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 ...
Why don't you use some of your coins to buy a clue? These coins were never issued. Never. They aren't coins that were issued, but were not turned in when FDR seized the gold. These coins left the mint in somebody's sock. Which is why grandpa never sold them -- he knew (expletive deleted) that they were hot.
The article does not state whether the mint was selling some of the gold coins to dealers at this time or not.
If they were all supposed to have been turned in, then the cashier basically stole the coins, no matter whether he sold them or gave them away. One cannot legally give or sell stolen property, even if the person receiving it did so in good faith.
However, if the government was allowing some of these coins to be sold to collectors at that time, then the government needs to return them to the family.
These specific coins were stolen goods received directly by Israel Switt from the thief.
There is a reason why he hid them in a safe deposit box and did not insure them.
“What exactly did they think would happen and who advised them to do this?”
“The government is your friend! They are here to help you!!!”
Too many "tell me how you feel" assignments in journalism classes, I guess.
The article - which is quite sloppily written - does not state this.
But the historical fact is that these coins were never circulated, the coins in question were stolen by a mint employee, and were sold illegally.
Those damn sneaky REPUBLICANS!............./s
That phrase was first spoken by General Custer.
Yes, that is also how I understand it.
Now, that being said, the gov’t cold make a quick $80M by selling them. I can’t afford one, but it would be nice to know that they were safe in private hands. I don’t trust the gov’t not to melt them down out of spite.
But be cautious; a lot of those "appraisers" will make you an offer well below market, or ask "how much do you want for them?"
Your statement makes me (ahem) them cringe at the thought of the loss of physical American history that will outlive our nation.
—another example of why I may as well remove the last four words from my byline-—
Do these mints still have the molds for these rare coins, in other words, are they still able to make 1933 gold/silver coins, or any other year — if they really wanted to???
St Gaudens Double Eagle PING
But be cautious; a lot of those “appraisers” will make you an offer well below market, or ask “how much do you want for them?” ...More than what they got.
No, no! It was General Sherman on his road trip through Atlanta to Savannah!.........
“All your property are belong to us”...U.S. Government
The original plan, mentioned in the court filings I believe, was to display them for the public at the Mint.
It was not their property.
—Melting them down would have destroyed their numismatic value - which in this case was considerable.—
The value is zero now.
It’s the ol’ “10% of something is better than 100% of nothing” axiom in action.
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