family finds rare gold coins. ask the treasury to authenticate them. MORONS!

[OutHouse]

Holy shit, i would hang myself. fricken dummies just gave away 80 million bucks.



http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout...nt-over-rare-double-eagle-gold-151853030.html

UPDATE: 6 Sept 2012

A judge ruled that 10 rare gold coins worth $80 million belonged to the U.S. government, not a family that had sued the U.S. Treasury, saying it had illegally seized them.
http://news.yahoo.com/judge-says-10-rare-gold-coins-worth-80-152750965--abc-news-topstories.html

 

[ElFenix]

that is epicly dumb.

 

[AreaCode707]

I dunno, the government seems to be pretty in the right here.

Philadelphian Joan Langbord and her sons say they found the 10 coins in 2003 in a bank deposit box kept by Langbord's father, Israel Switt, a jeweler who died in 1990...

The government has long believed that Switt schemed with a corrupt cashier at the Mint to swipe the coins. They note that the deposit box in which the coins were found was rented six years after Switt's death, and that the family never paid inheritance tax on the coins.

 

[geecee]

Duh. Everyone knows you should use Cash4Gold.

 

[tmc]

innocent until proven guilty? the guy is dead - how are they going to prove he stole it?

 

[ElFenix]

innocent until proven guilty? the guy is dead - how are they going to prove he stole it?

they probably don't need to prove he stole it in order to seize it as contraband.

 

[Pardus]

They said the coins were stolen from the U.S. Mint back in 1933, and are the government's property. The Treasury Department seized the coins, and locked them away at Fort Knox. The court battle is set to kick off this week.

 

[halik]

So everyone suspects the Switt guy to have stolen them and his heirs decide to go to the gov't with the apparently stolen goods? Morans.

 

[Jaepheth]

The crime was committed in 1933... wouldn't the statute of limitations have already run out? I thought most states had a limit of about 10 years on theft?

 

[mugs]

The crime was committed in 1933... wouldn't the statute of limitations have already run out? I thought most states had a limit of about 10 years on theft?

They aren't prosecuting the thief.

 

[bommy261]

Of all the possible ways to get coins authenticated they goto the government. They deserve this to happen to them for being sooooo stupid.

 

[tmc]

so, what could the family done [correctly] in this case? i mean - if you had those coins, how would you have handled it?

you can't just say - i found these and I am auctioning them? right?

 

[Newbian]

If this is true then how are people able to auction them off legally like it said in the story?

 

[lxskllr]

so, what could the family done [correctly] in this case? i mean - if you had those coins, how would you have handled it?

you can't just say - i found these and I am auctioning them? right?

Either sell on the black market to a private collector(PITA), or melt them down, and sell at gold value.

 

[kranky]

I have followed this story since the start, and actually the family has been pretty shrewd about handling it. There was no doubt the coins were real, but they would be seized by the government if there was any attempt to sell them. The one and only 1933 Double Eagle that IS blessed by the government to be in private hands was first seized in a sting operation when it was being sold in a private transaction. So the family had no opportunity to do anything unless the coins were ruled legal to own.

Handing them over for "authentication" provided a way to get a court to rule that the government could not prove they were stolen, and that would open the door to being able to sell them openly (realistically, they might go for $2-3 million each, not $8 million). They knew the government would not give the coins back, so they could go to court to force the return of the coins. If that happened, that would then resolve the "legal to own" issue.

The family has some very smart expert witnesses on their side, who have done extensive research in the National Archives. They believe they can show there was a window of time where the coins could have been legitimitely obtained from the Mint prior to FDR's order to stop issuing gold coins, and have government documents to back it up. They don't have documents that prove that the coins were obtained legitimitely, but they believe they can show it was possible. If they can create that reasonable doubt, they might win.

 

[gorcorps]

Either sell on the black market to a private collector(PITA), or melt them down, and sell at gold value.

Pawn Stars

You'll even get on TV :awe:

 

[Red Squirrel]

lol wow that sucks. I would have melted them down and then try to get it valued by a company that gives cash for gold.

 

[trmiv]

Pawn Stars

You'll even get on TV :awe:

 

[silverpig]

Either sell on the black market to a private collector(PITA), or melt them down, and sell at gold value.

They wouldn't be worth anywhere near $80 million if you melted them down.

 

[buzzsaw13]

Pawn Stars

You'll even get on TV :awe:

I can see it now.

"These gold coins were recently auctioned for 7.6 million dollars, I'll give you 50 bucks."

 

[trmiv]

lol wow that sucks. I would have melted them down and then try to get it valued by a company that gives cash for gold.

There's only maybe $13,000 worth of gold in those 10 coins.

 

[lxskllr]

They wouldn't be worth anywhere near $80 million if you melted them down.

No, but the chance of going to jail is pretty much zero. Honestly, what I'd do is just keep them. It's a cool thing to have, regardless of value.

 

[KeithTalent]

I have followed this story since the start, and actually the family has been pretty shrewd about handling it. There was no doubt the coins were real, but they would be seized by the government if there was any attempt to sell them. The one and only 1933 Double Eagle that IS blessed by the government to be in private hands was first seized in a sting operation when it was being sold in a private transaction. So the family had no opportunity to do anything unless the coins were ruled legal to own.

Handing them over for "authentication" provided a way to get a court to rule that the government could not prove they were stolen, and that would open the door to being able to sell them openly (realistically, they might go for $2-3 million each, not $8 million). They knew the government would not give the coins back, so they could go to court to force the return of the coins. If that happened, that would then resolve the "legal to own" issue.

The family has some very smart expert witnesses on their side, who have done extensive research in the National Archives. They believe they can show there was a window of time where the coins could have been legitimitely obtained from the Mint prior to FDR's order to stop issuing gold coins, and have government documents to back it up. They don't have documents that prove that the coins were obtained legitimitely, but they believe they can show it was possible. If they can create that reasonable doubt, they might win.

Awesome post. :thumbsup:

KT

 

[PottedMeat]

I can see it now.

"These gold coins were recently auctioned for 7.6 million dollars, I'll give you 50 bucks."

i think gold is the only thing they give >50%+ of the market price on pawn stars. there was some guy with a gold bar from a shipwreck that the expert priced at ~$45k, rick bought it for ~$36k i think

 

[Gigantopithecus]

Snip

Interesting story - I can see why you've been following it. Hopefully they prevail in court, though I'm not optimistic.