The 1933 double eagle is a US $ 20 gold coin. Although 445,500 specimens of Saint-Gaudens double eagle were printed in 1933, nothing was ever officially circulated and all but two were ordered to be melted. However, another 20 are known to have been rescued from thawing due to being stolen, and finding their way into the hands of the collectors before being rediscovered. Nine of the restored coins have been destroyed, making it one of the rarest coins in the world, with only 13 specimens known to be left - only one is privately owned.
Both deliberately avoided coins were in the National Numismatic Collection of the US, ten others were kept at Fort Knox, and one remaining coin was sold in 2002 to an anonymous personal owner who paid US $ 7.59 million for it - the second highest price paid at auction for one US coin.
Video 1933 double eagle
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In 1933, in an attempt to end the crisis of commercial banks in the 1930s, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 6102, whose terms include:
Part 2. Everyone hereby is required to submit to or before May 1, 1933, to the Federal Reserve bank or its branch or its agents or to a member bank of the Federal Reserve System all gold coins, gold bullion, and gold certificates now owned by them or come into possession on or before April 28, 1933, with the following exceptions:
- (a) The amount of gold as may be required for legal and customary use in industry, profession or art within a reasonable time, including gold before refining and gold stock in reasonable quantities for the usual trading terms of mine owners and purifying such gold.
- (b) Gold coins and gold certificates in an amount not exceeding in aggregate $ 100.00 belonging to one person; and gold coins have recognized the special value for rare and unusual coin collectors.
- (c) Gold and gold bullion coins intended or held in trust for a recognized foreign government or foreign central bank or Bank for International Settlement.
- (d) Gold and bullion coins are licensed for other suitable transactions (excluding stockpiling) including gold and gold bullion coins imported for re-export or pending pending action on applications for export licenses.
Additional Congress passed the Golden Reserve Act in 1934, which prohibited the circulation and private ownership of US gold coins for general circulation, with the exception of collector coins. This action states that gold coins are no longer a legitimate means of payment in the United States, and people must give up their gold coins for other currencies. The 1933 golden double eagle was struck after this executive order, but since they were no longer legitimate, most of the 1933 gold coins were melted at the end of 1934 and some were destroyed in tests. Two of the two $ 20 double eagles were awarded by the United States Mint to the US National Numismatic Collection, and they were recently on display at the "Money and Medal Room" on the third floor of the National Museum of American History.
These two coins should be the only existing 1933 double eagle coins. However, unknown mint, a number of coins (20 have been restored so far) were stolen, probably by the US Mint cashier, and found their way through the Israeli Israeli Switt jewelry into the hands of collectors. Coins circulated among collectors for several years before the Secret Service became aware of their existence. The issue is of concern to mint officials when an investigative reporter looks into the history of the coins he sees in the upcoming Bowers Stack coin auction and contacts Mint as part of his research. As a result, an official inquiry into the matter was launched by the Secret Service in March 1944. Prior to the investigation, a Texas dealer sold one of the coins to a foreign buyer, and it left the US on February 29, 1944.
During the first year of investigation, seven coins were seized or voluntarily handed over to the Secret Service and then destroyed at Mint; the eighth coin was discovered the following year and met with the same fate. In 1945, the investigation identified the accused thief and his conspirators, Switt, who claimed to sell nine coins, but said he could not remember how he got it. The Justice Department tries to prosecute them, but restrictive legislation has passed. A tenth of coins were discovered and destroyed in 1952.
Instead, the 1933 Eagle was issued before Roosevelt's withdrawal order, so they may be legally owned by citizens. However, it is estimated that no more than 40 exist, the rest have melted, making them very rare.
Maps 1933 double eagle
Egyptian double Eagle
The lost double eagle was acquired by King Farouk of Egypt, who is a voracious collector of many things, including the imperial egg of Fabergà ©, the bottle of antique aspirin, paperweight, stamps - and coins, where it has a collection of more than 8,500. In 1944, Farouk bought a double eagle in 1933, and in strict compliance with the law, his ministers applied to the US Treasury for export licenses for coins. Incorrectly, just a few days before the mint theft is found, a license is granted. The Treasury Department tried to work through diplomatic channels to demand the return of coins from Egypt, but World War II delayed their efforts for several years. In 1952, King Farouk was overthrown in a coup, and much of his possession was reserved for public auction (run by Sotheby's) - including a double eagle coin. The US government requested the return of coins, and the Egyptian government said it would meet the request. However, the coin was lost and no longer seen in Egypt.
In 1996, the double eagle reappeared after more than 40 years of obscurity, when the British coin dealer Stephen Fenton was arrested by US Secret Service agents during an assault operation at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. Although he initially told investigators that he bought a coin on the counter at his shop, he then changed his story. Under sworn testimony, he insisted the double eagle came from the King Farouk collection, although this can not be verified. The charges against Fenton were later canceled, and he defended his ownership of the coins in court. The case was resolved in 2001 when it was agreed that double eagle ownership would return to the United States government, and the coins would then legally be sold at auction. The US Treasury issued a document to "publish and monetize" coins, thereby making it a legitimate gold-tender coin in the United States.
When the coins were confiscated, the money was transferred to a safe shelter believed to be: a treasury warehouse at the World Trade Center. When the court settlement was reached in July 2001, just two months before the Trade Center was destroyed, the coins were transferred to Fort Knox for safekeeping.
On July 30, 2002, the double eagle 1933 was sold to an anonymous bidder at a Sotheby auction held in New York for $ 6.6 million, plus a 15 percent buyer's premium, and an additional $ 20 needed to "monetize" the nominal value of the coin so it would into a legal currency. This brings the last selling price to $ 7,590,020.00, almost double the previous record for the coin. Half the offer price will be sent to the US Treasury, plus $ 20 to cash the coins, while Stephen Fenton is entitled to the other half. The auction takes less than nine minutes.
Discovery of ten more coins
In August 2005, the United States Mint announced the restoration of ten additional 1933 golden eagle coins stolen from the jewel family of Philadelphia Israel Switt, a forbidden coin agent identified by the Secret Service as a theft party claiming to sell the first nine double eagles recovered half a century earlier. In September 2004, coin owner, Joan Switt Langbord, voluntarily handed 10 coins to the Secret Service. In July 2005, the coins were authorized by the United States Mint after working with the Smithsonian Institution, as the original double eagle 1933.
According to various accounts, Israel Switt has many contacts and friends in Philadelphia Mint, and is reported to have access to many points in the printing process. A secondary source reported that the Secret Service found that only one person, George McCann, had access to coins at the time and was serving a prison term for similar embezzlement in 1940. Switt may have acquired a double eagle 1933 stolen through a relationship with a mint head cashier. One theory is that McCann exchanged double eagles a year earlier for the 1933 specimen before it melted, thus avoiding the compromise of accounting books and inventory lists.
The coin expert in the numismatic world has put forward the argument that Switt can obtain a 1933 coin legally when he exchanges gold bars for coins. Although the Mint note clearly indicates that no double eagle 1933 was issued, there were allegations of three weeks in March 1933 when a new double eagle may have been obtained legally. The mint began attacking double eagles on March 15, and Roosevelt's executive order to ban them was not final until April 5. On March 6, 1933, the Minister of Finance ordered the Mint Director to pay gold only under the license issued by the Secretary, and the daily report of the US Mint cashier did not reflect that every double eagle 1933 had been paid.
Until the early 1970s (when President Nixon took the United States of the gold standard and President Ford signed laws that once again made it legal for the public to own gold bars), every recovered double eagle 1933, like gold bullion, should be melted.. Therefore, while the double eagle recovered before 1974 was melted, every double eagle found now could be spared from this fate. Currently, with the exception being sold on July 30, 2002, the 1933 double eagle coins can not be the legal possession of any member of the public, as they have never been excluded and thus remain the property of the United States government.
On October 28, 2010, US District Court Judge Legrome D. Davis issued a 20-page decision on the claims of coins by the descendants of the Israeli Switt, which led to the trial in July 2011. On July 20, 2011, after ten years of court day, the jury voted unanimously in favor of the United States government about the ownership of ten additional double eagles. The court concluded that indirect evidence proves that the Israeli Switt has obtained illegal coins from the US government, and that they are thus still the property of the government. The decision was confirmed on August 29, 2012, and the plaintiff plans to file an appeal.
In 2003, ten double eagles were stored at the United States Bullion Depository in Fort Knox, Kentucky. They were shown to jurors in Philadelphia during the July 2011 trials, but then returned to Fort Knox, where they will remain until a decision is made regarding their disposition. In April 2015, a US federal appeals court ordered that the coins be returned to the Langbord family for the indiscriminate seizure of assets being improperly executed, as the government failed to file a civil court complaint complaint within 90 days of claims of assets seized by the family. This order was reversed on July 28, 2015, and in October 2015, the en banc session was held with 13 judges of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, where they heard oral arguments in the ongoing appeal. On August 1, 2016, the judge overturned the previous ruling, finding the coins to be owned by the United States government. The Langbords appealed to the US Supreme Court, which on April 17, 2017 was denied certiorari.
In 2004, the National Collectors Mint (NCM) released a gold-plated replica of the double eagle 1933, as if under the authority of the Northern Mariana Islands, the US Commonwealth. NCM advertises and certifies coins as a "legitimate CNMI payment instrument", false designations.
Replica coins do not include "replica" or "copy" indications on their faces. Replica coins match the original coins in the design concept, but they are not the exact duplication of the coins. The only difference in the basic design between the NCM replica and the original double eagle is the addition of the CNMI region seal under the US motto in vice versa.
After some controversy about the nature and marketing of this replica, the coins were reissued with the word "copy" stamped across the eagle's stomach.
See also
- Toven Specimen
- Hawk (US coins)
Notes and references
Documentary
- Double Eagle Hunt , French Version: A la recherche de la piÃÆ'¨ce perdue , produced by Laura Jones (Fulcrum TV), directed by Tilman Remme , 53 mins, 2010
Further reading
- Alison Frankel, Double Eagle: the epic story of the world's most valuable coin . New York: Norton, 2006 ISBNÃ, 0-393-05949-9
- David Tripp, Illegal bullet: the gold, greed, and mystery of the lost 1933 Double Eagles . New York: Free Press, 2004 ISBNÃ, 0-7432-4574-1
- Bryan Christy, "Double Eagle Curse", Playboy , April 2004
- Linda Fairstein, The Wills (fictional story based on King Elang 's Eagle King'). Little Brown, 2004 ISBN 978-0-7515-4284-4
- James Twining,
, an investigative novel involving the FBI, the US Treasury, Fort Knox, etc.
External links
- The Double Eagle: history of $ 20 Gold Coins of the United States 1849-1933
- Tripp, David, "Story: Forbidden Fruit Coins: The Fabulous 1933 Double Eagle" (archived from the original on archive.org), USA Mint
- "The world's most expensive coins are shown in London". BBC News . March 2, 2012 . Retrieved December 7, 2017 .
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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