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(LA Times) Interesting Yreka Gold found in California; this is not a repeat from 1848   (latimesblogs.latimes.com) divider line 38
More: Interesting, Yreka, Calochortus luteus, California Department of Justice, Siskiyou County Courthouse  
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7444 clicks; posted to Main » on 02 Feb 2012 at 8:08 AM   |  Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook   more»   |    Get this fabulous T-Shirt and impress the methane out of your friends! shirt it!



38 Comments   (+0 »)
   
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2012-02-02 01:16:02 AM
My brother, nephew and I were just looking at that exhibit three weeks ago when we were in Yreka for my mom's funeral. It's been in the front lobby of the courthouse since before I was born. The hell of it is that there are some historic (and humongous) nuggets that will probably be melted down and lose most of their value.

When I was in elementary school, we used to go to the courthouse at lunchtime to ride the only elevator (at the time) in the county. It went up and down TWO FLOORS! Quite a thrill for a kid who had to go 100 miles to see a real escalator.

Still no story on the local newspaper's website: Link (new window)

/not Subby
 
2012-02-02 02:05:28 AM
UNAUTHORIZED FINGER: My brother, nephew and I were just looking at that exhibit three weeks ago when we were in Yreka for my mom's funeral. It's been in the front lobby of the courthouse since before I was born. The hell of it is that there are some historic (and humongous) nuggets that will probably be melted down and lose most of their value.

When I was in elementary school, we used to go to the courthouse at lunchtime to ride the only elevator (at the time) in the county. It went up and down TWO FLOORS! Quite a thrill for a kid who had to go 100 miles to see a real escalator.

Still no story on the local newspaper's website: Link (new window)

/not Subby


There is now. It's under the "Top Stories" header on the right of the page. Courthouse burglarized (new window)
 
2012-02-02 02:54:44 AM
"The object that was used to break the glass had be something heavy because that is thick, unbreakable glass," said Giannini.


img267.imageshack.us
 
2012-02-02 03:36:07 AM
Otto's_Jacket: "The object that was used to break the glass had be something heavy because that is thick, unbreakable glass," said Giannini.


[img267.imageshack.us image 500x490]


Now I'm going to have to explain to my girlfriend why "taylor swift balls in face" is in my search history.
 
2012-02-02 07:56:37 AM
I like how the image gets smaller when you click on it.
 
2012-02-02 08:12:09 AM
Headline is Au.
 
2012-02-02 08:15:14 AM
Auuuu... that's too bad
 
2012-02-02 08:15:24 AM
I was in Yreka once. Gotta love the pronunciation: "wye-reek-a".
 
2012-02-02 08:23:27 AM
Pants full of macaroni!!: I was in Yreka once. Gotta love the pronunciation: "wye-reek-a".

"You-reek-a" was already taken.
 
2012-02-02 08:25:38 AM
Pants full of macaroni!!: I was in Yreka once. Gotta love the pronunciation: "wye-reek-a".

That sounds like a italian steroetype trying to sell deodorant
 
2012-02-02 08:44:47 AM
GAT_00: I like how the image gets smaller when you click on it.


www.truthdig.com
It was shrinkage!
 
2012-02-02 08:52:58 AM
So... who else gets the feeling that their security system that "did not sound" was a halfassed one you probably wouldn't even expect to stop thieves from breaking into your home (it's more there for visual effect and to satisfy the insurance requirement of having a "security system").

Also... I bet the $3M is the assayed estimate for historical value (and what the county will put on the insurance claim). The gold value is probably $500k. In other words, the county who feels so "betrayed" is going to net a cool $3M over this deal. That's a heck of a lot of traffic camera citations they don't have to issue.
 
2012-02-02 08:52:59 AM
Beautiful town. Shouldn't be too hard to find the perps, they're the ones with a new monster truck.
 
2012-02-02 08:53:50 AM

FTA :

"East's blog features a photo of the collection taken in 1947 by local shutterbug Snappy Goodrich."


You have got to be kidding me. Snappy Goodrich? Seriously? It only gets better when you find out Snappy married Minnie Dae Clodfelter.

At that point you have to seriously start wondering if this isn't an insiders-only joke the locals use on the outsiders.
 
2012-02-02 08:57:57 AM
1macgeek: FTA :

"East's blog features a photo of the collection taken in 1947 by local shutterbug Snappy Goodrich."

You have got to be kidding me. Snappy Goodrich? Seriously? It only gets better when you find out Snappy married Minnie Dae Clodfelter.

At that point you have to seriously start wondering if this isn't an insiders-only joke the locals use on the outsiders.


Maybe we could get Alan Smithee to make a film about it.
 
2012-02-02 09:08:34 AM
Sheriff, FTA: "We will not rest until the perpetrators are identified and held to answer for their crimes."

Now let's go get a bite to eat.
 
2012-02-02 10:11:14 AM
Why wasn't it in a bank in the middle of Beverly Hills?
 
2012-02-02 10:12:30 AM
I've always wondered about the security on that exhibit, and it always fired up my imaginations since I was a kid. It had some awesome nuggets displayed, in a very small, quiet courthouse. It always seemed like something you could just smash and grab. The sucky thing, as mentioned by others above, is that it had historical value as well -- it was a major tie in to the Gold Rush history and some of the nuggets themselves had interesting history.
 
2012-02-02 10:16:52 AM
Wodan11: Also... I bet the $3M is the assayed estimate for historical value (and what the county will put on the insurance claim). The gold value is probably $500k. In other words, the county who feels so "betrayed" is going to net a cool $3M over this deal. That's a heck of a lot of traffic camera citations they don't have to issue.

I don't know, it was a lot of gold. It had some of the biggest nuggets found in the California gold rush. It was more than most jewelry stores would have on site. I can believe there was $3M there at current gold prices.
 
2012-02-02 10:23:47 AM
IIRC, they put the security system in when someone walked out with it in the early eighties. I was in first or second grade at the time so maybe 1982 or so?
 
2012-02-02 10:25:41 AM
I bet it was an inside job. Struggling town needs cash, sets up a fake robbery, gets paid on the back end for the insured gold to the tune of three million!
 
2012-02-02 10:29:36 AM
jabelar: I don't know, it was a lot of gold. It had some of the biggest nuggets found in the California gold rush. It was more than most jewelry stores would have on site. I can believe there was $3M there at current gold prices.

Well, $3M at today's price of $1750/troy ounce appears to be almost two tons of gold.

Maybe I'm doing the maths wrong.
 
2012-02-02 10:36:36 AM
highrye: IIRC, they put the security system in when someone walked out with it in the early eighties. I was in first or second grade at the time so maybe 1982 or so?

It must have been a security system from 1982. The one I have protecting my assets are impenetrable and will even run for two days with the power and communication lines cut. Seriously, nothing larger than a mouse can move without setting off the alarm. It even senses breaking glass and immediately summons the police without human intervention. It ran me less than $500 installed. I can't imagine it ever failing under any circumstances. Hell, before it burns up it will even summon the fire department before giving up the ghost.

I can imagine a politician not upgrading a security system for 20 years. I can also see an insurance company using this as a reason to deny the claim. I know my insurance company requires me to certify my system is working, and stay current with technology (i.e. upgrade every few years). As cheap and effective modern alarms are, there are no reasons not to.
 
2012-02-02 10:44:50 AM
Wodan11: Maybe I'm doing the maths wrong.

Yes, you are.

$3 million in gold at today's spot price is 1,710 troy ounces. Converted to pounds, it is only 117 pounds. Or 53.2 kilograms. Or .76 typical standard human mass. In volume it would only be .053 cubic meters.

/ why yes...
// I know how to use Wolfram Alpha.
/// Why do you ask?
 
2012-02-02 11:30:51 AM
I guess if you're going to display $3M worth of gold nuggets, maybe you should spend a couple of bucks to make sure you have an alarm system that actually works. Was the electrical cord that powers the alarm system plugged into the wall outlet beside the display?
 
2012-02-02 11:33:24 AM
Nice geological specimens of gold will easily bring in 2-3x the value of the bullion content.
Or, sadly, is easily melted down if you're a thief looking for quick profit.
I trust the cops have hit all the local area "cash for gold" outlets?
 
2012-02-02 11:37:18 AM
GoldDude: Nice geological specimens of gold will easily bring in 2-3x the value of the bullion content.
Or, sadly, is easily melted down if you're a thief looking for quick profit.
I trust the cops have hit all the local area "cash for gold" outlets?


Even melted down, unless they refine it, the gold is still traceable due to specific trace elements from the mine. But yeah, they really should have had a better security system.
 
2012-02-02 01:09:24 PM
I know how to solve this.

/whoever smelt it dealt it
 
2012-02-02 01:17:13 PM
highrye: GoldDude: Nice geological specimens of gold will easily bring in 2-3x the value of the bullion content.
Or, sadly, is easily melted down if you're a thief looking for quick profit.
I trust the cops have hit all the local area "cash for gold" outlets?

Even melted down, unless they refine it, the gold is still traceable due to specific trace elements from the mine. But yeah, they really should have had a better security system.


Assuming, of course, they ever find it. A smart thief could have it smelted in to one pound bars and go on a road trip hitting pawn shops along the way, starting on the other side of the country. Wouldn't seem any different than any of the dozens of sellers they see every week.
 
2012-02-02 01:23:48 PM
1macgeek: Wodan11: Maybe I'm doing the maths wrong.

Yes, you are.

$3 million in gold at today's spot price is 1,710 troy ounces. Converted to pounds, it is only 117 pounds. Or 53.2 kilograms. Or .76 typical standard human mass. In volume it would only be .053 cubic meters.

/ why yes...
// I know how to use Wolfram Alpha.
/// Why do you ask?


Thanks for backing me up. Since gold is so dense, the amount it takes to weigh an oz is deceiving. A couple quarter sized pieces will make up an oz. The display as I remember it could easily have had the same amount of volume as a few thousand quarters, some nuggets were like big rocks of gold --> quite possibly a couple million dollars.
 
2012-02-02 01:38:36 PM
SharkTrager: A smart thief could have it smelted in to one pound bars and go on a road trip hitting pawn shops along the way, starting on the other side of the country. Wouldn't seem any different than any of the dozens of sellers they see every week.

Assuming there are such critters as "smart thieves", you are right. If this was just a smash-and-HELLO!-what-do-we-have-here? crime of opportunity, they are probably not. If they are smart enough to use a paper-corporation where they don't have to use their own ID, and dump it one ounce at a time, they will get away with it. If they try it themselves and dump it all at once... Hello PMITA prison!

I would still like to know why the alarm didn't go off, and who thought it was a good idea to keep gold on public display once it hit $1K per ounce. What? You never heard of gold spray paint on fake rocks before?

Well... there's that and I really, really want to know if the whole Snappy Goodrich / Minnie Dae Clodfelter thing is just a joke. It almost has to be.
 
2012-02-02 02:10:26 PM
The Loaf: Pants full of macaroni!!: I was in Yreka once. Gotta love the pronunciation: "wye-reek-a".

"You-reek-a" was already taken.


Eureka means "I found it!"

Yreka means "We can order it."

My dad wrote a story about how Yreka got its name. The gist of it is that the first baby born in the town was named Yolanda Rebecca Ecca. But she was a homely child. So homely that artists would break their paintbrushes rather than paint her picture (there were no photographs yet). When they decided to name the town, Mr. Ecca knew that because Rebecca was so homely they'd never name the town after her, so he made an acronym of her name and snuck that one by the town fathers.

/my dad told it much better, but I haven't seen his story since 1972
//got a dog named Ieka, which was the Indian name for Yreka
 
2012-02-02 04:12:51 PM
Rick will give them a cool $80 for it.
 
2012-02-02 08:27:10 PM
Wodan11: jabelar: I don't know, it was a lot of gold. It had some of the biggest nuggets found in the California gold rush. It was more than most jewelry stores would have on site. I can believe there was $3M there at current gold prices.

Well, $3M at today's price of $1750/troy ounce appears to be almost two tons of gold.

Maybe I'm doing the maths wrong.


Just under 143 lbs, if 99.999% pure.
 
2012-02-02 08:29:23 PM
1macgeek: Wodan11: Maybe I'm doing the maths wrong.

Yes, you are.

$3 million in gold at today's spot price is 1,710 troy ounces. Converted to pounds, it is only 117 pounds. Or 53.2 kilograms. Or .76 typical standard human mass. In volume it would only be .053 cubic meters.

/ why yes...
// I know how to use Wolfram Alpha.
/// Why do you ask?


There are 12 troy oz in a pound.
 
2012-02-02 08:37:47 PM
GDubDub: There are 12 troy oz in a pound.

Incorrect. There are 12 troy ounces in a TROY pound.
 
2012-02-02 09:43:47 PM
Gotcha.
 
2012-02-03 02:41:51 AM
www.bundyology.com

Wanted for questioning.
 
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