OK, long story and advice needed on buried silver coins

MelvinWalker

MelvinWalker

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Without going into massive detail, I grew up in the late 1970's and early 80's on a 6 acre parcel in Tennessee...My father was a very miserly individual and he had bought silver coins in the early to mid 1970's.He went on to have a coin shop and closed it and died in the mid 1990's. My mother died a few years ago and the property was sold and I later retired and moved to Florida.

The question I have is this...My father buried some glass jars of pre 1965 US silver coins on the property. I bought a deep seeking Fisher detector before the property was sold and I think I know where one area of them are located, but the water level was up and I couldn't get to them without the hole filling with water.

I have a rough, hand drawn map from my mother where the coins were buried because my mother forced my father on his deathbed to tell her where the coins were buried and the map is in her handwriting.

Anyway...This has been laying on my mind for years now. The property is no longer mine obviously, but the new owners know nothing about it. This was always supposed to go to me, but I know that I don't own the property now but nothing will be ever be found at all if I don't chart a path on this. It is a very rural hilly property and the new owners know nothing about it.

I am a Christian and I know that it is now on someone else's property, so by law, I don't own it now... Obviously, I'd like to get a portion of this if found, but I am torn as to how to go forward.

Any advice would be appreciated. I have the new owners' name and address. I have never met them, but I have a letter written.

Before I send it, I need some advice from fresh eyes.
 
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In my Family we have this story that a GGGrandpa put all the Family’s ‘wealth’ On a Mule Slide.
Then Took it out into a nearby Cedar Thicket and buried it.
Cause them Yankees was coming and taking everything they could carry!
And just like your tale, we no longer own that land.
He didn’t provide a map, but I know where the cedar Thicket is!
Back when we knew and were on good terms with the owner.
My Bro and I have discussed metal detecting there, but never got it done.
Now I don’t even know who owns the land!
For your situation I’m thinking asking the current owner to participate and a 50-50 split.
 
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THE PILGRIM said:
In my Family we have this story that a GGGrandpa put all the Family’s ‘wealth’ On a Mule Slide.
Then Took it out into a nearby Cedar Thicket and buried it.
Cause them Yankees was coming and taking everything they could carry!
And just like your tale, we no longer own that land.
He didn’t provide a map, but I know where the cedar Thicket is!
Back when we knew and were on good terms with the owner.
My Bro and I have discussed metal detecting there, but never got it done.
Now I don’t even know who owns the land!
For your situation I’m thinking asking the current owner to participate and a 50-50 split.
Click to expand...

Could be....Like I said, I have a letter written to the new owners, but I don't know them and there's all the uncertainty with greed, etc.

I don't know, but I want to resolve this somehow.
 
I think I would approach the owners and state that a relative may have buried coins on the land when it was in the family. Ask permission to search for it and ask about you sharing in the find if it is recovered. All they can do is say no.
The other choice is to just let it pass and move on.
Personally I think after all this time I would just let it go.
 
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I would think a split agreement would be the best idea, but the current property owner would be under no obligation to consent. If he agrees, a formal written document between parties should be executed.

My attorney was once involved in a situation in which a large number of gold coins had been buried in a back yard in 1933, and there was a dispute over ownership. I do not remember any details, except that it was not a trivial amount of gold.

FDR essentially outlawed private citizen ownership of gold coinage in 1933 by presidential directive, and there were heavy penalties for those who did not comply by turning them in to the government. Many people then buried their gold coins (if they had any) in mason jars in the back yard. As a result, there are probably some of those backyard gold caches forgotten and remaining in the ground today in backyards all over the country. Do not think similar actions could not occur today. Instead think about the possibilities concerning the issuance of a government controlled "bitcoin" to replace all currency in circulation. Fed Chairman Powell mentioned that in his news conference yesterday in response to a reporter's question. He said that there were "no immediate plans" to do that. Which of course really means that indeed there are plans.
 
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I think that if someone sent me a letter explaining the situation and was willing to go half on both the treasure hunt and the proceeds, I'd say yes. I mean, how often do you get to dig for buried treasure? With a treasure map no less?
But that's JMHO. If they say no, you haven't really lost anything you hadn't already and you can sleep well knowing you did the right thing.


Edit: Just think, you might wind up with a good buddy out of it, too.
 
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If you told the current property owners that there might be some coins buried, they likely would assume you were going to dig holes all over the place and say NO! Tell property owners exactly what is buried and how you intend to recover the jars, then offer a split. If they say no, no loss since they do not know where the jars are buried.

I am guessing that a quart jar full of silver coins could be 5 to 10 pounds. That could be $1700 to $3500 per jar?
 
The owners may say no, then buy their own metal detector in an effort to get it all for themselves. You might see if the land is for sale. If so, you could buy it, get the coins and resell it. It would seem reasonable that someone would want to buy the place they grew up on for sentimental reasons.
 
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Protocall_Design said:
The owners may say no, then buy their own metal detector in an effort to get it all for themselves. You might see if the land is for sale. If so, you could buy it, get the coins and resell it. It would seem reasonable that someone would want to buy the place they grew up on for sentimental reasons.
Click to expand...

I know and you are correct. I dealt with the literal scum of the earth for two decades, so it is hard to have trust anybody, especially when it comes to a "treasure map" like this...Greed always seems to win, i.e. "the love of money is the root of all evil".

I am going to send a letter. I looked the owners up. They are a late 40's aged couple that bought it. They moved to Tennessee from central California.
 
Send them a letter with the story and a copy of the map, wish them good luck, without asking for anything.

If they do find them and decide to share, fine. If not, you're no worse off than you were before, made someone else's life better, and kept the coins from going to waste.
 
Muss Muggins said:
I got ten bucks and a cold beer that says that the ten bucks and cold beer is probably worth as much as what you seek . . .
Click to expand...

Uh, no not true whatsoever....After my father died and before my mother died, we did find one small jar of US Silver Eagles that she sold that was found via the map.

It's there if my dad said those facts on his deathbed, but he was so paranoid it's probably buried to the core of the earth.
 
glenwolde said:
Well if they refuse and just decide to keep it for themselves be sure you tell your story on Facebook and identify the location. It's Tennessee. There will be 1,000 people digging up their yard inside of 24 hours.
Click to expand...

That's actually funny..I wouldn't do that, but it is hilarious....

I am not on any of the social medias.
 
Buy the property that used to be in your family. Say nothing about anything else.

It bothers me when inheritance isn't honored, very badly.

We had an incident where a man died and the property and house were sold. The new owner ripped up the large waterbed to replace it and found almost .75 million dollars in cash. The law said it was the new owners' money, he just needed to pay income taxes on it.
 
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YeshuaIsa53 said:
Buy the property that used to be in your family. Say nothing about anything else.

It bothers me when inheritance isn't honored, very badly.

We had an incident where a man died and the property and house were sold. The new owner ripped up the large waterbed to replace it and found almost .75 million dollars in cash. The law said it was the new owners' money, he just needed to pay income taxes on it.
Click to expand...

I get you...There's no buying the property now..The whole parcel sold for less than 90K and a flipper bought it and gutted and remodeled the house. Once done, I think the property sold for $250K or so.

I have a lot of thinking and praying to do, but I knew in the back of my mind this day was coming.
 
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