# Say goodbye to $160 million in gold coin!



## silversaddle1 (Jul 22, 2011)

It's a case that combines history and mystery--and very valuable gold coins. The stakes were certainly high: One of these rare $20 pieces sold for a record $7.59 million in 2002.

Here's the story. A jury decided that a Philadelphia woman, Joan Langbord, who found the coins in her father's bank deposit box, never should have owned them, and that the U.S. government was right to take them back.

The government argued that the never-circulated gold coins should never have been anywhere outside the U.S. Mint. Only a half-million of the coins were made. The rare "double eagle" coins, designed by sculptor August Saint-Gaudens, are fervently sought by collectors—and worth a mint. When the United States abolished the gold standard in 1933, most of the pieces were melted down.

Two were sent to the Smithsonian, and 20 disappeared—the very 20 that can be traced to Langbord's father, a Philadelphia jeweler named Israel Switt. In challenging Langbord's ownership rights, the government argued that the dollar coins were most likely stolen. Langbord, who is 81, argued that her father did business with the Mint, and the coins could have been acquired legally.

But the government case seemed to sway the jury against Switt: The jeweler had been investigated for illegally possessing gold coins in the 1930s and '40s, but Switt was never prosecuted because the statute of limitations had expired.

The Secret Service believed that Switt worked a shady deal with a cashier inside the U.S. Mint to acquire the coins, which are currently being held at Fort Knox.

:evil: :evil: :evil:


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## rusty (Jul 22, 2011)

Those double eagle coins are probably the only real gold in Fort Knox.

Sad story that the old lady lost the coins to the feds.

Regards
Rusty


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## darshevo (Jul 23, 2011)

I'm the original conspiracy theory guy, but this is much like the coincidence of the US govt removing areas with 'lost gold mines' from mineral location. It stinks of corruption and collusion. 

Of course the fact that I mistrust and fear my govt may have something to do with my mindset :mrgreen:


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## Anonymous (Jul 23, 2011)

I am very familiar with this story.The woman that found the coins,is also the one that alerted the government to the discovery.That is exactly why you do not offer free information to the government.If they know you have excess....they will take it away.They had no proof that the coins were stolen.There was more proof that O.J. was guilty,and we all know what happened there.
Had it been me,those coins would have found a market somewhere,but not here.


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## butcher (Jul 23, 2011)

my question is are these coins now only worth gold content, while the government hangs onto them?


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## element47 (Jul 23, 2011)

> They had no proof that the coins were stolen



This is not quite true. ALL 1933 double eagles are by definition stolen....except for exactly ONE which was owned by King Farouk. 

There was never an authorization for these coins to be released. They were fabricated as a matter of normal minting of coins, but the order to never release them occurred before they could reach any form of circulation. Whatever coins exist are the result of a supposedly crooked clerk who let about a dozen out. These were ten of them. 

This is/was a sad story in that the family lost such a huge imaginary fortune. They acted naively, giving the government access to their incredible find, without researching further the deep dark history of 1933 d-eagles. They might have escaped with nine coins (@ .9675 tr oz gold each) that they would have had to melt down or obilterate and giving the govt one. It was indeed foolish of them to give the government ALL of the coins to verify authenticity. Still, 9 oz gold vs $70 million is quite the comedown!


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## element47 (Jul 24, 2011)

I should add that I believe there are another 1-2-3 1933 d-eagles in the Smithsonian...these coins have exited the Mint on an authorized basis but I can't see how one could say they "entered circulation".


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## rasanders22 (Aug 1, 2011)

To be fair, the one that siold for 7+ million only was sold for the much because it was considered the only one to exist. Even if these coins were legal to own, dumping them on the market at the same time, or even staggering them, would result in a lower value. Althought it seems to me that with the current shape of the governments finances, a presidental order declaring these legal and selling them would probably be a sound financial move.


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