Why did it just show up? Apparently this decision was of an appeal and was just handed down either last Wednesday or this morning. Most likely last week.
Not too much of a believer in this number. The coins as a group are probably worth 20 million at auction. That 7 million dollar price was because it was a unique coin and a bookend for a highly popular series. If these were sold, they wouldn't be unique anymore.
The Philadelphia Mint struck 445,500 double eagles at the height of the Great Depression, but it pulled them back weeks later as President Theodore Roosevelt ordered U.S. banks to abandon the gold standard. The writer does NOT KNOW the President on that time.. President Theodore Roosevelt ( 1901-1909) So the President who oredered US bank to abandon the gold standard. Is none other President FRANK DELANO ROOSEVELT ( 1933-1945). < One of the top two voted by Presidential Historian Society among 41 President served in oval office. Number One is Pres. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. ( 1861-1865)
Correct, This coin mentioned before it was sold they Called it The Monalisa in Numismatist World by US Mint Director who is advertising that coin. The Monalisa must be a single coin without a duplicate.
Sometimes coins are only unique because people are afraid to make theirs public due to feds seizing them. The 1974 aluminum cent is a perfect example.
Those ten were in a SDB originally owned by a high mint official. Following his death, the bank contacted his heirs when a pre-paid 50 year rental expired for the box. Inside were these 10 double eagles, and I agree with the decision. Why should they profit because their elder was a thief? (Or so the story went when I read of the initial discovery.)
Like the Seagrams Corperation? Isn't there a 7 year Staute of Limitations on something like this? This whole thing was a huge waste of money.
I know that the SDB was owned by Israel Switt, father of Joan Langbord, the woman who, with his sons, found the 10 coins, and now contends with the U.S. government. Israel Switt wasn't a high mint official, but a coins and antiquities dealer. He was the man that took the coins at the mint in 1933, maybe 25 double eagles. 9 were found and melted in 1940s - 1950s 1 is the Farouk specimen sold for $ 7,590,020 10 were found by Joan Langbord Total = 20 Where are the other five? petronius :smile
One pretty well known numismatist I have talked to on the subject has said that he believes there are 3 or 4 out there. The people who own these coins own them for the satisfaction of owning them, not for their value, as they are basically only worth their weight in gold due to the legal issues of the issue.
They did. They couldn't do anything about it as long as Farouk had the coin because he had been given an export license for it by the government. After he was ousted and the Egyptian government was selling the coins our government requested its return. The Egyptians declined. At the sale it was bulk lotted with a lot of other double eagles and the attendees requested it be withdrawn since it could not be brought back to the US. It was withdrawn and disappeared until it surfaced in England with someone who claimed he had gotten it from and Egyptian Colonel. Coin dealer Stephen Fenton brought it to New York and the Feds went after it and confiscated it. There was going to be a court case over it as well but the governments case was weak because of the export license so before it came to trial they reached a deal to auction the coin and split the proceeds. A 1980 dated photo of one exists that does not match any of the eleven known coins, and the photo date proves it can't be one of the other nine.
This is the page of the auction catalog with the lot of double eagles (total 17) including 1933 (click to enlarge) petronius
The lot, without 1933 (16 coins) was sold on February 25th 1954, for 2,800 GB pounds. petronius :smile
Allison Frankel's book Double Eagle is an awesome read and tells the history behind the design of the coins in the first chapter, but the rest of the book is devoted to the Farouk coin and the discovery, legal battle and eventual sale. It's a really great book. I know David Tripp has also written a book about it, I just haven't gotten around to reading that one. I'm sure its just as good.
