Posted on 07/06/2011 6:42:48 PM PDT by Kid Shelleen
A jeweler’s heirs with a cache of rare $20 gold coins will fight for the right to keep them when they square off in court this week against the U.S. Treasury.
Treasury officials charge that the never-circulated “double eagles” were stolen from the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia in 1933. They could be worth $80 million or more, given that one sold for nearly $7.6 million in 2002. The coins come from a batch that were struck but melted down after President Franklin D. Roosevelt took the country off the gold standard in 1933
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
The coins come from a batch that were struck but melted down after President Franklin D. Roosevelt took the country off the gold standard in 1933
So this means that the coins would not exist if things had gone as planned. So the judge should order the coins to be melted down and the gold to be returned to the US mint. Heck just think...They will still make a profit.
So, the government seizes the coins and gains maybe a couple of thousands worth of gold. Or, the heirs sell the coins, make $80 million, and local, state and federal governments rake in millions in taxes. Which will the government do?
It’s a no-brainer.
this makes no sense, the person accused of the crime is not able to defend himself, how can the trial be fair?
let the fam keep the coins... good grief...
If they were melted down they don't exist.
“The 1894-S Barber Dime could be construed to be like this, it wasn’t authorized to be issued from the SF Mint, but the director had the dies on hand and polished them to make 24 specimens for visiting bankers. “
Theoretically, these could be seized under existing laws concerning coinage, but I doubt if it would be perused. There are a few other “semi-mythical” coins in this state, from what I remember when I enjoyed coins as a hobby.
I suppose that the only way to really force the legal issue would be to try to buy something with it, maybe also using a 1913 Liberty nickel in the purchase!
I’ve visited a mint (the Denver mint), and I think they designed the place so that someone is always watching everything. Otherwise, many “strange oddities” would start to appear in collections!
“I would say so. I interviewed with the Mint and they are very tight on security.”
They weren’t always so...there are many examples of “very strange” 19th century US coinage.
“Sounds like it the government’s case to prove they were stolen....”
Not for 1933 double eagles. No such coin was ever released for general circulation; in essence, ALL existing examples are automatically stolen, and though they are pretty much just an ounce of gold apparently not much different than any other ounce of gold (.9675 tr oz) if that almost-ounce of gold happens to be in the form of a 1933 double eagle, the government has already gone to insane lengths several times to retrieve the very few examples that exist.
Buy $20 Liberty gold dolllars in MS 62 or better condition. 1 oz of gold with less than $200 Premium for scarcity. A good place to have some funds.
They merely need to produce the original receipt and affidavits from the original buyer and seller. If they cannot prove ownership, we must assume everything belongs to the State (or the Nazis).
” orchestrate banking “holidays” to get control of deposit boxes”
The bank holidays were intended to halt bank runs, I don’t think it had anything to do with the gold issue. If there were breaches of safe deposit boxes during the bank holidays I’ve never heard of them.
Gold was being revalued in order to expand the money supply. The money supply had fallen by 30% over Hoover’s last three years as credit collapsed, and revaluing gold from $20 to $33 served to increase the monetary base. It didn’t cure the Depression, so all it really managed to do was reduce the personal economic freedom of Americans and increase the future prospects for inflation.
The Idiot on the Dime.
“Sounds like an inside job.”
I believe it was. One of the Mint officials took a number of the 1933 coins out of the bags that were for melting and replaced them with other coins of the same denomination so the bags would weigh out right, then took the 1933s to a coin dealer who kept them for years.
Two different gold standards. One is the classical standard, the other the ‘gold exchange standard’ IIRC. Both served to restrain inflation. It’s only after Nixon closed the gold window that the inflation of the 70s really took off. His option was put the economy into recession and reduce the growth of dollars, something JFK and LBJ had also been unwilling to do. The “Triffin Dilemma is what had confronted all three Presidents:
http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/center/mm/eng/mm_sc_03.htm
It seems that the state has an excellent case as they claim that absolutely no 1933 gold coins were issued by the government.
Not if the bring in a jury from Clearwater, Floriduh!
The coins were found in swamp.
Even if you “find” stolen items, the rightful owner can reclaim them. In many states if you find something worth more than $200 and make no effort to return it to the owner, you are guilty of theft.
Politely a Question.
Where were you when we in Floridah were holding the”Casey Anthony Trial”?
Did you need @/S notation?
It was a jab at the JURY(?).
Politely! G
That’s why if you are going to buy art, you should always check its pedigree. If it was stolen, it can be taken from you with no compensation.
What does that have to do with this?
If a person had a item that there was dispute as to ownership, it would probably windup in a court somewhere. Do not think courts and especially in Florida would settle as you might think. I was comparing Juries good or bad.
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