Comments on: Behold the dark underbelly of numismatics.

Behold the dark underbelly of numismatics.

voltairemodern — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 12:18:59 -0800

The most expensive $20 you'll never see. (Unless you happen to be kickin' it in Long Beach next month...) The 1933 "double eagle", a one oz. gold coin minted by the United States just prior to dropping the gold standard, is now worth approximately $10,000,000 and is the stuff of coin collection legend. A collector by the name of Israel "Izzy" Switt acquired and held on to 10 of them—just after the last "double eagle" had officially been melted down by the government in 1937. (Timeline.) Now, decades later, the coins are the subject of an intense legal battle between the US government and Switt's descendants. "It's a hell of a story."

By: riffola

riffola — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 12:23:52 -0800

The should just monetize them like the previous one, sell them and split the profits just like they did it with the coin owned by a former Prince of Egypt.

By: Vidiot

Vidiot — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 15:17:18 -0800

An earlier post about this coin.

By: soiled cowboy

soiled cowboy — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 15:57:37 -0800

That is indeed a hell of a story, voltairemodern. The coins have so many interesting connections, including both Roosevelts, the original theives, King Farouk, a government coup, shady underworld dealers, even the World Trade Center and finally the fascinating legal cases. Switt's daughter, the one who turned the new-found coins over to the Mint, is probably still slapping her head.

By: bullitt 5

bullitt 5 — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 16:02:44 -0800

great post. :) thanks.

By: snwod

snwod — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 16:43:50 -0800

Yeah, really cool post!

By: foot

foot — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 16:53:01 -0800

That's one hell of a story!

By: delmoi

delmoi — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 18:04:26 -0800

Why does the government still care? I don't get it. They need to get over themselves.

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 18:32:11 -0800

Why does the government still care? I don't get it. I can give you about 10,000,000 reasons.

By: Edible Energy

Edible Energy — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 18:57:36 -0800

Give 'em back the coins ya dirty bastards! *shakes fist at the heavens*

By: Balisong

Balisong — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 19:12:50 -0800

I coulda awore that not a week ago there was a story about another 6-8 pieces beind 'found and siezed' by the Dept of Treasury. Somebody's grandson decided to take 'em in to see what they were worth. The dealer freaked out and called the Dept of Tres. Alas, My google-fu only brings up stuff on coin lore, but not this recent story.

By: purplemonkie

purplemonkie — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 19:31:58 -0800

Balisong: here it is.

By: alphanerd

alphanerd — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 19:47:34 -0800

Mint officials asked to authenticate the coins, then confiscated them after doing so, Berke said. For some reason this reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Fidel Castro scams Burns and Homer out of the 1 trillion dollar bill by asking if he can see it. Great post.

By: Balisong

Balisong — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 20:03:07 -0800

Yeah, that guy got screwed.

By: dejah420

dejah420 — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 21:08:36 -0800

The feds, steal personal property with no proven claim to it? I'm shocked. Simply shocked.

By: mecran01

mecran01 — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 21:14:58 -0800

Oh that hurts. What does it feel like to lose millions? Probably the same way it feels when I loaded up netscape for the first time, and thought to myself, "man, I should just drop out of grad school and get a job at this 'netscape' place and maybe get some sweet stock options!

By: HiveMind

HiveMind — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 22:18:27 -0800

For some reason, when I read this fpp, the Super Mario Brothers coin noise started ringing in my ears. Aaaah, that takes me back. Thanks for that, Voltaire.

By: Balisong

Balisong — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 22:55:18 -0800

had been taken from the Mint "in an unlawful manner" in the mid-1930's and now were "recovered." I expect a summary (where they were subsequently spent) of the funds that these dollars were recovered from to be made immediately public.

By: eriko

eriko — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 05:25:32 -0800

The feds, steal personal property with no proven claim to it? In this case, only if the coins are fake. If they're real, they aren't personal property, they're stolen property of the US, and problematic to the mint, since they represent unissued money in circulation. The last time one of these coins was found, it was sold at auction. Part of the rules, though, was the winning bidder had to pay an extra $20 USD, cash, to the US Treasury, which then "issued" the coin as a replacement for that $20. Thus, that coin, currently, is the only US gold coin, and the only $20 coin, that is currently legal tender. (Note that the US does sell bullion coins, which are also legal tender, but they aren't handled the same way as normal currency. For one thing, they're sold at a face-profit, unlike the double eagles, which were issued at face value.) Of course, you'd be silly to spend it as $20.

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 05:43:29 -0800

Great post. I wanted to say so yesterday, but the document had no data over and over again.

By: IndigoJones

IndigoJones — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 17:07:54 -0800

It's the melting down of art work that saddens me.