Posted on 09/08/2012 11:35:22 PM PDT by grundle
A judge has ruled that ten rare gold coins worth roughly $80 million belong to the U.S. government, not the family that possessed them, according to ABC News.
In 2003 Joan Langbord and two other family members opened a safety deposit box that belonged to Langbord’s father, Philadelphia coin dealer Israel Switt, and found the valuable collection. When they asked the Philadelphia Mint to authenticate the find, the coins were apparently seized without compensation and taken to Fort Knox.
The 1933 Saint-Gaudens double eagle is “one of the most sought-after rarities in history,” according to Courthouse News. Originally valued at $20 each, one owned by King Farouk of Egypt reportedly sold for as much as $7.5 million at a Sotheby’s auction in 2002.
The Langbords unsuccessfully sued the government in 2011, alleging that the coins are rightfully theirs, and now they have lost the appeal.
Jacqueline Romero, assistant U.S. attorney in Philadelphia, explained that the coins legally belonged to the government after Franklin Delano Roosevelt ordered citizens to exchange their gold for cash in an effort to keep the banks afloat during the Great Depression.
“Those coins were all in a vault and were supposed to be melted,” she asserted.
The family maintains that in another seizure of the valuable coin, the government split the proceeds with the original owner after it sold for $7.59 million in 2002, and that the coins escaped the Mint legitimately through a “window of opportunity” between March 15 and April 5, 1933, the Huffington Post relates.
However, U.S. District Judge Legrome Davis Jr. wrote in his decision: “The Mint meticulously tracked the ‘33 Double Eagles, and the records show that no such transaction occurred…What’s more, this absence of a paper trail speaks to criminal intent. If whoever took or exchanged the coins thought he was doing no wrong, we would expect to see some sort of documentation reflecting the transaction, especially considering how carefully and methodically the Mint accounted for the ‘33 Double Eagles.”
“Nobody witnessed the disappearance of the 10 coins, but the jury could – and did – properly infer criminal intent,” Davis added.
Barry Berke, the family’s attorney, concluded for ABCNews.com: “This is a case that raises many novel legal questions, including the limits on the government’s power to confiscate property.”
I wonder if that Executive Order in ‘33 was Constitutional.I mean,it’s not as if leftist Rat Presidents are adverse to issuing such orders.
Stolen?
I didn’t see that in the article.
Of course, if they were stolen, then the coins belong to the rightful owner.
But... where does it say they were stolen?
If that is the rulling, then if I were the current owner of coins, I would take them out in the ocean and dump them.
Let the Gov’t try to find them.
In an earlier thread, my take was that the coins were purloined from the government by the ancestors of the folks who lost the lawsuit.
Perhaps I misinterpreted how they were acquired in mint condition
To whom did the coins belong? If no legal transaction existed to show the coins were transferred to an individual, then they belong to the government. Regardless, the government minted the coins and, scripturally, has a right to tax any transaction made with them at the least. The people asked for a king and they got one. When you get a king, everything belongs to the king.
The big issue at hand is not the gold coins or who owns them. The big issue at hand is failure of Americans to render proper service to God Almighty. Judgement is coming, here and in the life after.
Under Executive Order 6102 you could keep 5 ounces of gold plus rare coins and gold for industrial use.
The less you have to do with any federal government agency the better the outcome.
They should have taken them one at a time to Europe to sell through a foreign dealer.
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# 22 and # 28.
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Just one more reason to NEVER let the government know what you own, if feasible. Keep your head down and be quiet about your non-reported assets (gold, food hoard, weapons/ammo, etc.) I don’t have any assets that the gov is not aware of, so I’m not a target, but for those of you who do...hide them.
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Obama: Family*s $80 Million Gold Coin Collection Belongs to My Government
Hey my new Hawaii Mansion will Cost Me $35 Million!
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There is a HUGE difference between what is “legal” and what is “wrong”.
Wasn’t the killing og Jews legal under the Nazis? Wasn’t the execution of witches in Salem legal? Isn’t it against the law in many places to take food and other perfectly usuable items discarded by the owners and use or give those things to people who desperately need such?
If the gold coins in question simply stolen and not either wages or paid for otherwise then I must admit as stolen property they should return to the rightful owner. But the FACT that the U.S. government under the dictatorship of FDR stole the gold of all Americans ,or at least those who didn’t have the courage to simply hide their gold , still remains.
The government wants to know what you possess so it can either confiscate those goods or extort more money in exchange for not taking those possessions.
Why do you think the various governments hate and try to regulate cash and barter ?
What “they” don’t know you have is less likely to be confiscated.
Of course,there is always the danger of a family member ,neighbor, or friend turning you in;that is how the totalitarians always do it,and why the government wants control of all schools/children so they may be fully indoctrinated as unwitting snitches.
I’ve collectged and followed the coin world for 35 years, I have a clue in this...
I’ve collectged and followed the coin world for 35 years, I have a clue in this...
The morons SENT them to the Philly mint for authentication...
My only consolation here is that the stupidest people onm the planet didn’t end up with them...
There’s no way these 10 coins are worth $80 million collectively. Once buyers realize there are that many around, the price will drop like a rock.
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The US Supreme Court did crack down in some cases on FDR’s increasingly Unconstitutional agendas and dictatorial actions -
One scheme involve FDR simply changing the numeric composition total of SCOTUS Justices by appointing more leftists..... “Packing the court”
But this SCOTUS under squishy “go-along” Chief Justice John Roberts seems to have decided to edit and rewrite the (now “flexible”) US Constitution in Obama’s favor by changing the text and words to declare that Obamacare is a “tax” levied by the Federal government
At the rate Obama has been packing the court with racists and Commie-Socialists now -
You can only stop and attempt to imagine what America will be like if Obama is reelecteed and appoints another 2-3-4 more radicals to a Socialistic “flexible” SCOTUS
Even well before B Hussein Obama II - SCOTUS gave governments unconstitutional permission to seize private homes and other private property
The alleged “reason” or “justification” being the government needed to be able to collect higher taxes and more revenue
- Will a SCOTUS Justice ever have his/her/(it’s) home and property seized by the government so the can collect more taxes?
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It is “folklore”
- but Obama’s dream -
Many people keep a handgun secured in a bank lockbox - often with a will -
- Why not add the BATF and the FBI to the IRS and HLS
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“Theft by State”
Indeed. By the time we get around to realizing they’ve been picking us off one family at a time, it’ll be too late.
If you follow the coin collecting community then you should know the story behind this coin. Even if someone swapped gold certificates or pre 1933 gold coins for the 1933 SG DE it is still theft. Notice no one is talking about the millions of other gold coins that are on the market?
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