Item of interest :
A years long battle over the fate of 10 rare double eagle gold coins may have reached a climax as a Philadelphia jury this week backed the decision of the U.S. Government to confiscate the coins from the family of a deceased jeweler.
The government successfully convinced the jury that, more than 70 years ago, gold dealer and jeweler Israel Switt should have not have got his hands on the gold coins that were to never be circulated.
The Secret Service believes Switt worked a shady deal with an U.S. Mint cashier to acquire the coins, which now are being held at Fort Knox. However, an attorney for Switt's survivors says the coins could have been legally obtained during a window of opportunity in March and April 1933.
Despite the jury verdict this week, the case remains subject to further proceedings in which a federal judge may decide the ultimate ownership of the coins.
A total of 13 coins are the sole survivors of a run of 445,000 double eagle $20 gold coins minted in 1933. On April 5, 1933 President Franklin Roosevelt issued a presidential executive order, which forbade the hoarding of gold coin, gold bullion and gold certificates within the continental United States by individuals, partnerships, associations and corporations.
Two of the coins were deliberately set aside in 1933 and are housed in the Smithsonian. Another coin owned by dealer Stephen Fenton was the subject of a lengthy court battle to allow it to be sold at auction for $7.59 million in 2002 after Fenton agreed to split the proceeds with the U.S. Mint.
In a federal court trial this week, Switt's heirs, daughter Joan Langboard and her sons, argued the coins were their property and they wanted them back. The family told the government about the coins in 2004 after the family found them in a safe deposit box in 2003. They had hoped the U.S. Treasury Department would authenticate them.
The government seized them, arguing a regulation allow it to grab property that "is travelable to any offense constituting specified unlawful activity."
The coins are now believed to be worth more than $75 million.
AI
