Jury decides U.S. rightly took gold coins, judge to decide owner

[wingrider]

http://news.yahoo.com/jury-decides-u-rightly-took-gold-coins-judge-221006086.html

snip:

Romero said the coins were never legally issued by the government and that somehow the late Israel Switt, a Philadelphia jeweler, ended up with them.

His family alerted authorities after finding the coins in 2003, and went to court to get them back. The coins have been in the government's possession since 2004.

I would love to see the transcript of this hearing.. how did the prosecuting attorney know that the feds never issued the coins?

the family notified the feds about the discovery of the coins valued at 400,000 dollars

just goes to show you no good deed goes unpunished

[DGUtley]

U.S. wins ownership of rare 'double eagle' gold coins

I was curious so I tracked down what happened in this case. Government wins. Again, no good deed goes unpunished. It makes sense, as you can never get clear title to stolen property.

58306


https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-doubleeagle-coins-idUSKCN10C33S


SCOTUS refused to hear the case.

https://coinweek.com/supreme-court-refuses-to-hear-langbord-switt-1933-double-eagle-case/

[carolina73]

The 1933 minting of the gold Double Eagle coin was a landmark event for the United States, although the people at the time didn’t realize it. The Gold Reserve Act issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt prevented these newly minted coins from being circulated. But before the batch of 455,500 coins could be melted down, several of them went missing, and one became the center of a decades-long tale of crime, mystery, and intrigue before eventually being auctioned for the record-setting price of $7,590,020. It’s now on display at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (you can read our three-part series about how the coin wound up there). The 1933 Double Eagle has been surrounded by legal controversy over the years, and it all began with a jeweler and coin dealer named Israel Switt.

Switt, who had connections at the Philadelphia Mint, managed to obtain at least one of the several 1933 Double Eagles that went missing from the mint. However, the coins were illegal to own since they were never circulated, and thus, still property of the United States government. The US Secret Service hunted down all of the Double Eagles with extreme prejudice. However, Switt sold one to King Farouk I of Egypt, putting it out of US jurisdiction. This coin eluded the Secret Service for more than 40 years, but eventually became the famous coin on display at the Federal Reserve Bank in 2002.

By 2005, Israel Switt had long since passed away. His jewelry shop was boarded up and gathering dust. His daughter, Joan Langdon Switt and her grandchildren, were cleaning up the old shop and preparing to close it for good. But, they stumbled upon an old safe deposit box. Inside were 10, 1933 Double Eagles. A find potentially worth more than $70 million.

But unfortunately, trouble followed these 10 coins just as it did for the previous coin. Look forward to more in our next blog post.

Israel Switt hid away 10, 1933 Double Eagles that were discovered by his family after his death. For some, the find was not too surprising. Allegedly, Switt had switched older-issue Double Eagles at the Philadelphia mint for the 1933 ones just before they were melted down. Because the original 1933 coins and Switt’s decoys were destroyed all at once, there was no way to know just how many double eagles Switt really took.

Since a single 1933 Double Eagle earned the record for the world’s most valuable coin, surely 10 of them must hold astronomical value – if they were authentic. And who would know better, and pay higher, than the US government?

As part of the legal settlement between the US government and Stephen Fenton (the last owner of the Double Eagle before it went on display at the Fed), it was agreed that the coin was to be auctioned off, with the proceeds split evenly between the defendant and plaintiff. Switt’s descendants assumed they could get the same deal. So, they sent all 10 newly discovered coins to US Treasury Department to be authenticated. However, the government kept the coins and provided the Switts with no compensation whatsoever. Naturally, the Switts sued.

https://www.mgsrefining.com/blog/2016/10/25/The-1933-Double-Eagle-Israel-Switts-Legacy/

https://www.mgsrefining.com/blog/2016/10/27/Israel-Switts-Legacy-Part-2/