1933 Double Eagle

i thought there were three or two coins left, one in some museum and some is sold to some privet collector for 7 million dollars, and if there is a third coin it is still not discovered. But that's what I remember.

There are 10 1933 Double Eagles being "held" pending litigation. I believe 2 more are in the Smithsonian and 1 is in private hands.

The book "illegal Tender" was written about these coins. Don't know about the bag story but I had heard that early in '33 you could have exchanged $20 for a '33 Double Eagle. It's speculated that more are in private hands but since it's "illegal" to possess them - nobody's talking!

Here is the story on the 1933 double eagles. They were minted but never, I repeat never, released into circulation. All of them were melted per mint records. However a mint employee is believed to have substituted in at least 20 other date $20 into the 1933 bags and extracted like number of 33's that were then sold? given? traded? to a local Philadelphia jeweler who later disbursed some into the numismatic market place. Before these came up on the governments radar screen as "stolen goods" the government issued an export permit for one to be sent to Egypt's King Farouk (who was a major coin collector). That one coin is the one that has come back, been monetized and is legal to own. There are at least 2 in the Smithsonian and the 10 mentioned above that were confiscated from the heirs of the above mentioned jeweler when submitted to the mint for verification of authenticity. The book "Illegal Tender" makes fascinating reading all about these coins. The other confiscated coins were melted by the government after being taken from their owners in the frenzy following the discovery that some had made it into the collecting market.

Could you only imagine how much the second 1849 Liberty head double eagle would go for today, if it was actually found?

From what I heard they were under lock and key and mint official George McCann who happened to have the key was friends with the jeweler smuggled out a few of them and sold them to jeweler and friend Israel Switt. In 1944 one of these coins was purchased by King Farouk of Egypt. King Farouk at that time was one of the world's most notorious playboys and a collector of almost everything. His four palaces were stuffed with his various acquisitions piled up in an almost haphazard fashion. Coins especially interested Farouk. As a collector he was aware that any gold coin taken out of the United States would need an export license. In February of 1944 after the king purchased the Double Eagle he had it sent to the Mint so the export license could be issued. Mint officials, who were probably not even aware that the 1933 Double Eagles had never been officially issued, granted the license and the coin was sent to Egypt on March 11th, 1944.


To the OP: if you actually want to know everything about the history of these 1933 coins this would be a good place to read http://www.unmuseum.org/doubleeagle.htm

Exactly how many of these left the mint is uncertain. At one point some of them were actually in the US cash room where the general public could come and exchange coins so it is possible thatthey may have been handed out in exchange for other gold coins. In any case the mint records reports at all of them were melted down with none unaccounted for.

From 1933 through 1944 these coins were openly bought and sold and advertised. As mentioned Farouk bought one, applied for, and received an export permit for it. It was an auction for one in 1944 that that got the ball rolling about their legality. The secret service tracked then back to Izzy Swit who admitted to having sold nine of them. (Common belief among collectors ws that he had actually had 25 of them at one time.) But anyway he admitted to nine. The secret service tracked down the other eight and confiscated them, number nine being in Farouk's hands. And announced that all of the 1933 double eagles had been recored and all of the stolen 1933 double eagles had now been accounted for.

Then Eliasberg reveale that he had a 1933 double eagle and he requested to be allowed to keep it so thatthe only complete collection of coins could remain complete. this was denied and Eliasberg returned the tenth of the "nine stolen" coins and it was announced that all of the 1933 double eagle had now been accounted for.

In 2001 the so-called Farouk coin reappeared on the market and was confiscated and eventualy sold by the government and declared the only legal 1933 double eagle. I say so-called because some of those still living at the time who had seen the Farouk coin at the 1954 palace sale of his collection said that the Fenton coin conficated and sold by the government was not the same coin.

Then the Swit family turned up 10 more 1933 double eagles (I thought all of these were accounted for three times already?)

There is also a 1980 dated photo of one that does not match any of the Swit coins, the Smithsonian coins, or the Fenton coin And it can't be one of the other confiscated coins be cause other than the two that went to the Smithsonian they were all destroyed long before the 1980 photo was taken. (Since they are all accounted for where did this one come from?)

So that is nine confiscated, two sent to Smithsonian and seven destroyed. One sent to Farouk which may be the one legal pieces. Ten owned by the Swit family and confiscated by the government, and one known to exist by photo. That accounts for 21 coins. Twenty two if the Farouk and Fenton coins are not thesame one. So if the collectors of the day are right and Izzy had 25, there could still be three or four of them still out there. (Even though they have all been accounted for.)

Thanks! What I heard (but did not recall at the time I started the thread) was that all but the Farouk coin were destroyed. It recently turned up in the auction mentioned, and sold for about $7 million (accidentally) to a government agent. The government will sell the coin, and give the seller at the auction half of whatever the lucky collector who gets the coin pays for it. As this is the only legal-to-own 1933 Double Eagle, its price will go way up in the next sale. I wish I could add that one to my collection!

I have seen the ads from the late 1930's offering them for sale, published in the Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine which was the top general public numismatic magazine of the day. This was a national circulation magazine, not a local. I don't know if they were offered in The Numismatist or not. (My set of Numismatic Scrapbooks is fairly complete from 1937 to 1964. My set of The Numismatists from that period is more sketchy.) Whether or not any of them actually sold through the ads I can't say, but they were openly offered.

I have read the books and I got the information that they had been in the Cash room from one of them. Which one I do not recall.