The Biggest Gold Heists In History

[Kman]

Mike Maloney just uploaded an interesting video about the history of Governments confiscating gold

 

[Micky9776]

Good watch, thanks for that @Kman never new there was a gold confiscation in the uk, well you learn something new everyday!

[Kman]

36 minutes ago, Micky9776 said:

Good watch, thanks for that @Kman never new there was a gold confiscation in the uk, well you learn something new everyday!

I've tried to find articles about the UK law in 1966 but I'm struggling 

I can find a lot of articles referencing it but none directly just about it hmm

[Oldun]

Exchange Control Act 1966 to 1971
On 19th April, 1966, the Exchange Control Act came into effect. From this date it became illegal for UK residents to continue to hold more than four gold coins dated after 1817, or to buy any gold coins unless they applied for and were granted a collectors licence from the Bank of England. This was implemented by a 1966 amandment to the Exchange Control Act, 1947. The Dealers, ourselves included had to obtain a dealers licence. It came at a time when interest in collecting all kinds of British coins was blooming in anticipation of decimalisation in 1971. The licensing had the effect of stifling the burgeoning market among new collectors, many of whom started collecting pennies from change. They could no longer graduate to gold coins, as they had to already have a gold coin collection in order to qualify for a licence.

https://taxfreegold.co.uk/banksotherbritishdealers.html

[Oldun]

Confiscation in its total sense ? No, Maloney has got it wrong. Did it curtail buying post 1817 gold coins and sent  such privately held coins underground or into the melting pot..yep.

[Oldun]

 

Gold Confiscation, Surrender, or Exchange?

The American gold coin dealers who try to scare their customers into buying more expensive older pre'1933 gold coins usually talk about "confiscation" when referring to the Executive Order 6102 of 3rd April 1933.
We believe the use of the word confiscation is a deliberately misleading exaggeration . It is clear from the wording of the Act that the gold was not confiscated, but had to be sold or exchanged at the then current market value.
We also note that may articles appear to state that Roosevelt made holding gold illegal in the USA. This is untrue. The various Executive Orders and Acts allowed each person to hold up to 5 troy ounces of gold, and made exemptions for gold coins of numismatic interest or rarity. It was only illegal to hold gold bullion in excess of five troy ounces. Most families and households would have been able to re-allocate and share out gold holdings in excess of 5 ounces per person, for example a family of 5 would be able to hold up to 25 ounces between them, plus "rarities". Five ounces is worth over $6,500 at current (2010) price levels, and 25 ounces over $30,000. Only a very small number of individuals would have been forced to exchange their gold. Most private gold holdings would not have been publicly known, and many more individuals may have easily chosen to keep their gold holdings concealed, or possibly simply designated excess holdings as being of numismatic interest or with rarity value.

https://taxfreegold.co.uk/confiscation.html

[Kman]

So I've found out this is called the "Exchange Control (Gold Coins Exemption) Order 1966

But..

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4750486

"Ordering and viewing options
This record has not been digitised and cannot be downloaded. "

But..

There is readable online a debate about it in the commons (if you can be bothered to read it)

http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1966/jun/13/exchange-control-gold-coins

I'm reading it now, Mr Higgins is making very good points..

"It is very difficult to understand why the Government should have introduced this measure at all. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that this has been yet another ill-thought-out measure, introduced in a hurry, and that its implications have not been fully examined."

"A further point is that even if the Order is made to work in practice by taking rigorous action, it will prove unenforceable. Quite simply, how is the Treasury or the Bank of England to discover who has more than four gold coins dated after 1834? They will have no means of ascertaining this, so that the law will fall into disrepute because it will be unenforceable"

"On top of all this, the question arises of whether the Bank of England is competent to evaluate whether someone is a genuine collector. Is the Bank of England sufficiently expert in this matter? It seems quite possible that some genuine collector will be denied the right to continue as genuine collectors simply because the Bank of England happens to feel that they are not."

 

 

[HelpingHands]

I linked this in the past in another thread but never read it.

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/archive/Documents/historicpubs/qb/1967/qb67q3245260.pdf