The Briefing Room
General Category => National/Breaking News => Topic started by: Rapunzel on March 05, 2014, 11:06:36 pm
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http://rt.com/usa/gold-coins-pennsylvania-family-626/
Feds seize gold coins worth $80 mln from Pennsylvania family
Published time: September 07, 2012 18:46
Edited time: September 07, 2012 22:52
(http://img.rt.com/files/usa/news/gold-coins-pennsylvania-family-626/gold-sale-coins-display.si.jpg)
Gold coins are on display for sale.(AFP Photo / Kevork Djansezian)
A federal judge has upheld a verdict that strips a Pennsylvania family of their grandfather’s gold coins — worth an estimated $80 million — and has ordered ownership transferred to the US government.
Judge Legrome Davis of the Eastern District Court of Pennsylvania affirmed a 2011 jury decision that a box of 1933 Saint-Gaudens double eagle coins discovered by the family of Israel Switt, a deceased dealer and collector, is the property of the United States.
In the midst of the Great Depression, then-President Franklin Roosevelt ordered that America’s supply of double eagles manufactured at the Philadelphia Mint be destroyed and melted into gold bars. Of the 445,500 or so coins created, though, some managed to escape the kiln and ended up into the hands of collectors. In 2003, Switt’s family opened a safe deposit back that their grandfather kept, revealing 10 coins among that turned out to be among the world’s most valuable collectables in the currency realm today.
Switt’s descendants, the Langbords, thought the coins had been gifted to their grandfather years earlier by Mint cashier George McCann and took the coins to the Mint to have their authenticity verified, but the government quickly took hold of the items and refused to relinquish the find to the family. The Langbords responded with a lawsuit that ended last year in a victory for the feds.
Because the government ordered the destruction of their entire supply of coins decades earlier, the court found that Switt’s family was illegally in possession of the stash. Even though they may had been presented to the dealer by a Philadelphia Mint staffer, Judge Davis agrees with last year’s ruling that Mr. McCann broke the law.
"The coins in question were not lawfully removed from the United States Mint,” the judge rules.
Despite this decision, though, the attorney representing Switt’s family says the government has no right to remove their own items and transfer property back to the state.
"This is a case that raises many novel legal questions, including the limits on the government's power to confiscate property. The Langbord family will be filing an appeal and looks forward to addressing these important issues before the 3rd Circuit," Barry Berke, an attorney for the Langbords, tells ABCNews.com
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Because the government ordered the destruction of their entire supply of coins decades earlier, the court found that Switt’s family was illegally in possession of the stash
And now this money will go to where? The Obama's next vacation or funneled to terrorists? I would cry if I were these people and want to leave this country I would be so ticked off.
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fools. they should have consulted privately first, and then they should have sold them off. never take gold to the federal government, even for an advisory opinion, you won't get it back.
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fools. they should have consulted privately first, and then they should have sold them off. never take gold to the federal government, even for an advisory opinion, you won't get it back.
Would this ruling apply to any gold coin that would have been around in FDR's day, or is it exclusive to this particular set because they were known to have belonged to this particular person at that particular time?
There are quite a few pre-FDR gold coins on the secondary market. Can they all be confiscated?
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Plenty of rich collectors overseas (namely the Middle East) who would have paid full price, no questions asked.
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Would this ruling apply to any gold coin that would have been around in FDR's day, or is it exclusive to this particular set because they were known to have belonged to this particular person at that particular time?
There are quite a few pre-FDR gold coins on the secondary market. Can they all be confiscated?
I think it is because these coins were never circulated and someone violated the destruction order and illegally removed them from the mint.
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I think it is because these coins were never circulated and someone violated the destruction order and illegally removed them from the mint.
OK. I'll stop digging that hole in my backyard now.
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OK. I'll stop digging that hole in my backyard now.
just don't tell anyone if you find anything, and tell the federales you're just digging an emergency latrine.
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Two questions:
Why does one of them say 1977?
Why not just melt them down and sell it as gold?
Set up a fake mining operation somewhere and ureka! Say you struck gold!
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Think of what an absolute disaster FDR's president would have been w/out WWII. His public works' projects were abject failures, and we were damn near bankruptcy as a country prior to entering WWII.
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Would this ruling apply to any gold coin that would have been around in FDR's day, or is it exclusive to this particular set because they were known to have belonged to this particular person at that particular time?
There are quite a few pre-FDR gold coins on the secondary market. Can they all be confiscated?
I think just the double eagles that were minted in Philly. I agree with O, they should have sold those coins off, if even in dribs and drabs. There are tons of coin shows and dealers around. Who in their right mind would trust the federal government??
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I think just the double eagles that were minted in Philly. I agree with O, they should have sold those coins off, if even in dribs and drabs. There are tons of coin shows and dealers around. Who in their right mind would trust the federal government??
People that have no clue regarding the present reality??
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fools. they should have consulted privately first, and then they should have sold them off. never take gold to the federal government, even for an advisory opinion, you won't get it back.
ding ding ding winner answer.
I mean just
DUH!
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The IRS owed my company a tax refund from 2005. It was a struggle getting them to admit they owed me the money. I got the check last month. Not bad. Waited only nine years for the refund.
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The IRS owed my company a tax refund from 2005. It was a struggle getting them to admit they owed me the money. I got the check last month. Not bad. Waited only nine years for the refund.
Glad you got it resolved! Don't hesitate to write your senator with any federal agency/state about any and all problems. They are set up for this, have staff and advocates for this.
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The IRS owed my company a tax refund from 2005. It was a struggle getting them to admit they owed me the money. I got the check last month. Not bad. Waited only nine years for the refund.
Ya charge them interest?
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Glad you got it resolved! Don't hesitate to write your senator with any federal agency/state about any and all problems. They are set up for this, have staff and advocates for this.
I wanted interest and penalties applied – heck, if I owed them the money you can bet penalties would have been added. But, they added only interest.
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Glad you got it resolved! Don't hesitate to write your senator with any federal agency/state about any and all problems. They are set up for this, have staff and advocates for this.
Unless your senator is Rob Portman. He will simply ignore you.
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I think just the double eagles that were minted in Philly. I agree with O, they should have sold those coins off, if even in dribs and drabs. There are tons of coin shows and dealers around. Who in their right mind would trust the federal government??
I can only hope that this family is composed of a bunch of liberals.
Liberals getting education about government would be a silver lining to this horrible event.