot about it or anything...
In the Western U.S. there is a rule of thumb called the 3 S's that ranchers invoke when they see an endangered species--Shoot, Shovel and Shut up.? Is there something similar for treasure hunters?? I imagine the initial inclination for anyone would be to shout it to the world and boast about it, but for some common sense will prevail.? Example:? Say you find a cache of 1000 gold coins.? You collect them, remove them from the site...and then what?? Do you slowly cache them in for their numismatic value??
I've talked to several people about what they would do if they found a bag with a large sum of money inside with no identfiers whatsoever.? I was surprised that a lot of people said they would turn it in.? I then tell them the true story about a family in Texas that found more than $300,000 in a bag at the end of their driveway.? They wanted to do the right thing so they turned it in to the local police station, and were told that if it wasn't claimed within 30 days it would be theirs.? The 30 days passed and it wasn't claimed, so the people went to the police station to collect their windfall.? Lo and behold!? The federal government, the state government, county government and city government suddenly decided that this was "drug money", and each skimmed off their tribute.? The family was left with $80,000--and still had to pay income tax on that.
To me, the treasure find would be similar.? While it might not be declared to be drug money, some money-grubbing government agency is bound to find a reason to take it away from you, hence my question.? I haven't found any treasure of this magnitude, but rest assured that if I did, you wouldn't be hearing about it.? When involved in discussions like the above, I tell people that if I found a million dollars that couldn't be identified I'd immediately take it home, split it among pillow cases and toss it in the washing machine.? I'd run it on the permanent press cycle for about 12 minutes, light detergent, with two rinses.? Then I would toss the pillow cases in the dryer before I counted the cash and put it where I felt it was safe.? But it's not like I've thought a lot about it or anything...
