so, suppose I found ...

[dbxwr]

... hypothetically ... some old coins, perhaps british
in nature ... or old spanish ... anyway, is there a
risk of ' losing ' them to the country or origin ?
or should simply melt them down for their raw
material - end result being to sell them ( it ) ?

 

[rusty]

... hypothetically ... some old coins, perhaps british
in nature ... or old spanish ... anyway, is there a
risk of ' losing ' them to the country or origin ?
or should simply melt them down for their raw
material - end result being to sell them ( it ) ?

... hypothetically ... country of origin would have a claim, you may end up with a finders fee.

 

[kuma]

Hello Dbxwr , how are tricks?
I hope your well!
The awnser to your question would probably depend on various factors , such as the age and type of coins , if you had found enough of them that that the find could be classed as treasure or a hoard by the government , and ultimatly wether or not you had permission from the land owner to be there , find them , and remove them from the site in the first place.
In Britian , as I understand it , if you had found a hoard of gold or silver coins or artifacts , and you had permission from the land owner concerned , and say the government wanted to add the this find to the national mueseum , you would recieve 50% of the value of the hoard from the government , the land owner recieving the other 50% , with the coins or artifacts then belonging to the museum.
The overwhelming chances are that if any coins that one might find were of considerable age , and made from precious metals , they would hold much , much more monetry value to a collector of old coins than they would hold for scrap melt value.
I see now that your in the States , I don't know how it works over there , it could even be different from State to State , but the legal side of this is deffinatly worth checking out before hand , if you were to decide to melt said theoretical coins.
I've heard horror stories of people getting into a lot of trouble not by melting down , but just by selling on un-registered finds that could be classed as treasure , after all , it's your countries history and heritage that you would have dug up , and therefore it should probably be registered not just as a course of duty , but because it could save your derriere down the line. :roll:
All the best with it chief , and kind regards ,
Chris :mrgreen:

 

[Geo]

where i live, its pretty much "finders-keepers". if you are concerned you can report it to the local police and depending on the value they may hold it, but in most cases you will retain possession but will be required to run a listing in a couple of local newspapers and one in a national paper without giving specifics of coarse about the find. if no one steps forward to claim it then its yours. if someone does claim it, they will have to provide proof of ownership that could involve detailed description of characteristics not in the listings or pictures.

 

[rusty]

Not so good for this treasure hunter . http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17158436

 

[Geo]

i seriousely doubt that they declared the entire amount. as a treasure hunter, i certainly would not have, even to my wife. but thats just me.

 

[dbxwr]

( rusty's link ) that's precisely what I was referring to ...

 

[stihl88]

Melt it

If it's British or Spanish and it's Gold then it probably belonged to whomever they stole it off in the first place such as... The Mayans

 

[nickvc]

From what I can see happening the only goods other nations have a call on is shipwrecks where the cargo can be proved to belong to a specific country, here in the UK all items found on land made of precious metals or of historic importance is treasure trove,belongs to the state, but to stop important historic items been lost a full market price is paid.
If what you have is coins as sounds likely and they were found on land and is a mixture of British and Spanish coin it's going to be almost impossible to determine ownership, could be a traders cache hidden for security or a pirate stash or money stolen and hidden but never recovered.
There well might be an important historical link or other important items that in my opinion should be reported so a proper investigation can be instigated, plundered sites lose their importance and items out of context are less important.
My advice is to check what rules apply as for most countries the importance of their history is valuable and a reward would be paid even if the items were taken by the state to be displayed, you might even have your name displayed and the story of your find published....who knows what exactly you have stumbled on?

 

[joem]

I've got question;
Do you have coins or not?
What kind are they? Specifics and pictures work better here.