Heirs Lose Fight With Gov't to Keep Rare Gold Coins

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Heirs-Lose-Fight-With-Government-to-Keep-Dads-Rare-1933-Gold-Coins-125908579.html

The verdict surprised me. I thought the family would win the case.

 

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Wow! Now I'm glad I decided not to buy that 1913 Liberty Nickel.

 

Being a civil case, it required a lesser burden of proof on the government's behalf. Keep in mind, the family turned these over to the treasury department for authentication, which is not the act of a guilty party.

 

**Not me. There is no country in the world which allows someone to gain possession of stolen property by any means whatsoever and keep it.**

I have not read there is evidence that the coins were stolen

 

Oops, turn it this a duplicate thread.

http://www.cointalk.com/t187255/

 

I wonder if those “heirs” ever regret turning them into the Treasury Department…

 

I suspect maybe a little bit, but realistically what could they possibly do with them? Getting them graded by a TPG would let the cat out of the bag, and probably have much more unfavorable consequences.

 

Very true, but still I can only imagine…to think for an instance that you have fortune on your hands only to have it ripped away. However, it was stolen property, so while I agree with the decision I can’t help but think that it sucks to be them. Of course the same feeling applies to someone who spent a lot of money on a coin thought to be rare, but in all actuality was a counterfeit.

 

wow...i had a discussion about this on " '33 Double Eagle" and I am still 50/50 on the verdict

 

I would of kept them a secret

 

Since the heirs came into possession of the stolen coins, they might have been able to take them out of the country and sold them abroad to a private collector. However, if word leaked out, they would likely have faced criminal prosecution. You cannot legally possess stolen government property and the government NEVER relinquishes claim to it. A good example of this ar the sunken Spanish Galleons. Even if they were lost 500 years ago, if any government can show proof of ownership of the contents, then it belongs to that government. There doesn't seem to be a statute of limitations ?

In the case of these coins, the court had no choice but find against the heirs. IMHO

gary

 

". . . A good example of this ar the sunken Spanish Galleons. Even if they were lost 500 years ago, if any government can show proof of ownership of the contents, then it belongs to that government. There doesn't seem to be a statute of limitations ? . . "

Different unique complicated international treaties and laws apply to sunken ships and treasure eg military ship or merchant ship or merchant ship carrying civilian cargo or civilian ship carrying military cargo. ad nauseum It boggles the mind.

 

It should not have surprised anyone. It's the Govt. Enough said.
If the coins were released, before the recall, they should be legal. The only thing they would have to have had was a paper trail, then the Govt. would not be able to keep them. -O)

 

It should be impossible for them to released without gov't approval.

 

The US Government has won similar cases involving
"moon rocks".

 

Moon rocks may fall into a different category as the chain of custody is usually very clear up to when they disappeared.

These coins not so much. If only I had been on the jury.

 

I would love to get my hands on the court transcripts if and when they become available in order to actually ascertain what the Langbord's defense was and what evidence the Government presented to back their dubious claims that none of these coins ever legally left the mint. That being said, were I the Langbords, I do beleive I would have simply taken them out of the country and then quietly offered them for sale to privately interested parties in the 3-5 mil range each. 30-50 million is a lot nicer than $0. Honestly, they could have put them in a carry on and left the country with them with no problems, your average TSA agent isn't going to be smart enough to know or care what they are.