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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DonnaML, post: 6427671, member: 110350&quot;]Also, as pointed out earlier in this thread, the consignor is not the original collector, who presumably died some years ago, given that it appears from the prices on the tickets that these coins were (allegedly) purchased many decades ago. In fact, CNG specifically states in a communication quoted earlier that the collection &quot;came from an estate to CNG third hand. We performed extensive research on this collection when it came to us, including communication with Yale. This was April of 2020. Due to Covid the collection sat in the safe for some time. Covid also prevented Yale from accessing their records. Only when the sale &quot;went live&quot; did some questions come up about just how these coins were acquired. The fact is, we at CNG don&#039;t know. We don&#039;t even know who the collector was that formed the collection. All we know is they lived on the east coast and were active in the mid-20th century.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>Clearly, the consignor is not the original collector, and presumably has no personal knowledge as to where the coins came from. So it would have been a bit difficult for them to take an aggressive position that the coins are legitimately theirs. I would guess that enough facts were presented to the consignor that the consignor decided -- presumably on advice of counsel -- that the facts are on Yale&#039;s side, that litigation would probably not be worth the attorneys&#039; fees, and that it would ultimately be a losing proposition.&nbsp; I also suspect that the estate has no records, beyond the coin tickets, proving that the coins were legitimately purchased. So it might be difficult to prevail in an argument that the decedent was a good faith purchaser. Even if he were, and was not himself the hypothetical thief -- assuming that the known facts indicate theft -- a thief cannot pass good title.</p><p><br /></p><p>Finally, to [USER=100459]@Jim Dale[/USER], there&#039;s no indication at all that Yale knew the coins were missing and waited 50-90 years to say anything. They didn&#039;t know about it until this sale came up. I think it&#039;s rather unrealistic, as I hinted above, to expect an institution with 120,000 coins ever to audit all 120,000 to see if any are missing. Nobody would know in the ordinary course unless and until a scholar wanted to access those coins, and they were discovered to be missing. Pretty much the same as missing library books turning up after 100 years without the library ever having known that they were missing.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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