Here's some BS - US Mint Seizes Collector's Coins | FerrariChat
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Here's some BS - US Mint Seizes Collector's Coins

Discussion in 'Other Off Topic Forum' started by REMIX, Aug 26, 2005.

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  1. REMIX

    REMIX Two Time F1 World Champ

    May 25, 2005
    21,133
    Jacksonville & Sarasota
    #1 REMIX, Aug 26, 2005
    PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- The U.S. Mint seized 10 Double Eagle gold coins from 1933, among the rarest and most valuable coins in the world, that were turned in by a jeweler seeking to determine their authenticity.

    Joan S. Langbord plans a federal court lawsuit to try to recover them, her attorney, Barry H. Berke, said Wednesday. Langbord found the coins among the possessions of her father, longtime Philadelphia jeweler Israel Switt, who had acknowledged having sold some of the coins decades ago. She now operates her father's business.

    David Lebryk, acting director of the Mint, had announced in a news release that the rare coins, which were never put in circulation, had been taken from the Mint "in an unlawful manner" in the mid-1930's and now were "recovered."

    The coins, which are so rare that their value is almost beyond calculation, are public property, he said.

    But Berke said Mint officials couldn't prove the coins had been stolen, or were subject to forfeiture.

    In 2002, Sotheby's and numismatic firm Stack's auctioned off a 1933 Double Eagle coin for $7.59 million, the highest price ever paid for a coin. That Double Eagle, which is believed to have been part of a collection belonging to King Farouk of Egypt, surfaced when a coin dealer tried selling it to undercover Secret Service agents.

    After a legal battle, the dealer was permitted to sell the coin at auction on the condition he split the proceeds with the Mint.

    In its statement, the Mint said officials were still deciding what they would do with the seized coins, which are being held at a military fort. They said they had no plans to auction them but would consider saving "these historical artifacts" for public exhibits. Other double eagle coins seized in the past were melted down.

    Double Eagles were first minted in 1850 with a face value of $20. The 445,500 coins minted in 1933 were never put into circulation because the U.S. went off the gold standard. All the coins were ordered melted down, but a handful are believed to have survived, including two handed over to the Smithsonian Institution.

    Langbord declined to discuss how the coins might have come into the possession of her father, who operated an antiques and jewelry shop for 70 years and died in 1990 at 95.

    The Mint contends Switt obtained a cache of the gold coins from his connections at the Mint just before they were to be reduced to bullion in 1937.

    Switt admitted in 1944 that he had sold nine Double Eagle coins, but he was not charged in connection with those transactions, according to the Mint.

    The family attorney said the coins were found recently, and Langbord and her son, Roy, notified the Mint of the discovery in September. Mint officials asked to authenticate the coins, then confiscated them after doing so, Berke said.

    He contended Langbord and her son never relinquished their right to the coins.
     
  2. AntonyR

    AntonyR F1 Veteran

    Apr 12, 2004
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    #2 AntonyR, Aug 26, 2005
    That is just wrong......


    Antony
     
  3. Schatten

    Schatten F1 World Champ
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    Apr 3, 2001
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    #3 Schatten, Aug 26, 2005
    They will be ruined by human hands when he gets them back, IF he gets them back. Quite sad. Collectors, or even smugglers for this matter make coins like that classic and priceless.
     
  4. AKS

    AKS Formula Junior

    Apr 11, 2004
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    #4 AKS, Aug 26, 2005
    I have to second that. Where the hell does the Mint get off? Even if they where obtained under less than legal ways, wouldn't the Statute of Limitations come into effect? I wouldn't be surprised if they ended up at a goverment auction a few years from now.
     
  5. SrfCity

    SrfCity F1 World Champ

    Nov 1, 2003
    10,142
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    #5 SrfCity, Aug 26, 2005
    I find it weird that the jeweler’s daughter would contact the mint to determine their value. The rarest coins in the world and she risks them snagging them? She had to have known some of the story behind them. Something doesn't add up.
     
  6. judge4re

    judge4re F1 World Champ

    Apr 26, 2003
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    #6 judge4re, Aug 26, 2005
    I agree.
     
  7. Kram

    Kram Formula Junior

    Jul 3, 2004
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    #7 Kram, Aug 26, 2005
    It sort of does add up:

    Let’s see...... $7.59 million for what is probably about $1,000 of gold (a guess), based on weight..... Sounds easy to forge too, after all there are lots of photos and, apart from the final ‘3’ in the year, lots of other coins to copy and gold has a low melting temperature. To sell the coins Ms. Langbord would need them authenticated and there is only one source for that - the Mint, anyone else would just have an opinion. Come to think of it if you asked around for opinions the Mint would hear about it and come to look at them anyway. The fact that the Mint has seized the coins cements their value, though with so many about it is probably no longer $7.59 each. Both parties know that after some shuffling about some of the coins will be auctioned off and the proceeds split, a situation that will leave Ms. Langbord financially better off than had she tried to quietly sell them without mint certification. She did the smart thing. The Mint, which cannot prove they were stolen, is behaving badly, but hey, they are a branch of the government.
    I bet that Israel Switt’s perfect crime of 1933 was to replace the weight of those coins with gold bullion of the same purity - probably Eagles of a different year. Once melted all the gold was accounted for and thus the Mint never knew a batch of the ‘33 Eagles were stolen. Nice.
     
  8. Jdubbya

    Jdubbya The $10 Trillion Man
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    Dec 28, 2003
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    #8 Jdubbya, Aug 26, 2005
    It has long been thought (really only suspected but the mint will say "known") that there were more coins floating around. The theory is that the mint knew exactly how many were missing but they could never find them. This is the stuff legends are made of, literally!

    The story that has been told is that 10 coins were "stolen" and 9 were recovered (some people suspected however that there were more out there). The "one" remaining coin was "somewhat" legally exported as a gift to the King of Egypt. The one that sold for 7.5+ mil was thought to be "that coin"!

    I too think that the outcome of the legal battles to come will end with the coins being auctioned off and the proceeds split somehow. If the coins are found to be legit, that "somehow" part is probably the only real question left.

    The key to why she would approach the mint in the first place is a legality in itself. The coins were never issued as "legal tender" and therefore cannot be legally owned. Whether she knew this and did it intentionally or not is a moot point because they would have seized them either way.

    If in fact they did offer to authenticate them and then seized them, well that's pretty underhanded even for the Govt... but technically they are probably within the law.
     

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