US Mint must seek court OK to keep rare 1933 coins
Arizona Coin Collector
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US Mint must seek court OK to keep rare 1933 coins
By MARYCLAIRE DALE (AP) - 1 hour ago
PHILADELPHIA - The U.S. government improperly seized a
set of extremely rare and valuable "double eagle"
coins from a Philadelphia jeweler's descendants and
must win a forfeiture case to keep them, a judge ruled
this week.
Ownership of the 10 gold coins - worth millions of
dollars apiece - may be determined by a jury in a
weeks-long forfeiture hearing.
The family of the late Israel Switt is suing to recover
the double eagles, so named because they had a face
value of $20, twice the amount of gold coins known as
eagles.
The government argues that none of the coins were
removed legally from the Mint when President
Franklin D. Roosevelt abandoned the gold standard in
1933. The stockpiled double eagles minted that year and
waiting to go into circulation were instead melted
down, although a few apparently survived.
The judge's order released Wednesday calls for the
government to initiate a forfeiture hearing by
Sept. 28. The hearing would likely amount to a trial
in which the government would have to prove Switt's
family never legally possessed them, a family lawyer
said.
Lawyer Barry Berke argues that some coins could have
left the Mint legally through a gold exchange program
in place at the time that attracted jewelers like
Switt.
"There was a period of time where it was permissible
to exchange gold coins for gold bullion," said Berke,
who represents Switt's daughter, Joan S. Langbord of
Philadelphia, and her sons, Roy Langbord of New York
City and David Langbord of Virginia Beach, Va.
They say they found the coins in a safe deposit box
in 2003, 13 years after Switt died.
The following year, they asked the Mint to
authenticate them and suggested they were open to a
negotiated settlement, perhaps akin to the 50-50
split reached in a previous case involving one
double eagle coin.
The collection could be worth nearly $80 million or
more. A comparable double eagle sold for $7.59
million in 2002 - believed to be the highest price
ever paid for a coin.
The family has previously asked for the coins'
return or a settlement of up to $40 million.
U.S. District Judge Legrome Davis ruled that the
government improperly seized the coins and denied
the family due process when Mint officials decided
to keep them after they were authenticated without
a hearing.
"The government's 'good-faith' belief that the coins
were once stolen is not sufficient, under the
circumstances, to justify its decision to conduct
a warrantless seizure," Davis wrote.
Federal prosecutors representing the Mint declined
through a spokeswoman to comment Friday.
In a statement, the family noted Israel Switt's
combat service in World War II and said they have
tried to be open with the government throughout the
long case.
"Perhaps this was only a minor and personal battle,
but nevertheless it is one where a family's rights
to receive fair treatment from the government of
the United States was vindicated," the statement said.
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