"Could newly discovered gold coins be the haul stolen by disgraced San Francisco Mint employee in 1901? Treasure hunting enthusiasts weigh in on origins of couple's $10 million find"

From the Daily Mail:

An unnamed couple in their 40s stumbled on the historic find on their property last spring

The gold coins dating from 1847 to 1894 were stashed in eight cans along a trail the couple had walked for years

Treasure hunting enthusiasts believe the coins may be have been stashed away by Walter Dimmick in 1901

He worked at the San Francisco Mint and was imprisoned after $30,000 worth of gold coins went missing

The dates on the coins fit the time frame and the type and denomination of the coins match too

The couple who found the coins maintain that they researched who might have hidden the coins and have come up with nothing

Speculation is that they haven't released their names for fear the coins could be claimed by descendants of whoever put them in the ground

The mysterious haul of gold coins discovered by a Northern California couple while out walking their dog – and valued at $10 million – may well be a previously undiscovered bounty that an employee of the San Francisco Mint was convicted of stealing in 1901.

The couple, who haven’t been named, stumbled across the haul of 1,427 rare, mint-condition gold coins, nearly all dating from 1847 to 1894, buried in the shadow of an old tree on their Gold Country property in February 2013.

The face value of the Saddle Ridge Hoard, as they’ve called it, added up to about $27,000, but some of the coins are so rare that experts say they could fetch nearly $1million apiece.

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Treasure hunting enthusiasts believe the $10m fortune found by a couple in northern California could be the same gold coins that Walter N. Dimmick was accused of embezzling from the San Francisco U.S. Mint in the early 1900's

The couple went public with their amazing discovery on Tuesday, and treasure enthusiasts have been quick to suggest that the coins could be the same ones stolen by Walter Dimmick, an employee of the San Francisco Mint in the late 1800′s, reports Altered Dimensions. 
Dimmick began working at the mint in 1898 and by 1901 was trusted with the keys to the vaults – until an audit revealed a $30,000 shortage in $20 Double Eagle coins, six bags in all. 

He quickly became the prime suspect as he was the last person to see the missing gold coins and had already been caught practicing how to forge the Superintendent’s name.
After a month-long trial, Dimmick was convicted of stealing the coins and sentenced to nine years at the San Quentin prison in California.

Booty: A trove of rare Gold Rush-era coins unearthed in California last year by a couple as they walked their dog may be the greatest buried treasure ever found in the United States, worth more than $10million

The coins that Dimmick stole were never found, leaving some to now wonder if the Saddle Ridge Hoard is the very same set of lost coins.  

There is certainly compelling evidence to link the two bounties. According to 1901 reports, 500 coins were stolen by Dimmick - only 73 coins less than the 1,427 discovered at Saddle Ridge.

The dates on the coins fit the time frame and the type and denomination of the coins match too. 

The couple who found the coins, known only as Mary and John, maintain that they and their attorneys researched who might have hidden the coins and have come up with nothing.

'The nearest we can guess is that whoever left the coins might have been involved in the mining industry,’ said veteran numismatist Don Kagin, who is representing them....MORE