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From RT:
A federal judge has upheld a verdict that strips a Pennsylvania family of their grandfather’s gold coins — worth an estimated $80 million — and has ordered ownership transferred to the US government.Read the rest
Judge Legrome Davis of the Eastern District Court of Pennsylvania affirmed a 2011 jury decision that a box of 1933 Saint-Gaudens double eagle coins discovered by the family of Israel Switt, a deceased dealer and collector, is the property of the United States.
In the midst of the Great Depression, then-President Franklin Roosevelt ordered that America’s supply of double eagles manufactured at the Philadelphia Mint be destroyed and melted into gold bars. Of the 445,500 or so coins created, though, some managed to escape the kiln and ended up into the hands of collectors. In 2003, Switt’s family opened a safe deposit back that their grandfather kept, revealing 10 coins among that turned out to be among the world’s most valuable collectables in the currency realm today.
Switt’s descendants, the Langbords, thought the coins had been gifted to their grandfather years earlier by Mint cashier George McCann and took the coins to the Mint to have their authenticity verified, but the government quickly took hold of the items and refused to relinquish the find to the family. The Langbords responded with a lawsuit that ended last year in a victory for the feds.
Get out of town.
ReplyDeleteNo way.
The government ruled in favor of the government.
One more reason to vote out "the socialist" and vote in "the conservative".
He"ll change things, yes sir.
RepubliCAN !!!
Fuck numismatic, 1947.52F
ReplyDeleteA valuable lesson to those who still trust the government. They are thieves.
ReplyDeleteCould the jury in the first trial employed nullification, or, since this involved "seizure", nullification is a moot point?
ReplyDeleteJuries can always nullify. You're just not allowed to tell them that.
DeleteYup. Google Professor James Duane on jury nullification.
DeleteI've been summoned for jury duty on September 18th. Can't hardly wait...
Up and down they'll declare you halfway to the nuthouse for purchasing gold, or heaven forbid, calling for a gold standard. The media practically disavows gold at every chance, and then the government steals that very same "barbaric" relic of the past that they say should have no value to anyone.
ReplyDeleteThis was a stolen property case. The coins were at the mint when the confiscation order was issued. How did they get out of the mint? Someone stole them, and they were transferred to Switt. Not really a confiscation case.
ReplyDeleteThe irony is that the thieves created the $80 million in value. They protected the imprints from being destroyed by the government. The government would have melted the coins down. Were there any justice, the government would only be entitled to 10 ounces of gold from the Langbords, but the Langbords would be able to keep the Saint Gaudens.
"Were there any justice, the government would only be entitled to 10 ounces of gold..."
DeleteAre you nuts? The government has NO legitimate claim to ANY assets; they are "entitled" to NOTHING and claim as their own only that which they steal by force from the productive and mostly unwilling/unwitting victims.
See Lysander Spooner, "No Treason", No. 2: "The Constitution."