Ten - 1933 $20 gold double eagles !

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I usually get my Coin World on Thursday. This week it came on Wednesday. There's a picture of all ten (obverses and reverses) on the cover, as well as several pretty good stories about them.

Apparently the family turned them over in good faith to Mint custody until the ownership issues could be resolved. The Mint, in essence, told them "there are not ownership issues. They're ours. Always have been, always will be. Until we say otherwise." In light of the Mint's behavior, I have to say I like Bacchus' idea of putting them on Ebay. When I finally decide to get rid of the remaining 5 that I have (there are, according to the calculations in CW, still 5 out there), that's what I'll do.

 

It is like finding someone elses wallet. It does not matter how much money is in it you still return it.

 

The question is, "Are these coins like the proverbial 'lost wallet,' or did the government experience 'seller's remorse?'" The first requires return, the second does not.

I was glad to see in one of the articles that the family's lawyer mentioned the 1913 Liberty Head nickels. We know the circumstances of their creation and dispersal were illegal, yet they're legal to own, while the circumstances of the 1933 Double Eagles are more hazy. Clearly, their creation was legal. As for their dispersal, well, that's the question. And because the government has established precedent in the 1913 nickels being legal to own, I think it has the responsibility to prove why, in arguably similar circumstances, the 1933 Double Eagles are not.

 

Agreed! And I expect that it is only a matter of time until these 10 make it onto the market. The family made them known in good faith and the mint's refusal to acknowledge that the family has some rights in the coins' ownership doesn't change in the least whether the family really does have any claim to them. A court will decide in the end who gets them, and even if they go with the Solomon method and give 5 to the family and return 5 to the mint, that would still be quite a haul!

 

Really...... Really.......
I would have reported one in good faith.... just to see what the Fed said. Its not like these people stole them. They owned them these years in good faith. The currant owners did not steal them. The people that origianally aquired these are no doubt dead. You cannot say someone in 1933 could possibly think that these coins would be worth anything more than gold bullion value, much less being worth $7 million each.....

 

All you Moralists can claim what YOU would do till the cows go home.
I would turn in one, hide the other nine for posterity.

 

it said in coin world that switt traded 1931 $20 gold pieces in for the 1933 gold pieces.
so the made the swap. give the back

 

Jimstagg is right. Israel Switt had to give an equal number of $20 gold pieces so that the right number would be melted, therefore he paid $20 each for them so they do not belong to the mint. I suggest reading ILLEGAL TENDER by David Tripp. It is an interesting read.