1933 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle Graded MS65 (no holder !)

Yup, and remember.....this license wasn't known until Fenton's lawyer (Burke, who also represented the Langbord's later on) uncovered the Treasury Export license.

Without that piece of paper, the coin goes back to the government (maybe melted). And maybe Fenton goes to jail (though they dropped the charges).

Alot of papers were destroyed in the 1970's that belonged to the Philly Mint (can't remember who ordered them trashed, some woman I believe). Some of them may have shed more light on how the 1933 Saints got released.

 

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they also showed an apathy for history.

 

Stolen coins or not, they were important artifacts of an important historical moment, and they decided to just destroy them. Those coins said something sincerely important about the Depression and the national emergency at the time, and they MELTED them.

 

Yes, and that's the mentality I was trying to show existed in my posts....there was a STRONG hatred of guys like Switt and even a dislike for "honest" guys like Eliasberg.

These Treasury/Mint folks made maybe $3K or $5K a year in salary.....here's guys taking their $20 Double Eagle that they "stole" and making $800 or even $2,000 later on from a single purchase/sale.

This was partly personal grudge-settling.

 

How did Farouk acquire it? Obviously the Treasury Department didn't consider him in receipt of stolen property when they granted him the export license.

 

They tried to get the coin back....but he was an ally in this little thing called World War II..... and they decided to prioritize defeating this guy called Hitler over getting back the Double Eagle.

So they let it slide......

 

It’s simpler than that, are they going to invade Egypt to get it back? Of course not. Yea they did use it as a favor for good will but they really had no choice anyways.

 

Lol. But very succinctly-put, I must give credit where credit is due. Good answer.

 

I hear they were planning to invade Egypt 5 or 6 years later and this Korean thing happened.....

Imagine the frustration....

"Damn, we're NEVER gonna get that coin back here !"

 

They already got it back here. All they got to do now is bid it back.

 

Yes, but that doesn't excuse the coin theft. This kind of behavior within the coin collecting business is destructive, imorral and is not restricted to coins that a Jeweler in Phidephia managed to con out of the US Mint because he had coconspirators within the Mint. It happens to individuals, companies, dealers both small and large, and it happened to our family. Dealing in stolen coins is WRONG and destroys the ingrety of the industry. It causes real harm, and hurts hard working families. Everyone involved knew these coins were illicit, and there are probably still some 33 double eagles out there, along with my fathers 1917 MS68 SLQ. There is an ugly black market in the coin business, and it needs to be squashed.

 

Hi Ruben.

 

Do you think that will get me off this point?

 

Just imagine them being like we need to start having special forces seal teams to get this coin back.

 

Or The Avengers....

 

Dealing in stolen coins is WRONG and destroys the integrety of the industry. I know you might object, but it is true.

 

Not to far off since a bunch of people trying to make careers for themselves treat them like infinity stones

 

Don't miss quote me. I said "Hi Huben" and again Hi Ruben.
Don't attach me to ever saying that selling stolen coins is not wrong.
I have never said that and your post is an insulting lie. Get your damn facts straight.

 

Try to get it right then instead of being antagonististic without cause or reason. I never did anything to you to misidentify you and acuse you of being someone else whenever the conversation goes somewhere you don't like. You pull this stunt whenever you don't like me pointing out that there is a black market in coins and it needs to be cleaned up. Draw your own conclusions. I take cause and effect at face value.

 

There was an ugly trend in early American numismatics to have collectibles made to order. The big dealers had sweetheart deals with mint employees that no one else got. 1921 Zerbe proofs? 1804 restrike dollars? Heck - all 5x 1913 Liberty nickels?

Often, the story sells the coin. Not actual rarity or even condition or innate beauty of design, but the tales associated with it. As both a coin collector and a writer, & I have less of a problem with that than some of the modern US mint shennanigans.