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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;jolumoga, post: 26809008, member: 41780&quot;]I don&#039;t think I was clear enough when I wrote we must distinguish between the literal interpretation of laws and their practical (or intended) effects. Because the numismatic exception was not widely exploited, according to your own admission above (that most of the public did not hold or intend to hold actual physical gold coins), there was no reason for the government to enforce the law with the severity we might expect. The law was made with the purpose of effectively preventing (or discouraging) people from freely trading and holding gold - which it did successfully. So when addressing the boundaries of the numismatic exception, the Treasury (regarding the memo cited in this thread) used its discretion to allow coin dealers to engage in business as usual. As long as numismatists (as a collective) were not undermining the spirit of the law, they were given plenty of leeway. However, given that so many more people collect gold coins today, this could force a future government to take far more draconian measures with less carve-outs in order to achieve a similar outcome (discouraging gold-trading and hoarding).[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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