So can I pick it up and bring it home?

[Jayb]

Over the years I have spent some time out looking around for that Spanish cache that has been hidden some where for one of us to find. The thought used to not even cross my mind of "what am I going to do with it when I find it? Only the thought of finding was stuck there. Now that I have stumbled upon newer and better things that have given me reasons that I might be closer to finding it. The thought has now become "what Can I do with it now that I have found it? Federal and state laws kinda limit us to what we can and cant do. Correct me if I am wrong but anything that is 100 years old or older must be left were it lies because it is considered a relic.? Picking up arrow heads could land you a little time in the pokey.? So.....since I'm not going to give up on finding this cache, and if I do happen to stumble upon it I sure as hell not going to just leave there, What legal options do I have? Are there any loop holes that we can take to avoid winning that all expense payed vay-k to the state pen? Or will I just end up with a very private collection of bullian bars, swords ,armor, and all that cool stuff.....I hope......I have looked up some stuff on what I can and can't do but I would rather hear or read it in lamans terms......if you have any insights, or good knowladge to share I would be very appriceative .Thanks

 

[Terry Soloman]

Just do what I did. I sold twelve Spanish gold coins out of the hoarde I found to a millionaire, on the condition that he sell them through Southerby's at auction, with the back story that his Great Grandfather, a ship Captain, won them in a poker game. When they sold at auction, we split the profit. You ease the pieces onto the market..

Is this story pure fiction? You bet it is. It has to be.. right?

 

[austin]

Sounds like a plan to me.

 

[coazon de oro]

JayB,

It all depends where this Spanish cache is. Laws tend to vary from state to state, but if it is in government land, you would require a treasure trove permit more than likely just to uncover it. If it is in private property, you would need permission to be in there. If it is in your own property, you don't have to ask anyone.

The Antiquity Law does include anything man made, or worked, that has been buried for 100 years or more. This law should cover anything found in government land only. Look at Forrest Fenn, he bought the land where the old Indian pueblo of San Lazaro is, and he is keeping, or selling everything he uncovers.

A cache of precious metals in their raw form such as ore, or nuggets do not constitute treasure in Treasure Trove Law, nor are they considered in the Antiquity Law.

Check the laws of your state. I do hope that what you have found is in private land where you have permission to be in.

Homar

 

[jeff of pa]

Don't know I find everything in the basement of my house & on my lawn,
then take pics from other places and tell stories of all my finds

of course if you want to find yours in My basement you ned to split the profit

 

[SpiritRelic]

Over the years I have spent some time out looking around for that Spanish cache that has been hidden some where for one of us to find. The thought used to not even cross my mind of "what am I going to do with it when I find it? Only the thought of finding was stuck there. Now that I have stumbled upon newer and better things that have given me reasons that I might be closer to finding it. The thought has now become "what Can I do with it now that I have found it? Federal and state laws kinda limit us to what we can and cant do. Correct me if I am wrong but anything that is 100 years old or older must be left were it lies because it is considered a relic.? Picking up arrow heads could land you a little time in the pokey.? So.....since I'm not going to give up on finding this cache, and if I do happen to stumble upon it I sure as hell not going to just leave there, What legal options do I have? Are there any loop holes that we can take to avoid winning that all expense payed vay-k to the state pen? Or will I just end up with a very private collection of bullian bars, swords ,armor, and all that cool stuff.....I hope......I have looked up some stuff on what I can and can't do but I would rather hear or read it in lamans terms......if you have any insights, or good knowladge to share I would be very appriceative .Thanks

I say leave it there and let it be covered over by cement.Who cares if if the history of America is covered in cement anyway?I don't,do you?

 

[Dixiegal]

Bullion bars are bullion bars. You take them to the nearest smelter and they give you a check on the spot. Pay your taxes and you are good to go.

 

[Keppy]

lOOK AT IT THIS WAY..... If i ever did find something or ever do...... I would not worry how to get rid of it ............ For i would get rid of it and no one would ever know.........On something like that law's mean nothing to me..... I found it it is mine ........ Why would you tell any one And you never let any one in the government know....... For they will take it from you and in most case's you will never know were it went.........Some crooked official's deep pocket ...... But i do see on these treasure forums that there are a lot of one's that like to talk a lot about things that should not be told.....

 

[SpiritRelic]

lOOK AT IT THIS WAY..... If i ever did find something or ever do...... I would not worry how to get rid of it ............ For i would get rid of it and no one would ever know.........On something like that law's mean nothing to me..... I found it it is mine ........ Why would you tell any one And you never let any one in the government know....... For they will take it from you and in most case's you will never know were it went.........Some crooked official's deep pocket ...... But i do see on these treasure forums that there are a lot of one's that like to talk a lot about things that should not be told.....

This is something i would never think about doing.I don't know if the man was telling me truth or not?But here is what was said to me.The detectorist waited for night fall.He had a civil war area with a still standing visible outhouse spotted.He went near the outhouse and got a good deep big signal.Now he just travels around with coin shows selling a few gold coins from the civil war period and couldn't be happier. :-)

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

jayb, if you want to worry long enough, and hard enough, about such things (ie.: "do govt. entities own what I find?"), then I'm afraid you've chosen the wrong hobby. It's going to end up being like the following question: "Is it ok if I spit on the sidewalk in New York?". If you ask enough bureaucrats, high enough up the chain, long enough and hard enough, you will eventually find one of them to say "no, you can't spit on the sidewalk in NY" (and, heck, they may even be able to show you a rule to back that up). But now you tell me: Did anyone REALLY care if spit on the sidewalk or not? No, of course not.

What homar says about checking with the state laws of your state, would only apply if you found it on state land. State laws (over domain of their state's land) only apply to state land. They wouldn't apply to city, county, or federal lands.

But ..... doh .... let's cut to the chase: No matter WHAT level of govt. entity land you found it on (city, county, state, or fed), ask yourself: If you waltz in to the office there, and ask their lawyer "Hi, I found this million dollar antique item on YOUR land. Is it alright if I keep it for my own fun, enjoyment, and profit?". What do you think they're going to say? Or even if it's just a single coin worth $1k. Or a single diamond ring from the beach worth $1k. Yet a simple look at the "finds" forum on any md'ing site, shows people are finding valuable coins, rings, etc.... all the time. And do you really think they run down to the nearest city hall (or county, or state, or fed, etc...) and say "was it alright that I found it? Can I keep it?" etc.... That's like asking if you can pick your nose, if you ask me.

I find 100+ yr. old coins all the time, in all diff. levels of govt. entity land (beaches, parks, forests, etc....), and I can honestly tell you, that in my 35 yrs. of this, NOT ONCE has any archie or lawyer or bureaucrat been right behind me with a calculator, to check to see if it was over 100 yrs. old or not.

If this worry of yours that someone ..... somewhere ........ somehow might not like it, is a big enough concern, perhaps you should restrict yourself to hunting clad?

 

[Keppy]

This is something i would never think about doing.I don't know if the man was telling me truth or not?But here is what was said to me.The detectorist waited for night fall.He had a civil war area with a still standing visible outhouse spotted.He went near the outhouse and got a good deep big signal.Now he just travels around with coin shows selling a few gold coins from the civil war period and couldn't be happier. :-)

... I think he was asking about a Spanish cache.... or any .. type of cache......... He was not asking about hunting were it is not permitted .... If you are hunting were it is legal to hunt to me any thing you find is yours....... Did he go at night for he likes to hunt at night if so that's fine......... But did he go at night because hunting was not permitted there then that is not fine.......... My self i never hunted for civil war relics.............. Did you know that there is more civil war counterfeit items out there for sale then any other item........... I know one's that bought civil war things from dealers that were counterfeit... And the dealers did not even know they were fake.........

 

[Keppy]

Tom in Ca ....Is right you found it you keep it...........AND KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT............ AND LIKE HE SAID IF IT BOTHERS YOU THAT MUCH GET A DIFFERENT HOBBY.................

 

[ivan salis]

the govt only knows only what you or folks you tell stuff to --tells them --now if your fool enough to let folks know yer bussiness and all about it -- you will suffer the results of doing so --the more folks that know your bussiness , the worse it is for you normally since everyone who knows about it generally will be trying to figger out some sort of an "angle" to get some or all of what you found away from you.

greed it is the "grubberemints" and 99.999 % of the human races natural way of being.

 

[Frankn]

I think money in the form of paper or coins are exempt from the Antiquity act. Frank

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Frankn, if you're talking about ARPA, then you're probably alluding to verbage which exempts "coins and bullets", right? If so, you are mis-interpretting this. If you read that part closely, you will see it only disallows coins and bullets which are not archaeologically significant. The problem becomes, it has since been intrepretted that coins and bullets (and or any object over 50 [or 100] yrs. old) ARE "archaeologically significant". Too many people read that part about "exempt", and aren't reading it in the full context of the passage there. They get fixated on the word "exempt" and "coins" .

 

[Keppy]

I think money in the form of paper or coins are exempt from the Antiquity act. Frank

.......Frankn ..... I really don't care if it is said to be exempt or not......... ​I STILL DO NOT TELL ANY ONE ANY THING ....... NEVER DID NEVER WILL......... SMART ONE'S KEEP THERE MOUTH SHUT.........

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

.......Frankn ..... I really don't care if it is said to be exempt or not......... ​I STILL DO NOT TELL ANY ONE ANY THING ....... NEVER DID NEVER WILL......... SMART ONE'S KEEP THERE MOUTH SHUT.........

Well then Keppy, I'll be the devils advocate, and ask you: With a stance such as you have here, then what do you say to the people who will say:

"Keppy is therefore lawless, & gives a bad name to our hobby. It's people like Keppy who are the reason places get put off-limits. He is risking jail, fines, confiscations, tickets, and arrests!"

Naturally, I'm only asking this as the devils advocate. Because those type fears (tickets, arrests, blah blah) often get put forth, the minute anyone suggests "just do it, no one cares". So how do you respond to such statements, if someone takes issue with your stance?

 

[Keppy]

Well then Keppy, I'll be the devils advocate, and ask you: With a stance such as you have here, then what do you say to the people who will say:

"Keppy is therefore lawless, & gives a bad name to our hobby. It's people like Keppy who are the reason places get put off-limits. He is risking jail, fines, confiscations, tickets, and arrests!"

Naturally, I'm only asking this as the devils advocate. Because those type fears (tickets, arrests, blah blah) often get put forth, the minute anyone suggests "just do it, no one cares". So how do you respond to such statements, if someone takes issue with your stance?

...... Well i don't hunt were it is illegal to hunt....I can't give the hobby a bad name for i never tell .... I never tell for it is no one's business were i hunt or what i find........And if i never tell i don't risk, ,jail .fines , confiscation's , tickets , or , arrest................. And i never worry about thing's like that .......And i really don't care what one's would say......... And there is always busybodies and one's sticking there nose in other one's business ..... But if they don't know my business they have no were to put there nose............ But like i said i really don't care what they think or say.....................Let them worry about things like that hell they can worry for me if they want ..... For i sure don't worry about things like that... Or people like them...............

 

[SpiritRelic]

Look,i don't give a rats ass,if some government tries or does take what i find.I brought the items to the surface for history to live and people to learn and enjoy any item i recover.And this is something nobody or Government can take from me.They want something, I'll give it to them.Until then,i don't care about telling anyone were i hunt,or what i find.Like i said before in another post,i was detecting down main street in my city on the street that hundreds and hundreds were driving by to vote.I have no shame.None!

 

[diggummup]

Loose lips, sink ships and Where there's a will, there's a way.
This question should not even have to have been asked. Use your imagination. 'Nuff said.