Gold coins are on display for sale.(AFP Photo / Kevork Djansezian)
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.
Because the government ordered the
destruction of their entire supply of coins decades earlier, the court found
that Switt’s family was illegally in possession of the stash. Even though they
may had been presented to the dealer by a Philadelphia Mint staffer, Judge
Davis agrees with last year’s ruling that Mr. McCann broke the law.
"The coins in question were not
lawfully removed from the United States Mint,” the judge rules.
Despite this decision, though, the
attorney representing Switt’s family says the government has no right to remove
their own items and transfer property back to the state.
"This is a case that raises
many novel legal questions, including the limits on the government's power to
confiscate property. The Langbord family will be filing an appeal and looks
forward to addressing these important issues before the 3rd Circuit," Barry Berke, an attorney for the Langbords, tells
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