baja
06-12-2012, 08:03 PM
WASHINGTON — A Philadelphia antiques dealer says he will sue the U.S. Mint to recover rare gold coins worth millions of dollars after the federal government seized them, claiming they were illegally obtained.
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The dealer, discovered 10 “Double Eagle” $20 coins minted in 1933 in a Philadelphia antiques and jewelry store and voluntarily brought them to the U.S. Mint for authentication.
In June, the Mint confirmed they were the coveted Double Eagles but informed the Langbord family that the coins were being sent for safe-keeping to the U.S. Bullion Depository at Fort Knox, Ky., because the family had no right to them, according to the family’s attorney.
Only about 25 out of 445,500 are known to have survived destruction after President Franklin D. Roosevelt mandated all privately owned gold confiscated in the U.S. in 1933 – ordering the coins melted down. Two of the coins were given to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington for display.
But a few more survived. The 10 recently discovered were obtained in 1937 by Israel Switt, an antiques dealer and ancestor of the Langbord family, in whose store the coins were found. Switt died in the 1980s.
Mint officials claim Switt got at least 20 of the coins from a cashier at the Philadelphia Mint, later convicted of a crime relating to his work there.
One of Switt’s coins is believed to have found its way to the late King Farouk of Egypt, and was auctioned to an anonymous buyer in 2002 for $7.59 million, the largest sum ever paid for a coin. In that case, the government retained title to the coin but agreed to split the proceeds because of a dispute over evidence, a Mint official said.
Barry Berke, a New York lawyer for the Langbord family, argues the Mint cannot prove the coins were illegally obtained and should return them to the family.
Mint officials said no such proof is needed because the coins were never issued and so remain government property. Mint officials say they will fight any lawsuit, and if they succeed the Double Eagles will be shown in museums.
http://www.wnd.com/2005/08/32055/
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The dealer, discovered 10 “Double Eagle” $20 coins minted in 1933 in a Philadelphia antiques and jewelry store and voluntarily brought them to the U.S. Mint for authentication.
In June, the Mint confirmed they were the coveted Double Eagles but informed the Langbord family that the coins were being sent for safe-keeping to the U.S. Bullion Depository at Fort Knox, Ky., because the family had no right to them, according to the family’s attorney.
Only about 25 out of 445,500 are known to have survived destruction after President Franklin D. Roosevelt mandated all privately owned gold confiscated in the U.S. in 1933 – ordering the coins melted down. Two of the coins were given to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington for display.
But a few more survived. The 10 recently discovered were obtained in 1937 by Israel Switt, an antiques dealer and ancestor of the Langbord family, in whose store the coins were found. Switt died in the 1980s.
Mint officials claim Switt got at least 20 of the coins from a cashier at the Philadelphia Mint, later convicted of a crime relating to his work there.
One of Switt’s coins is believed to have found its way to the late King Farouk of Egypt, and was auctioned to an anonymous buyer in 2002 for $7.59 million, the largest sum ever paid for a coin. In that case, the government retained title to the coin but agreed to split the proceeds because of a dispute over evidence, a Mint official said.
Barry Berke, a New York lawyer for the Langbord family, argues the Mint cannot prove the coins were illegally obtained and should return them to the family.
Mint officials said no such proof is needed because the coins were never issued and so remain government property. Mint officials say they will fight any lawsuit, and if they succeed the Double Eagles will be shown in museums.
http://www.wnd.com/2005/08/32055/