1933 Double Eagles 10 Found In 04 Who Own Them

It was anwar sadat in the 70s but all I was saying is we have givin the leader in the mideast special treatment.manly to keep a good supply of oil for our gas hog cars.you are right,I was wrong

The Government has them, and since they confiscated them they are the owners of them because they are illegal for anyone else to own

Here's a pretty good article in reference to the '33's:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1933_U...ar_gold_coin

Hate to disagree, but if they use that argument, then does that mean that anyone that has wine in their cellars made during prohibition is now illegal, because it was when it was made or purchased?

It was common back then to be able to go directly to the mint and purchase coins, sometimes even before they were actually released. I think the government and the mint are just grandstanding at our expense. The actual loss to the government even IF they were stolen back then is less than $ 1000 in gold at that time.

What about those thousands of $1200 laptops that are gone. Do you see the Secret Service hunting those down? I don't think so.

Politics at its worst. Sometimes, I think the biggest crooks in the nation wind up in DC.

My best wishes to the Switt family. I hope you whoop their tails.

MM

PS: As to the statement about the government owning the coins I have, I say BULL$&!%, if that is the case, then we all own NOTHING!

MM, two separate issues trying to compare bootleg booze of the 1930s and non-monetized gold coins of 1933 (well-established as stolen from the US government). When the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution instituting Prohibition was repealed by the 21st Amendment, that made bootleg liquor (and beers and wines) legal to brew, own, possess, and consume for one's own use. The only time, then and now that alcoholic beverages may be brewed for use by others is with licenses and taxes paid prior to sale, so if the hypothetical hooch was brewed illegally in the 1930s in somebody's basement, it became legal and remains legal as long as it stays in the house and is not offered for sale. Further, the booze wasn't brewed by the government for issue to the public; bootleg stuff was manufactured by private concerns for other private concerns. Coins aren't consumable and they're government manufactured. If the Switts had kept a lid on their 33 DEs, then they may have gotten away with it and kept them, albeit underground, but they demonstrated intent to sell stolen property.

I have no knowledge of apparently a large theft of stolen computers, but unless they were stolen from the Dept of Treasury, they would be outside the jurisdiction of the Secret Service and would be the responsibility of law enforcement officials of whatever agency from whom they were stolen or the FBI.

Further, we're not discussing a mere thousand bucks of gold but commodities which are worth millions each, something which tends to attract the eye of government law enforcement people.

I'm not necessarily defending the government, but in this instance, they have all the facts of the matter on their side and wishing otherwise is not gonna make it happen. The only way this is gonna change is through an act of Congress, a Presidential Declaration, or some other means of monetizing the 1933 St. Gaudens Double Eagles. And this is the Switt family's only chance for compensation or possession of the St. Gaudens.

All of this was covered in the August threads of this topic.

It is my understanding that no 1933's were released from the Mint for circulation or otherwise. Therefore, one can assume that they were in fact stolen. It was then and it is now unlawful to own stolen property no matter if the current owners are aware that the item was stolen or not. A stolen item is returned to it's "rightful" owner...or so it suppose to be that way.

The burden of proof, so to speak, will be on the Switt family to prove that the coins were not stolen. Just how can they prove that? In order to retain the coins, it must be proven on the other side that they were stolen from the Mint. Now, who do you think can prove what?

It is a clear fact that it is unlawful to own or take private ownership of a 1933 St Gaudens - period!

The one that "escaped" the Country...well....that is a different story but, in my not so humble opinion, should have been returned just like the others to retain the legality of the law itself.

My initial question about this whole thing is why would someone not research this prior to sending them to the Gov in the first place. Rather ignorant don't you think? If they sent them to be "authenticated" then they had to have known/or thought what they were in possession of and the value. Perhaps they erred in the way of honesty but, something seems fishy. Did they think that the Mint would buy them back?

Here's the scoop on the auctioned '33 for those that don't know the "history".

NEW YORK (FK) - Proving that rarity and quality are the ultimate combination, the infamous 1933 $20 Saint Gaudens (Double Eagle) was sold at auction by Sotheby's auction house for an astounding $7.5 million.

The price paid is the highest ever for a rare coin and instantly make this the most famous and most expensive coin in the world.

The coin was the subject of great controversy. U.S. $20 gold coins were minted from 1850 to 1933. But the 1933 specimens were never released for circulation because of President Roosevelt executive order that same year that removed the United States off the gold standard.

All of the 1933 $20 U.S. Gold coins struck were believed to have been melted by the mint and gold yielded, transferred to Ft. Knox.

However, it has been speculated and rumored for the past six decades that one or more examples were smuggled out of the U.S. Mint before they were melted. Some numismatic historians believe this coin was not smuggled but was in fact given as a gift by mint officials to King Farouk, Egypt's last monarch. Farouk is one of the last century's most famous rare coin collectors.

This coin re-emerged in 1996 and came into the possession of Stephen Fenton who is a well known and respected rare coin dealer based in London, England.

Fenton smuggled the coin into the United States and was apprehended with the coin after attempting to sell it to undercover Secret Service agents in New York. Since the origin and the legality of this 1933 Double Eagle was clearly clouded and in question the U.S. Government agreed to an out-of-court settlement with Fenton last year. The terms of which mandated the sale of the coin at auction and proceeds to be split. Fenton also agreed to also pay an additional $20 cash back to the U.S. government in order to balance the books.

The sale price includes $6.6 million for the U.S. government, a 15 percent commission for Sotheby's and the coin's $20 face value.

This sale is an important turning point for rare coin collectors and investors. It shows that serious money is making its way from Wall Street back into hard assets and collectables. Rare coins are being considered viable investment vehicles after being out of favor for more than a decade. There are many extremely rare coins that can be obtained in superb, Gem Uncirculated condition for as little as $5,000. Many great rarities in superb condition are still available for well under $50,000 a well. Based on this latest sale, this may not be the case for long.