$20 Double-Eagles from 1933 are rare indeed. A few years ago, one sold for an astounding $7.59 million!
The reason they’re so rare is that only a few thousand were produced in 1933. That same year, President Franklin Roosevelt took the U.S. off the gold standard. Many of these coins were therefore confiscated since it was illegal to consider them legal tender.
The St. Gaudens $20 Double-Eagle denoted a $20 piece of gold (1-oz) when it was produced. Only two were officially maintained for historical purposes with the remaining being melted down.
A few of these rare gold coins were discovered in 2003 by the daughter and grandsons of Israel Switt, a now deceased Philadelphia jeweler and scrap dealer. Mr. Switt’s family took the coins to the U.S. Treasury to authenticate them but instead they were confiscated.
Treasury officials claimed the family never paid inheritance tax on the coins and that the safety deposit box they were stored in was opened six years after Switt’s death in 1990.
Government officials with Treasury and the Secret Service also believe some coins were illegally taken from the U.S. Mint in 1933 after the country went off the gold standard. They believe Switt and a cashier at the Mint may have been involved.
It’s estimated the 10 coins that were in the family’s possession are worth around $80 million or more.
Unfortunately for the Joan Langbord and her sons, a jury concluded the U.S. Government had a legal right to the coins.
Attorneys for the family and a prior case similar to this one maintain Switt legally acquired the coins since it was permissible at the time to exchange gold coins for gold bullion according to an NBC report. Government officials though insist Double-Eagle rare gold coins left the mint illegally.
Also working against the family was two investigations of illegal gold trades against Switt, one in 1937 and the other in 1944. In ’37, officials seized 100 pre-’33 double-eagles as he was boarding a train to Baltimore to meet with a coin dealer. The ’44 investigation found 10 double-eagles traceable to swift, who says he sold 9 of them. Statute of Limitations prevented prosecution.
It’s hard to tell what will happen to these rare gold coins now. It’s unfortunate Mr. Switt’s family will be unable to enjoy them or perhaps sell them. Rare gold coins like these are a collectors’ dream.
We keep a few here but having such a rare coin would quite tremendous to say the least. Any of these particular 1933 Double Eagles still out there are certainly worth a whole lot now.
The British Crown (The LONDON CITY STATE) will confiscate your gold under the guise of the Federal Reserve Bank as they did in 1933. You will get about 10% (or less) than value. If you do NOT give up your gold, you will be arrested. In the past the penalties were deemed harsh for hording gold . TEN YEARS! This time around it will be FAR worse! If you don’t give up your gold purchases you will be labeled a terrorist . The NWO can’t allow people owning REAL value ex Willy Nelson!