[NRx]

As loathe as I am to side with the Feds in a property dispute, I think in this case they are right. As far as I can tell no one is disputing that the coins are stolen property. It is a long established principal, both legally and morally, that a victim of theft is entitled to the return of their property. I don't think that should change because in this case the victim was the government. If you are trying to hang on to what everyone knows is property stolen by one of your ancestors, and you are reduced to arguing in court that you should be allowed to keep it because the victim of the crime failed to file some paperwork in a timely manner, then all I can say is your moral compass is not working.

[Mr. Douglas]

I think you are correct.

And the lesson here is this: If you ever find gold like this, melt it down.

[Red Badger]

Correct.

Time does not diminish the crime.......................

[DiogenesLamp]

As far as I can tell no one is disputing that the coins are stolen property. It is a long established principal, both legally and morally, that a victim of theft is entitled to the return of their property. I don't think that should change because in this case the victim was the government.

Nor do I, but if the statute of limitations for stolen property is seven years for everyone else, then the same rule ought to apply to the Government.

I'm tired of different standards for the powerful.

[Bogie]

However, this underscores how much real finite assets are a better investment than currency based assets.

Actually it's as good a view of the fascism, communism, and propaganda mind games of governments, that you will ever find.

[Sgt_Schultze]

Of course, you are right. But don't you find it silly, vis a vis your statement, If you are trying to hang on to what everyone knows is property stolen by one of your ancestors, and you are reduced to arguing in court that you should be allowed to keep it because the victim of the crime failed to file some paperwork in a timely manner, then all I can say is your moral compass is not working.

This is PRECISELY the argument being made by the extremists regarding illegal aliens and "dreamers." Those parents stole their presence in the country, yet now demand that their progeny be able to retain possession of the stolen residence.

[factoryrat]

How dare these American peasants try to take and hold the democrat-socialist king Roosevelt’s gold!

Their first mistake was making the fed and their sheriffs aware of their existence.

Their second mistake was announcing to anyone in the US of their very existence.

Their third mistake was assuming that the government would NOT try to confiscate them, and imprison the owners.

[Boogieman]

“I don’t think that should change because in this case the victim was the government.”

The government are thieves, and stealing from thieves is a victimless crime, as far as I’m concerned.

[Blood of Tyrants]

How does the government know they were stolen? Could a person not simply have swapped out a different year coin into the pile? After all, at the time the federal government was going to melt them down into gold bars and destroy them any way.

[PGR88]

Two parts of this article jumped out at me

By 1933, coins made of gold had lost their luster, at least to the newly elected Franklin D. Roosevelt.

that's a major understatement - basically a LIE. FDR ordered CONFISCATION of US citizens gold, so he could devalue the currency i.e.) steal the savings and wages of American citizens. First of many American statists and socialists using the power over currency to steal from citizens.

The family gave the coins over to the Secret Service for authentication.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. As Bluto said in Animal House (later US Senator Blutarksy): "you F***ed up! You trusted us!"

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

By 1933, coins made of gold had lost their luster, at least to the newly elected Franklin D. Roosevelt. “We are now off the gold standard,” he told a group of advisers...

Yeah...Roosevelt ended the gold standard because gold coins had "lost their luster". Sure.

If true, then why did he order the forfeiture of all privately held gold?

[a fool in paradise]

More crucially, Judge Thomas Hardiman, writing for the majority, concluded in the opinion that the coins had been U.S. property all along.

Isn't ALL money U.S. property? Isn't it illegal to deface it?