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Judge Says 10 Rare Gold Coins Worth $80 Million Belong to Uncle Sam
Yahoo ^ | 5 Sep 2012 | SUSANNA KIM

Posted on 09/07/2012 5:47:04 AM PDT by shove_it

[...]

In 2003, Switt's family, Joan Langbord, and her two grandsons, drilled opened a safety deposit box that had belonged to him and found the 10 coins. When the Langbords gave the coins to the Philadelphia Mint for authentification, the government seized them without compensating the family.

The Langbords sued, saying the coins belonged to them. In 2011, a jury decided that the coins belonged to the government, but the family appealed. Last week, Judge Legrome Davis of the Eastern District Court of Pennsylvania, affirmed that decision, saying "the coins in question were not lawfully removed from the United States Mint."

[...]

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
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Here's a case of bad choice of appraiser.

1 posted on 09/07/2012 5:47:08 AM PDT by shove_it
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To: shove_it

Hope they win on appeal.

Outrageous.


2 posted on 09/07/2012 5:51:08 AM PDT by ZULU (See: http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=D9vQt6IXXaM&hd)
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To: shove_it

I’d heard about this case and others. The best thing to do when you find such coins is to melt them down.


3 posted on 09/07/2012 5:51:22 AM PDT by cuban leaf (Were doomed! Details at eleven.)
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To: shove_it

I cannot believe that they were this stupid!

You take them to the government when you have thousands of appraisers listed in the Yellow Pages???

Even at that, only take one and don’t blab!


4 posted on 09/07/2012 5:51:36 AM PDT by VanDeKoik
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To: ZULU
“The 1933 Saint-Gaudens double eagle coin was originally valued at $20, but sold for as much as $7.5 million at a Sotheby’s auction in 2002, according to Courthouse News.

After President Theodore Roosevelt had the U.S. abandon the gold standard, most of the 445,500 double eagles that the Philadelphia Mint had struck were melted into gold bars.”

?????????????????????

It was that damn Communist FDR, not Teddy Roosevelt who stole the people's gold coins!!!!!!!

5 posted on 09/07/2012 5:53:13 AM PDT by ZULU (See: http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=D9vQt6IXXaM&hd)
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To: shove_it
Another story that begs the question "why do so many blindly trust the State?"

If you put yourself at the mercy of the State, anything can happen to you. It is better to avoid them at all costs.

6 posted on 09/07/2012 5:53:30 AM PDT by jboot (This isn't your father's America. Stay safe and keep your powder dry.)
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To: ZULU
It was that damn Communist FDR, not Teddy Roosevelt who stole the people's gold coins!!!!!!!

Just like Hitler

7 posted on 09/07/2012 5:54:53 AM PDT by scooby321 (AMS)
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To: shove_it

KGB..this is what happens when people belong to the government instead of the government belonging to them. they take everything.


8 posted on 09/07/2012 5:55:09 AM PDT by dalebert
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To: cuban leaf

Melting them down would have destroyed their numismatic value - which in this case was considerable.


9 posted on 09/07/2012 5:55:50 AM PDT by agere_contra (Vote ABO. Don't choose the Greater Evil and then boast about how principled you are)
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To: VanDeKoik

it doesnt matter..the government should on take them


10 posted on 09/07/2012 5:56:11 AM PDT by dalebert
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To: shove_it
There's a fascinating book about these coins and the others that 'escaped' the mint without being issued by the U.S. government - Double Eagle.

The full story is rather complicated and can't be summed up in a Yahoo article. Suffice to say the grandfather of the boy claiming ownership was involved in illegal coin dealings with employees of the mint. Because the coins were never issued the only way they left the mint and weren't melted down is if a mint insider stole them from the mint - so they remain U.S. government property.

11 posted on 09/07/2012 5:58:08 AM PDT by Scoutmaster (You knew the job was dangerous when you took it)
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To: scooby321

His “Bank Holiday” stole their savings. I hate that Commie SOB. He was one of the WORST of American Presidents and yet stands tall in the DemocRat Pantheon.

The only decent Presidents the DemocRats produced were Jackson and Polk.


12 posted on 09/07/2012 5:58:25 AM PDT by ZULU (See: http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=D9vQt6IXXaM&hd)
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To: cuban leaf

YOU are as clueless as they are!

Thousands of people own and legally buy, sell, and trade U.S. gold coins, minted before the confiscation.

Myself, included.

They are NOT illegal to own or sell.


13 posted on 09/07/2012 5:58:49 AM PDT by G Larry (Progressives are Regressive because their objectives devolve to the lowest common denominator.)
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To: cuban leaf

No... go to PCGS and have them appraised and slabbed. Personal property is personal property, appeal asap.

My hubby has been collecting gold slabbed coins for 20 years. We’re good, retirement is two years away.


14 posted on 09/07/2012 5:59:45 AM PDT by alice_in_bubbaland (When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes mandatory- Thomas Jefferson)
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To: shove_it

The original confiscation of gold was unconstitutional. If so, these coins should not go to the government. I hope the apellate courts see it that way.


15 posted on 09/07/2012 6:00:47 AM PDT by Daveinyork
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To: shove_it

“...Langbords gave the coins to the Philadelphia Mint for authentification...”

This is the most difficult part of the story to understand.
What exactly did they think would happen and who advised them to do this?


16 posted on 09/07/2012 6:02:28 AM PDT by count-your-change (You don't have to be brilliant, not being stupid is enough.)
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To: shove_it

Absolutely.


17 posted on 09/07/2012 6:02:42 AM PDT by sauropod (Only two of God's creatures can employ the term "we": newspaper editors and men with tapeworms-Hayes)
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To: dalebert

sory..the gov should not take them..will they melt these down..no ..someone will wind up with them in their collection.


18 posted on 09/07/2012 6:03:42 AM PDT by dalebert
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To: ZULU

“It was that damn Communist FDR, not Teddy Roosevelt who stole the people’s gold coins!!!!!!!”

Right you are.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/gold-coins-the-mystery-of-the-double-eagle-08252011.html


19 posted on 09/07/2012 6:06:15 AM PDT by shove_it (DNC = perpetual emotion machine)
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To: shove_it

While I doubt there is anyone on the FR who detests this out of control federal government more than myself, based SOLELY on the article, it looks like these coins might have been obtained illegally hence the ruling in favor of das government.

If the family thinks otherwise then they certainly should appeal.


20 posted on 09/07/2012 6:07:58 AM PDT by Wurlitzer (Nothing says "ignorance" like Islam!)
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