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 ...
Here's a case of bad choice of appraiser.
Hope they win on appeal.
Outrageous.
I’d heard about this case and others. The best thing to do when you find such coins is to melt them down.
I cannot believe that they were this stupid!
You take them to the government when you have thousands of appraisers listed in the Yellow Pages???
Even at that, only take one and don’t blab!
After President Theodore Roosevelt had the U.S. abandon the gold standard, most of the 445,500 double eagles that the Philadelphia Mint had struck were melted into gold bars.”
?????????????????????
It was that damn Communist FDR, not Teddy Roosevelt who stole the people's gold coins!!!!!!!
If you put yourself at the mercy of the State, anything can happen to you. It is better to avoid them at all costs.
Just like Hitler
KGB..this is what happens when people belong to the government instead of the government belonging to them. they take everything.
Melting them down would have destroyed their numismatic value - which in this case was considerable.
it doesnt matter..the government should on take them
The full story is rather complicated and can't be summed up in a Yahoo article. Suffice to say the grandfather of the boy claiming ownership was involved in illegal coin dealings with employees of the mint. Because the coins were never issued the only way they left the mint and weren't melted down is if a mint insider stole them from the mint - so they remain U.S. government property.
His “Bank Holiday” stole their savings. I hate that Commie SOB. He was one of the WORST of American Presidents and yet stands tall in the DemocRat Pantheon.
The only decent Presidents the DemocRats produced were Jackson and Polk.
YOU are as clueless as they are!
Thousands of people own and legally buy, sell, and trade U.S. gold coins, minted before the confiscation.
Myself, included.
They are NOT illegal to own or sell.
No... go to PCGS and have them appraised and slabbed. Personal property is personal property, appeal asap.
My hubby has been collecting gold slabbed coins for 20 years. We’re good, retirement is two years away.
The original confiscation of gold was unconstitutional. If so, these coins should not go to the government. I hope the apellate courts see it that way.
“...Langbords gave the coins to the Philadelphia Mint for authentification...”
This is the most difficult part of the story to understand.
What exactly did they think would happen and who advised them to do this?
Absolutely.
sory..the gov should not take them..will they melt these down..no ..someone will wind up with them in their collection.
“It was that damn Communist FDR, not Teddy Roosevelt who stole the people’s gold coins!!!!!!!”
Right you are.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/gold-coins-the-mystery-of-the-double-eagle-08252011.html
While I doubt there is anyone on the FR who detests this out of control federal government more than myself, based SOLELY on the article, it looks like these coins might have been obtained illegally hence the ruling in favor of das government.
If the family thinks otherwise then they certainly should appeal.
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