I apologize if I misspoke. I had read years ago that the coin appeared in Farouk's sale and the US government had not issued any export licenses for it. That was a basis why they objected to its sale, but if I was wrong I apologize.
Many posts are interpreting Burdette's statements as "Did ..(occur) " rather than " could have..occurred" as his testimony ( see coin world article) used. He was presenting possibilities rather than realities. He interpreted mint memos as they "could have meant...). He was a $300+ /hr expert witness, and that is OK, but you expect he has a bias. Jim
they DID mistakenly issue an export license for the farouk coin back in the late 1940s or early 1950s, i forget the date. and that "mistake" is the reason they settled on the farouk coin before going to trial and put it up for auction.
A simple question to all. Were the '33 double eagles officially released to the general public? And by that I mean to banks and such.
It was 1944, and with the war, many suspect it wasn't a mistake as they had black ops then also, and a single coin, even illegal, was a diplomatic ploy. Remember the 1804 Silver dollars were diplomatic efforts also ( King of Siam, etc.)
**Many posts are interpreting Burdette's statements as "Did ..(occur) " rather than " could have..occurred" as his testimony ( see coin world article) used. He was presenting possibilities rather than realities. He interpreted mint memos as they "could have meant...). He was a $300+ /hr expert witness, and that is OK, but you expect he has a bias** And the government's expert witnesses are not biased? Well, this one is over and done with. The government outlawyered the Langbord's lawyers and witnesses. How many of those coins are still out there? Of course government records being what they were/are I guess we'll never know. What did the Stack coin expert say back in the 1970s? "Those coins have no listed value because they're traded privately" Human behavior is truly amazing. It's one of the things that makes life interesting.
Farouk had a world class coin collection with the 1933 double eagle being the crown jewel. The government may be backtracking now but I have read the export license absolutely was not issued by mistake.
i have read that it was a mistake through slow communication between government departments. i wasn't there, so i can't say for certain. maybe it was intentional for diplomatic reasons. who knows.
One of the YN's here accused me of being "pro government" or a government employee. LOLOLOL !! Quite the opposite ! I just believe the heirs were very naive in dealing with the Fed. I don't believe the Feds were ever gonna let this slip past them. Had the family wanted to profit from these coins, they sure went about it the wrong way. This was something that would have required a bit more ingenuity. IMHO