There's Gold In Them Thar Hills
 

And A Hefty Tax Bill

There is no question that the discovery of the coins is a taxable event. In a famous 1969 decision, a U.S. District Court in Ohio ruled that a "treasure trove" is taxable the year it is discovered. In that case, Cesarini vs. United States, a couple bought a used piano in 1957 for about $15. In 1964, they found $4,467 in old currency inside it.

The court ruled that the money constituted ordinary income in 1964, the year in which they had "undisputed possession" of the funds. It did not qualify for the lower capital gains tax rate because neither the piano nor the currency were sold or exchanged.

. . . then there's this . . . apparently there's a plausible link that the gold coins are a majority of a theft from the SF Mint. The face value of the coins found is $27,000. The reported theft, a few years after the date of the coins minting, was $30,000. Hmm . . .

If someone finds something of that nature, why admit it publicly?

The glory.

X 2, just remember that when our olympic athletes win any medals (metals) they owe a tax without selling it or getting any actual funds.

Well, the US Hockey team and speed skaters dodged that bullet!

They had a good financial advisor.

x3

X4.....

I'd never say a thing. Keep, or slowly sell off. :D

Interesting story. So they pay half of it in taxes....five mil is still a nice find.

Gold coins are easy to slowly sell off as well.

Looks More & More Like It Was a Heist

Might not be finder's keepers.

The hills of Tiburon. Rugged country up there.

It's hard to believe those people wouldn't just take those right to a safe deposit box and slowly auction them off. One at a time, they could have come from anywhere.
You want to get rich or you want complications? Somebody sues to halt the dispersal pending proof of provenance and it'll cost them years and half the value.

Well, not necessarily, you remember when I found those (semi)valuables semi-buried on the BLM land? If you go back and read my posts about it, you can kind of get a feel for going through a similar, though less high-stakes situation.

MV