Saddle Ridge Gold Coin Hoard

Coin World has an article on the Saddle Ridge hoard today, open for non-subscribers: http://www.coinworld.com/news/california-couple-finds-large-gold-coin-hoard.1.html

 

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best parts from the above link

HIGHLIGHTS

The highlight of the hoard is an 1866-S Coronet, No Motto gold $20 double eagle graded PCGS Mint State 62 that is the finest known certified by the grading service. Kagin’s estimates its worth at around $1 million.

Other highlights that are either the finest or tied for finest certified by PCGS include:


ä 1866-S Coronet, With Motto double eagle, PCGS MS-62+.
ä 1873 Closed 3 Coronet double eagle, PCGS MS-62.
ä 1877-S Coronet double eagle, PCGS MS-65.
ä Four 1888-S Coronet double eagles, each PCGS MS-64.
ä Two 1889-S Coronet double eagles, each PCGS MS-65.
ä 1894-S Coronet double eagle, PCGS MS-65.
Other coins include an 1892-CC Coronet $5 half eagle.

FAKE

McCarthy said one 1891-S Coronet double eagle is a counterfeit, in the consensus opinion of the PCGS grading experts. McCarthy said the surface fabric of the piece is unusual and he plans to conduct additional research and analysis to confirm whether it is a well-made fake or is, in fact, genuine.

CLEANED DAMAGED

McCarthy said about 190 of the coins from the hoard are encapsulated in PCGS Genuine-designated holders because of environmental or other damage. Among them is an 1852-O Coronet double eagle.

McCarthy said a number of the earliest dates in the hoard had suffered some sort of cleaning before he examined any of the coins. McCarthy said he has no way of knowing whether the cleaning was done before the coins were placed in the ground or after they were removed.

“The first group of coins were unfortunately ‘conserved’ at some point,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy said it was his understanding that after the couple removed the coins from the cans, the coins were placed into plastic baggies and numbered.

MARKETING

Marketing the hoard

Kagin’s said that through an exclusive arrangement with the online retailer Amazon.com, approximately 90 percent of the coins will be made available for purchase via Amazon’s collectibles store. This will be the first major rare coin treasure to be sold through Amazon, according to Kagin’s.

The coins that will be featured through Amazon will appeal more to persons interested in treasure coins versus serious numismatists, McCarthy said.

 

Very interesting. Also this article in the SF Gate newspaper was well written: http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Black-Bart-Jesse-James-Who-hid-10-million-5279157.php#page-2

 

Today, SF Gate has an update on the hoard:



"New information, which adds credibility that the heist was an inside job at the Mint, became available late Monday afternoon from research by historian Jack Trout: An 1866 Liberty $20 gold piece — which did not include the words “In God We Trust” — was part of the haul, a coin that alone is worth more than $1 million.

“'This was someone’s private coin, created by the mint manager or someone with access to the inner workings of the Old Granite Lady (San Francisco Mint),” Trout said. “It was likely created in revenge for the assassination of Lincoln the previous year (April 14, 1865). I don’t believe that coin ever left The Mint until the robbery. For it to show up as part of the treasure find links it directly to that inside job at the turn of the century at the San Francisco Mint.'”

http://blog.sfgate.com/stienstra/20...-may-explain-buried-gold-treasure/#21188101=0

 

If this hoard was indeed part of a heist, I am sure the original owner will want his coins back. TC

 

Conspircy lol

 

Well i guess they should donate the no god coin to tje smithsonian

 

Hi All,

Stumbled onto this story on the internet today.

http://gma.yahoo.com/10m-gold-coin-...41317823--abc-news-personal-finance.html?vp=1

 

Hi John... Unfortunately, you are late to the party. This story has been posted quite a few times already. Really is a great story though... Only wish I was the one finding it!

 

here's another video to that story. link: http://gma.yahoo.com/video/couple-finds-over-10-million-115506038.html

 

John (and all), I merged the two recent topics about the hoard.

Christian

 

I’m not up on $20 gold pieces, can it be verified that the mint actually held a one of a kind 1866 no motto? If so, where can this information be found, other than the author’s belief?

 

The coins date up to 1894. If these are the coins that were stolen by Dimmick in 1901, why would the highest date be 1894? Wouldn't it be more plausible if the coins dated up to around 1900?

 

One article quoted an 80-something year old former employee that said they kept older, uncirculated coins in the basement of the Mint.

 

Anything to do with the dates, other than evidence of a unique 1866 no motto $20, proves nothing, many people legally owned those other dates. Where's the evidence the mint held a unique 1866 no motto?

Edit: Heck, I just checked the Red Book, it shows 120,000 1866-s no motto $20 gold pieces were made – nothing unique about this coin.

 

Again, Dimmick stole 6 bags of double eagles with $5000 or 250 coins in each one which equals 1500 coins or $30,000 face. the mere fact that 1427 coins with a near face of $28,000 was discovered is the most circumstantial evidence possible. Were these the Dimmick coins there would be no half or quarter eagles, and each set of coins would most likely be the same date and mintmark (s). If they had found 1427 double eagles all San Fran minted from no more than 6 dates I would say a better case would be made.

 

Jack Trout should stick to fishing, as his "findings" are a complete fantacy.

 

There are a number of questions that occur to me on this theory of the theft from the SF mint, as there were a number of such thefts. Suspicion fell heavily on Dimmick and he was sentenced to hard labor for the heist, whereas Cole, his superior seems to have been very eager to get Dimmick to be pinned with the $30K robbery. Dimmick didn't die until 1930, why didn't he go back to Auburn, CA (a probably gold country site of the cache) after he got out of prison? Cole died around 1906, but had been ailing so if he had been involved in the thefts, he may not have physically been able to retrieve the loot later. It is a long way from SF to Auburn too. Why there?

How easy or hard was it to get nice high mintstate $20s from the SF mint or banks? Did you have to know a bank manager to get the rare or high graded pieces? What is the probability that someone who was just looking for $20 gold pieces as money, stored where they were free from bank troubles, would have stored so many high grade and rare issues? Does the modus operandi (MO) in evidence here fit stolen property or private owners storing money? How many examples are there of similar hoards stored in similar fashion by contemporaries? Has accurate dating of the metal storage cans been done? Did the lawyers and researchers advising the hoard couple and Kagin's thoroughly research land deeds to ascertain any likely previous owner of the land rich enough to have put their wealth on the treasure trove land?

 

So the silver ridge people may have to give the gold coins back to the gov't?. Let this be a lesson!! If you ever find a hoard, bring it out one coin at a time. And don't share any information with anyone. If not, they have to pay a ton of taxes but that's ok, they'll still come out with a pile of money.


http://gma.yahoo.com/10m-gold-coin-...41317823--abc-news-personal-finance.html?vp=1

 

I have heard that advice from coin dealers in the last week, but would it work? Only if these were cash only transactions without paper trails. What do you suppose you would get for the most valuable coins, and what would they get? A great deal more!

Could you have run the 66s no motto piece through conservation without alarm bells going off as it is the most valuable with stunning luster and eye appeal? How about a series of the high grade pieces and the account under which it was submitted? No questions asked just pay them the four or five percent of fair market value?

If you had solicited offers from various dealers before the coins were conserved how much do you suppose they would have offered cash, no taxes? One tenth at best? They could always say they were problem coins, they weren't sure if they were real, they will give you bullion value, how would that grab you? You get the idea? You would have been royally ripped off.