Langbord family loses appeal to regain ownership of 1933 double eagles

[PureGold]

http://www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/2016/08/langboard-family-loses-appeal-1933-double-eagle-case.1.html

http://www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/2016/08/langboard-family-loses-appeal-1933-double-eagle-case.2.html

[ApisMellifera]

Gosh. Lesson learned. They should've sell them to collectors or...put them up on eBay (not. lol), instead sending them back to the mint. I guess the family wanted do the "right" thing. 

[richo]

I think the govt position does seem fairly watertight. If legally none were allowed in circulation, then difficult position to argue against. 

Say, in the extremely unlikely event you came across some of these, it's difficult really to do anything. It's not like you can move them easily! lol

[sovereignsteve]

They'll always be someone who will buy them, just a matter of finding them and doing the deal.

[richo]

What was the story about how the Govt found out? Did the family volunteer the info?

[PureGold]

They surrendered 10 coins I wonder if they still have some that they didn't tell the us mint about.. I hope they do!

[ApisMellifera]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1933_double_eagle

i just looked at the wiki page and it's not easy to sell them as the secret service agents are chasing them however a 2002 Sotheby's auction sold one for $7.5 million!? The auction lasted 9 minutes. 

Fascinating 

10 minutes ago, richo said:

What was the story about how the Govt found out? Did the family volunteer the info?

(It's in the article) The family send them back to the mint through an attorney for authorisation, Mint never returned them. Family is making appeal. 

[richo]

9 minutes ago, PureGold said:

They surrendered 10 coins I wonder if they still have some that they didn't tell the us mint about.. I hope they do!

Imagine how closely that's been watched!! $7.5m a pop. That's quite a premium..

[sovereignsteve]

24 minutes ago, ApisMellifera said:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1933_double_eagle

i just looked at the wiki page and it's not easy to sell them as the secret service agents are chasing them however a 2002 Sotheby's auction sold one for $7.5 million!? The auction lasted 9 minutes. 

Fascinating 

(It's in the article) The family send them back to the mint through an attorney for authorisation, Mint never returned them. Family is making appeal. 

pretty stupid really, it has always been known that any of these in the public domain were recalled and it was deemed illegal to possess them

[Scuzzle]

They should have only sent one to the mint for authentication then found the buyer who paid 7.5 million for one and offered them to him for as many million as he will part with.

[Murph]

It seems the safety deposit box original owner was a dodgy character and had been arrested carrying gold illegally in 1934.  He was also known as a source for 33 double eagles and was friendly with the mint's cashier who had a lifestyle that wasn't in line with his wage.  The family probably made more than enough money from 33 double eagles previously if the above is accurate.

[bongobill]

When will folk learn that the government are the biggest legislators of theft and extortion? You'd have to be some sort of soft-brained muppet to think they aren't trying to get their greedy mitts on anything of real (or even imagined) value that everybody has.

[Murph]

The sad thing is the government might well destroy them.  

[SpacedMarine]

Sad this i thought that the government ran out of time to prosecute the case and they got them back.Lesson is don't tell government anything.I wonder if they had sneaked them out of the country they'd have fared any better.Although i dare say men in suits would be waiting on their return.Let this be a lesson to everyone in greece at the moment although if it ends up being anything like the assygniat fiasco in france you may get 20 years or the guillotine just for hiding a little silver!