Coin Collecting Club

You may have thought that when it comes to lost or stolen art, sunken treasure discovered on shipwrecks and buried treasure and antiquities that all you have to do is find it, or buy it in good faith and you can keep it, but international, maritime and competing state laws have something to say about it. The right California Art, Maritime Shipwreck Treasure and Antiquities Lawyer, however, can sort out the competing legal issues.

If you have a legal issue involving art, antiquities or have a claim to a maritime shipwreck, sunken or buried treasure under California, martitme, or international law, visit our website at http://www.sebastiangibsonlaw.com and call us at any of the numbers easily found on our website.

Maritime Shipwreck Treasure

Recently, a number of prized shipwrecks have been found, one as recently as February 2009 when a U.S. salvage company, Odyssey Marine Exploration found a prized British warship believed to be the HMS Victory, lost in 1744, which just may hold four tons of gold. The HMS Victory discovery may solve one of the most intriguing naval mysteries in history. Why did this ship with one of the most famous admirals of his time, disappear with a crew of 1,100 men with one of the largest shipments of gold and silver, including four tons of gold coins, and why has it eluded treasure hunters for so long?

Believed sunk near the Channel Islands by a fierce storm that separated the Victory from other ships that broke through a French blockade at Lisbon and were returning home, the Victory (a later version which would be commanded by Admiral Nelson) had the sons of some of Britain’s most influential families on board when it sunk with perhaps the largest collection of bronze cannon as well.
In a less important find of another English shipwreck, Odyssey negotiated a deal whereby it received 80 percent of the first $50 million salvaged, and then a sliding scale up to $500 million, after which the profits were split 50-50. Since that time, however, the British government adopted a set of UNESCO guidelines that will complicate any hope of a similar arrangement.

Two years earlier, the same company, Odyssey, located the mystery ship, the Black Swan” believed to be a Spanish galleon, the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes y las Animas, that sank off the coast of Portugal, with seventeen tons of gold and silver coins.

The Spanish government has sued Odyssey in a Florida federal court on the basis that it never abandoned the shipwreck. One could say, they simply lost it for a few hundred years. The British government is believed to be negotiating with Odyssey about a collaboration to salvage the warship.

Maritime Shipwreck Treasure Law

What’s important in sunken treasure cases is where the treasure is found, whether the ship was owned by a government or a private entity, and whether there has been any dishonest conduct by the treasure hunters.

 

Most countries and their maritime lawyers claim anything to be within 12 nautical miles from their coast as their territorial waters. Additionally, if the ship was owned by the state or government, Law of the Sea Conventions come into play, which again allow the state or foreign country to determine what compensation the treasure hunter is entitled to. Finally, if the treasure hunter or salvage company has been guilty of any fraud or dishonest conduct, they can be deprived of any or all of any payment due them. Entering a foreign state’s territorial waters to look for a sunken ship counts as such misconduct.

International Maritime Law and The Law of the Sea

Under international maritime law and the law of the sea, if an owner abandons a vessel, it can be claimed by the finder. When a vessel has not been abandoned, it can still be salvaged by the finder and is usually compensated by the sovereign state claiming ownership. The Abandoned Shipwreck Act of 1987 encourages cooperation between sovereign governments and states and private entities.

The rule of “finders, keepers” applies only where the previous owner of a ship is found to have abandoned its property. Under various state laws, treaties and conventions, however, the positions taken by most governments, including the U.S., is that the state only abandons its sovereignty over, and title to, sunken U.S. warships by affirmative act. Mere passage of time or lack of positive assertions of right are insufficient to establish such abandonment. Thus, France’s claim with respect to the Griffin (or Griffon) that it never abandoned its interests in the ship.

Sorting out these competing claims can take awhile. In 2001, the Great Lakes Exploration LLC found a 17th Century ship, the Griffin, in northern Lake Michigan, near Wisconsin. One might think that Michigan or Wisconsin would have good claim to the ship. But just in January 2009, France filed papers with the court hearing the case that claims the ship expedition was undertaken on behalf of the French Crown and was not a private enterprise.

The Richest Shipwreck Ever Found

And then, just when you thought the scale of these discoveries could not be topped, they have been, at least monetarily, with the discovery of a British merchant ship, sunk by a **** submarine, that was transporting just goods from a European port, to the U.S. with repayment to the U.S. Treasury for the Lend-Lease Program that gave support to the Allied war effort. And what was this ship, code named the Blue Baron carrying? Just the world’s richest shipwreck cargo ever. The ship is thought to have been carrying a $3.7 billion cargo of gold, platinum and diamonds.

Believed to have been found about 40 miles off the coast of Guyana by Sub Sea Research, a U.S.-based marine research and recovery firm, the shipwreck will be the richest find ever. It was reportedly carrying at least ten tons of gold bullion, 70 tons of platinum, one and a half tons of industrial diamonds and 16 million carats of gem quality diamonds.

So far, no counter claims have been filed in the federal admiralty court case relating to the find, but it is likely that a number of countries may make claims to possessions on board that originated in those countries, including Russia which, like Britain, shipped large quantities of precious goods to the U.S. in payment for the war effort by the U.S. The question for historians who may have some influence in this case, is whether the Soviet Union paid subsequently for the Lend-Lease war effort after the ship was sunk.

Stolen Art and Antiquities Law

The law with respect to stolen art as opposed to lost shipwrecks is quite different, but no less complicated. Some countries view the movement of stolen works of art as the smuggling out of its country of a “national treasure,” even if it was previously, privately owned. Other countries view the contents of tombs and other relics to be the property of the state and their taking as “theft.” Another view of situations in which a work of art is previously owned by one person and then appears in the collection of another, is viewed as a further variation of theft. In this last variation, most legal systems provide protection to the bona fide purchaser, unless the property is stolen.

Unfortunately, the laundering of stolen works of art is facilitated by the lack of consistency of state laws and international law, statutes of limitations, the bona fide purchaser defense and the burden of proof on the person claiming that the art work was stolen.

Under a common law rule in Anglo-American law, a person cannot give what he or she does not have. Thus, a thief cannot convey good title to a stolen work of art, even where there have been several subsequent purchases by bona fide and unsuspecting persons acting in good faith. However, the vast majority of western countries with civil law systems accord protection to the purchaser in good faith of stolen art. While there are international treaties and conventions which are gaining supporters, for the most part, it has been said that international law on the illegal sale of art works and cultural treasures is not retroactive.

Visit our website at http://www.sebastiangibsonlaw.com and call us if you have an issue involving stolen art or any art issue, maritime shipwreck sunken treasure, or with regard to international or cultural antiquity treasures.

The FBI now maintains a National Stolen Art File (NSAF) which is a computerized index of stolen art and cultural property reported to the FBI by law enforcement agencies throughout the United States and the world. The primary goal of the NSAF is to serve as a tool to assist investigators in art and cultural artifact theft cases and to function as an analytical database providing law enforcement officials with information concerning art theft.

It has been reported that the trade in illegal art and antiquities in the U.S. is exceeded only by the trade of guns and drugs. It is believed that most of the stolen art in the world (over 100,000 objects since the 1980s) comes to London or to the U.S. with much of it bought secretly by persons for their private collections, for a fraction of their market value.

If you need legal assistance in connection with any type of art, treasure or antiquity, look to our California art, antiquity, maritime and international law firm for representation in the U.S. and throughout the world.

Whether you are a novice or experienced treasure hunter nothing is more important than that one great find of the day, but many treasure hunters miss that great find by not digging everything, or by being asked to leave a site, right before digging that last ping, because they didn’t ask permission to hunt there, well here are some ideas and tips to help you get “your” great find.

1. Can I hunt here?

First and foremost, always get permission to hunt a site, even when it is a public place like a beach or park, one way I have gotten permission for these types of places is to offer a free service, for instance, ask the caretaker if they would like you to remove all the sharp metal objects buried in the sand, like flip tops, and crushed cans, provided you can keep or properly dispose of what is found, they are more likely to allow you access if they get something useful out of it, like having their beach cleaned and unsafe items removed, and feel free to show them what hazards you have removed from their patrons harm, so they will allow you to return often, of course you don’t show the coins, jewelry, or valuables you also sifted out of the sand.

2. Bad times = good times for you!

Although where to hunt is important , it’s also “when” you hunt some places that makes the most difference. When hunting beaches almost anytime is OK but how much better would your hit rate be if you went after a very hot and busy beach day? well you might think that improves your chances of finding some valuables, and it does, but what would be better is take the same scenario as before, but add the element of a mid-day, or late afternoon, thunderstorm that came with out warning, now you are adding the fact that many beach goers, caught unaware of the impending storm until the first cloudburst, are now all racing around to collect their belongings and trying to get out of the deluge, in this instance many people will find they have lost something valuable, and just a note on jewelry, anything found with engravings or inscriptions, you should always try to locate the original owner if possible, most times a reward will be offered, and you will make someone’s day great. Another great time to go to beaches or around lakes is after a huge storm, where erosion has occurred, inland lakes only require heavy downpours or snowmelt to expose items previously buried too deep to find, but on the shore hurricanes, and nor’easters are best for exposing much older, deeper items missed in the past, sometimes including gold coins from ancient shipwrecks. If you live near a northern shore where large amounts of snow accumulates over the winter, the first spring snowmelt is also likely to erode enough beach to expose older buried treasures previously missed by other detectorists.
3. History lessons!

Research your areas history. In my town we have a building that is host to housing a middle aged couple who also have the small luncheonette run by them on the ground floor, and engraved in the wooden columns is a date: built 1786, so while waiting for my sandwich I asked what this place was originally, and was told it was a stage-coach stop, so I proceeded to ask if they also owned the dirt parking area across the street, and they told me no one knows if anyone owns it, I told her why I asked, and she offered to allow me to not only search the public area across the street, but if I let her know when I am there I can search all the property around the building their family has owned for generations. Many area’s local historical societies can provide guidance as to what area’s were first developed and which roads or sites still exist today, and will offer locally written books about the settlement and development of the area, many of which will include a large old building which was a hostel/bordello in it’s day, which means allot of traffic in one place for many people to lose their belongings, even something as seemingly insignificant as a metal button can bring in a high cash value if it is old but identifiable, people have found very old coins and jewelry as well, when I picked out a silver medal of “Mary” I didn’t think much of it, it was all black and crusty, but later when going through my findings I picked it out and carefully cleaned it to reveal the rock she is standing on has the date 1839, and was found on the grounds of a building that was built in 1886, along with a few coins from the early 1800’s, by the way the building was also a bordello during the first world war, it is located near naval docks!

4. Tools of the trade!

Ok you found a good spot to hunt and got permission, you have a metal detector, what else do you need? Well for beach hunting as well as other types of hunting you will need to start with at least two zippered or Velcro pouches, like a belly bag, or you can use a builder’s pocketed apron, one will be used to hold your good or questionable findings, the other you will use for obvious trash dug up, when beach hunting you will need a sand scoop, preferably with a wire mesh basket, wire mesh scoops tend to be lighter than perforated stainless steel baskets, you want the holes small enough to prevent a half dime from slipping through, if they are bigger you might miss out on small rings as well, for other types of treasure hunting you will need a sharp serrated digging tool, many of which look like a hunting knife, but if the blade is shaped like a trowel shovel it will be easier to dig through hard rocky, packed dirt, especially if there are dense tree or shrubbery roots to cut through to get down to your prize, in this case a long metal probe is useful for narrowing down where to dig, by inserting it around the area where you got your ping, you can tell whether it is buried deep or shallow, and with numerous probings you can determine the general shape of the object before digging it out of the dirt. Always wear leather gloves when digging to protect your hands from glass, sharp metal objects, or sharp stones.

Happy Hunting To All!

Copyright 10/2006

Daniel Chiapperino

http://www.gardeningsphere.com

One cannot mention Spanish gold coins without envisioning pirates, hurricanes, and shipwrecks in the Caribbean. As a matter of fact, the distinction of Florida and the Caribbean as being the location of more buried treasure than anywhere in the world has been propagated and accepted since the 1500s.

Gold collectors and investors are well aware that over $160 million in gold and silver lies buried in the tropical waters off Florida and the Caribbean. Because of its rich history of pirates, wars, hurricanes, and the presence of Spanish galleons carrying gold (also known as Spanish Escudo) and silver from the New World to the Old World, treasure hunters seeking doubloons and pieces of eight have made Florida and Caribbean waters their home away from home for decades.

Spanish gold coins are exquisite in their design and detail and some are available to collectors and investors in a wide range of denominations, sizes, and gold content. Spanish gold coins minted in 1877 and emblazoned with the right facing bust of King Alfonso XIII are a favorite.

The more popular denominations of gold pieces available to collectors today were struck between the years 1889 and 1890, though gold coins minted between 1588 and 1874 are much sought after. Ranging in gold content between 0.8671 and 0.0951, many of the more common denominations of Pesetas are available at reasonable prices for many collectors.

A feather in the cap of any collector, pre-1850 Spanish coins, and most especially those minted before 1800, are sought after like no other coins in the history of mankind. The coast of Florida as well as the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean have brought gold coins buried for hundreds of years to the light of day, to be enjoyed, admired, and coveted, by most coin collectors around the world.