Yes that was a long time ago, for sure 1933. The only thing I remember about gold when I was a youngster was that it was selling for $60 an oz. so that was quite awhile ago but still not as far as my Grandfather's time. My Father didn't know anything about coin collecting but my Grandpa knew plenty. Does anyone have any stories to tell about their families having to turn over gold when this Executive Order 6102 happened? Some ppl think that it can't happen again and I just don't see how it could but if you think for one minute that the government would not do us wrong all I have to say is that they did it before. Was anyone around after the depression when this order took place or do you have any enlightening story to fill us in on? Anyone? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102
I once asked my grandfather about how the gold confiscation affected him. He said it didn't affect him at all because he never owned a gold coin in his life. Two other things to keep in mind are that [1] nobody went door to door confiscating gold. The government made banks turn over any gold coins they held and any that were deposited and demonitized the rest. And [2] there was an exemption of five $20 gold pieces per family member. So a family of four could keep $400 in face value of gold, which was a substantial amount of money back then.
All I know is that my great-grandpa didn't turn over his! No telling how much, or how little he had, but I have heard that he wasn't willing to turn his over to FDR. Speedy
I once heard people who did turn over their gold were compensated for it, and there were exceptions for numismatic items.
When I was just a wee little bugger, I remember two distinct coin related stories that my grandma told me. The first one was when my grandmother went back over to Italy to visit here family, she gave both my dad and my uncle 10 Morgan dollars each. They were to spend them wisely while she was gone. Well my uncle blew through all of his buy candy and food, but my dad saved his. In fact, some of those Morgans are now in my collection. The other story has to do with turning in their gold coins. Although my family wasn't into collecting, they knew the value that coins had. My grandmother did not want to turn them in, but eventually did so at the urging of my grandfather. I remember as a kid her face lighting up when she spoke of her eagles and double eagles that she had. As I got older, I always used to tell her that I wished she held on to them. But back in those days, they needed the money and couldn't afford to stash away several hundred dollars in gold coins.
That would be a no ! My granfather who came from Ireland with an engineering degree loved gold. He had spent from 1913 -1930 in Alaska designing bridges and roads. At on time he had a larger stash then he left. He took some of his gold and bought granite block to build a two story home on Emerald bay in the Lake Tahoe area. He left the home and the frontage property to my father and 18 gold coins in a picture album. My father was unaware of the coins as he never looked at the album from 1955-2001 . His father and his mother divorced in Alaska in 1914 . She took my father back to the area near Santa Maria, Ca.. By the time my father did locate him he was in his mid eighties and had a previous stroke. My father lived from the lease of the property for the rest of his years. All the coins were good pieces , and will be left for my daughters. I have never had then graded but a friend who is a professional said they were solid high quality pieces. I think I put up a 1907D piece a few years ago. I would never pay the debt of America out of my pocket or would I expect any one else to do that. Corruption has ,and is the point of the sword. I will not help kill my self , my family or country. I only speak for my self. Pep
