Sorry for the spelling error. Should be Follow-up. Over the years more than just Gold Bars found their way into the impregnable Fortress for safekeeping. It may interest you to know: From 1941 through 1945 the original U.S. Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were placed inside for safekeeping. The Hungarian government placed the Crown of Saint Stephen (along with all the other Hungarian Crown Jewels) into the hands of American soldiers to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Soviet Union. The entire collection of crown jewels was forwarded to Fort Knox for safekeeping until WWII ended. One of the four known copies of the Magna Carta had been on loan for display at the 1939 New York World Fair when World War II broke out in Europe. The U.S. placed the precious document in Fort Knox for the duration of the War. In 2000 those 5,000 22 karat gold Sacagawea Dollars struck at West Point in 1999 were stored at Fort Knox until their presentation to Glenna Goodacre (designer of the obverse). The only legal to own 1933 Gold Double Eagle was transferred from the 7 World Trade Center Building in Lower Manhattan, New York in July 2001 and remained at Fort Knox until its sale in July 2002 at Sotheby's/Stack's Auction for $7,590,020.00. Later in 2004 those other (10) 1933 Gold Eagles confiscated by the Feds were transported to Fort Knox and remain there to this day awaiting the outcome of a lawsuit. Hope you enjoyed this trivia, Clinker
Clinker - Interesting trivia.... keep it coming. I think the info on the Goodacre dollar is confused. In 2000 she did receive 5000 specially burnished Sacagaweas for her payment, but they were not gold. Think about it, that would be a ton of money to pay an artist since they are usually paid a minimal fee from the government for their services. 22k gold Sacagaweas were made in 1999 and flew aboard the shuttle and later were displayed at the Worlds Money Fair in Milwaukee. As the article then states, these 12 coins were then transferred to Fort Knox where they have remained. If you search ebay, you can typically find a Goodacre dollar for sale for several hundred dollars either by PCGS or ICG who signed the original contract with Goodacre to sell these coins. Hope this helps. Joe http://usmint.gov/pressroom/index.c...g=sacagawea&formBool=AND&formYear=ALL&group=1 This quote is from an auction on ebay for a Goodacre dollar from Stephen Tebo's firm. "Glenna Goodacre, acting on the advice of her friend Stephen Tebo, elected to take the design fee of $5,000 for her spectacular obverse design of the new dollar, in Sacagawea Dollars. These presentation coins were specially treated: the planchets were burnished, the coins were struck from fresh dies, and the final product was treated with an anti-oxidant. Our firm, Tebo Coin Company, negotiated on behalf of Ms. Goodacre to have all 5,000 of the coins encapsulated at ICG. As Glenna is well known for her incredible bronze art sculptures, which are sold as individually serial numbered works from a total edition, we requested ICG to number these coins from 1 to 5,000 out of the total edition of 5,000. This seemed appropriate since these too, are wonderful works of art. Based on the long-term relationship with Glenna, we were given a small group of these coins to sell. Since they were encapsulated at ICG, which is only 30 miles away, the plastic on the holders is fresh and free from scratches. These are the finest of all of the Goodacre Sacagawea dollars being offered! These coins are dramatically different from the normal production strikes, as they have a brilliant nearly proof-like surface, and have minimal surface contact marks. There are only 2,500 of the original 5,000 being offered to the collecting public, with the balance being retained by the Goodacre family." This is some good trivia info just in itself.
even if that one bit of info is not completely correct - i do love reading your historical tid-bits clinker
