Too bad the U.S. gov seized all those coins. On top of that, the author of the article didn't even get the correct president! Taking them to the Philly mint to be authenticated? Why not a trusted coin collector/dealer? Sigh. I feel bad for the family. http://news.yahoo.com/judge-says-10-rare-gold-coins-worth-80-152750965--abc-news-topstories.html
If they were allowed on the market, I would feel sorry for the person that paid 7.5 Mil for what was supposed to be the only one to survive being melted.
I have to agree with ya. Right or wrong, there's at least one guy who's happy at the decision facing those other '33s. I just cringe at the thought of how much in legal fees the Langbord family has racked up thus far.
I agree. Plus, like I posted in another thread, maybe the best thing that ever happened to that family is these coins were declared US property. If it were declared their property, someone has to go to jail. Since they were "found under a scarf", (yeah right), I seriously doubt the value of these coins were declared on the dealer's estate tax return. If that is true, then that is a Federal Felony with no statute of limitation for tax evasion and tax fraud. Tax fraud in the area of $50 million? Yeah, SOMEONE is going to jail from that family.
I disagree. There were no shennanigans when the coins were released. They were released exactly in one of the same ways that coins had always been released - they were legally sold by the mint cashier. The Langbord coins were not the only '33 double eagles released. There were many of them, probably at least 40 to 50, including the one that is now legal. That was the whole point of the family's case. The coins were legally released during a 2-3 day period before the order not to release them was given. That made them legal to own. And 28-30 of the coins were tracked down and confiscated in the months following the order to not release them. But the govt. screwed up even back then because back then they were not aware of that 2-3 day period when it was legal to release the coins. That's really what is at stake here, the govt. is not willing to admit that they made a mistake, back then or now. And the best way for them to pretend that there never was a mistake is to refuse to acknowledge that they ever made one to begin with by confiscating the Langbord coins as well. And any others that may be found in the future. Back then, and long before then even, it was a common practice for people to go to the mint cashier and buy freshly minted coins. It was completely legal to do that. And it was especially common with new coins, meaning new dates, first coins of a given year. And that is what happened with the '33 double eagle. There was no order to not release them, so when Switt went to the cashier, the cashier sold him the coins. And given the numbers that have been confiscated, he probably sold him 50 coins, an even $1,000 worth. This was the kind of thing that Switt did on a regular basis, he was a coin dealer after all. So when new coins came out he went to the cashier to buy them for his customers so he could be the first to have them, and thus his customers be the first as well. Only this time, 2-3 days after Switt legally bought the coins, the order not to release the coins came down. The rest is history. History still being played out today. Personally I think the whole thing is ridiculous. This entire ordeal and everything that happened before this, all because people refuse to admit they were wrong about something they did.
