The
1933 double eagle (
United StatesThe United States dollar is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents....
20-dollar gold coin) currently holds the record for the second highest price paid at
auctionAn auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...
for a single U.S. coin when it was purchased for US$7.59 million. 445,500 specimens of this Saint-Gaudens
Double EagleA Double Eagle is a gold coin of the United States with a denomination of $20. . The coins are made from a 90% gold and 10% copper alloy....
were
mintedA mint is an industrial facility which manufactures coins for currency.The history of mints correlates closely with the history of coins. One difference is that the history of the mint is usually closely tied to the political situation of an era...
in 1933, the last year of production for the Double Eagle, but no specimens ever officially circulated and nearly all were melted down, due to the discontinuance of the domestic
gold standardThe gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed weight of gold. There are distinct kinds of gold standard...
in 1933.
Production of the 1933 Double Eagles
In an attempt to end the 1930s general bank crisis, U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt issued
Executive Order 6102Executive Order 6102 is an Executive Order signed on April 5, 1933, by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt "forbidding the Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion, and Gold Certificates" by U.S...
in 1933 and the
Gold Reserve ActThe United States Gold Reserve Act of January 30, 1934 required that all gold and gold certificates held by the Federal Reserve be surrendered and vested in the sole title of the United States Department of the Treasury....
in 1934, which outlawed the circulation and private possession of United States gold coins for general circulation, with an exemption for
collector coinsCoin collecting is the collecting or trading of coins or other forms of minted legal tender.Coins of interest to collectors often include those that circulated for only a brief time, coins with mint errors and especially beautiful or historically significant pieces. Coin collecting can be...
. This act declared that gold coins were no longer
legal tenderLegal tender is a medium of payment allowed by law or recognized by a legal system to be valid for meeting a financial obligation. Paper currency is a common form of legal tender in many countries....
in the United States, and people had to turn in their gold coins for other forms of
currencyIn economics, currency refers to physical objects generally accepted as a medium of exchange. These are usually the coins and banknotes of a particular government, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...
. The 1933 gold Double Eagles were struck after this executive order, but because they were no longer legal tender, most of the 1933 gold coins were melted down in late 1934 and some were destroyed in tests. Two of the $20 Double Eagles were presented by the
United States MintThe United States Mint primarily produces circulating coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce. The Mint was created by Congress with the Coinage Act of 1792, and placed within the Department of State...
to the U.S. National Numismatic Collection, and they were recently on display in the "Money and Medals Hall" on the third floor of the
National Museum of American HistoryThe National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific and military history. Among the items on display are the original Star-Spangled Banner and Archie Bunker's...
.
These two coins should have been the only 1933 Double Eagle coins in existence. However, unbeknownst to the Mint, a number of the coins (20 have been recovered so far) were stolen, possibly by the U.S. Mint Cashier. At least nine of these coins, which were illegal to possess, found their way via Philadelphia jeweler Israel Switt, into the hands of collectors.
The coins circulated amongst collectors for several years before the
Secret ServiceThe United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division...
became aware of their existence. The matter came to the attention of Mint officials when an investigative reporter looked into the history of the coins he had spotted in an upcoming
Stack-Mathematics:* Stack , general category-theoretical concept to formalise "pull-back" operations in geometry and algebra* Algebraic stack, a generalisation of scheme and algebraic space in algebraic geometry; a specific type of the above-Computers:...
's coin auction and contacted the Mint as part of his research, as a result of which an official investigation was begun by the Secret Service in 1944. Seven of the coins were discovered and taken by federal agents within the first year of the investigation, with one coin remaining in public possession until 1952. The investigation identified the alleged thief and his accomplices, but the
statute of limitationsA statute of limitations is an enactment in a common law legal system that sets forth the maximum time after an event that legal proceedings based on that event may be initiated...
had passed and they could not be prosecuted.
The Egyptian Double Eagle
One of the missing Double Eagles was acquired by
King FaroukFarouk I of Egypt , was the tenth ruler from the Muhammad Ali Dynasty and the penultimate King of Egypt and Sudan, succeeding his father, Fuad I, in 1936....
of
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, who was a voracious collector of many things, including Imperial
Fabergé eggA Fabergé egg is any one of the thousands of jeweled eggs made by the House of Fabergé from 1885 through 1917. The majority of these were miniature ones that were popular gifts at Eastertide. They would be worn on a neck chain either singly or in groups....
s, antique
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bottles,
paperweightsFine glass paperweights, are widely produced, collected and appreciated as works of art, and are often exhibited in museums as examples of fine glass art.They are made entirely of glass by sole artisans, or factories, usually in limited editions...
,
postage stampA postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
s—and coins, of which he had a collection of over 8,500. In 1944 Farouk purchased a 1933 Double Eagle, and in strict adherence with the law, his ministers applied to the United States Treasury Department for an export license for the coin. Mistakenly, just days before the Mint theft was discovered, the license was granted. The Treasury Department attempted to work through
diplomatic channelsDiplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states. It usually refers to international diplomacy, the conduct of international relations through the intercession of professional diplomats with regard to issues of peace-making, trade, war,...
to request the return of the coin from Egypt, but
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, which involved most of the world's nations, including all of the great powers: eventually forming two opposing military alliances, the Allies and the Axis...
delayed their efforts for several years. In 1952 King Farouk was deposed in a
coup d'etatA coup d'état —also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either civil or military...
, and many of his possessions were made available for public
auctionAn auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...
(run by
Sotheby'sSotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...
) – including the Double Eagle coin. The United States Government requested the return of the coin, and the Egyptian government stated that it would comply with the request. However, at that time the coin disappeared and was not seen again in Egypt.
A Double Eagle surfaced again after over forty years of obscurity, when British coin dealer Stephen Fenton was arrested by US Secret Service agents during a
sting operationIn law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person committing a crime. A typical sting will have a law-enforcement officer or cooperative member of the public play a role as criminal partner or potential victim and go along with a suspect's actions to gather...
at the
Waldorf-Astoria HotelThe Waldorf-Astoria is a luxury hotel in New York. It has been housed in two historic landmark buildings in New York City. The first, designed by architect Henry J. Hardenbergh, was on the Fifth Avenue site of the Empire State Building. The present building at 301 Park Avenue in Manhattan is a...
in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Although he initially told investigators he bought the coin over the counter at his shop, he later changed his story. Under sworn testimony, he insisted the Double Eagle had come from the collection of King Farouk, though this could not be verified.
ChargesAn indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
against Fenton were subsequently dropped, and he defended his ownership of the coin in court. The case was settled in 2001 when it was agreed that ownership of the Double Eagle would revert to the United States Government, and the coin could then legally be sold at auction. The United States Treasury issued a document to "issue and monetize" the coin, thereby making it a legal-tender gold coin in the United States.
When the coin was seized, it was transferred to a holding place believed to be safe: the Treasury vaults of the
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. When the court settlement was reached in July 2001, only two months before the Trade Center was destroyed, the coin was transferred to Fort Knox for safekeeping.
On July 30, 2002, the 1933 Double Eagle was sold to an anonymous bidder at a Sotheby's auction held in New York for $6.6 million, plus a 15-percent buyer's premium, and an additional $20 needed to “monetize” the face value of the coin so it would become legal currency, bringing the final sale price to $7,590,020.00, almost twice the previous record for a coin. Half the bid price was to be delivered to the United States Treasury, plus the $20 to monetize the coin, while Stephen Fenton was entitled to the other half. The auction took less than nine minutes.
Discovery of ten more coins
In August 2005, the U.S.
Secret ServiceThe United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division...
announced the recovery of ten additional stolen 1933 Double Eagle gold coins from the family of Philadelphia jeweler Israel Switt, the illicit coin dealer identified by the Secret Service as a party to the theft who admitted selling the first nine double eagles recovered a half century earlier. In September 2004, the coins' ostensible owner, Joan S. Langbord, voluntarily surrendered the 10 coins to the United States Secret Service. In July 2005, the coins were authenticated by the United States Mint, working with the
Smithsonian InstitutionThe Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
, as being genuine 1933 Double Eagles. The coins are currently stored at
Fort KnoxThe United States Bullion Depository, often known as Fort Knox, is a fortified vault building located adjacent to Fort Knox, Kentucky, used to store a large portion of United States official gold reserves and occasionally other precious items belonging or entrusted to the federal government.The...
.
After the announcement that the US Secret Service had recovered the coins and that they had been authenticated, Ms. Langbord publicly claimed that she inherited the coins from her father via legal means, and continues to threaten a federal suit concerning the surrendered coins. To that effect, Langbord has apparently retained the services of the
attorneyA lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, Barry Berke, who represented Fenton with the only monetized 1933 Double Eagle.
According to various accounts, Israel Switt had many contacts and friends within the Philadelphia Mint, and reportedly had access to many points of the minting process. It is believed that Switt obtained the stolen 1933 Double Eagles through his personal relationship with Mint Cashier George McCann. One possible theory is that McCann swapped previous year Double Eagles for the 1933 specimens prior to melting, thus avoiding compromise of accounting books and inventory lists.
Some in the numismatic world have advanced an argument that Switt could have legally obtained the 1933 coins when he was exchanging gold bullion for coins. Although the Mint records clearly show that no 1933 Double Eagles were issued, there were allegedly three weeks in March 1933 when new Double Eagles could possibly have been legally obtained. The Mint began striking double eagles on March 15 and Roosevelt's Executive Order to ban them wasn't finalized until April 5. On March 6, 1933, the Secretary of the Treasury ordered the Director of the Mint to pay gold only under license issued by the Secretary, and the United States Mint Cashier's daily statements do not reflect that any 1933 Double Eagles were paid out.
The Mint has stated an intention to preserve the coins for display. Until the early 1970s (when
President NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, in office from 1969 to 1974. He served as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961, the only person to be elected twice to both the Presidency and the Vice Presidency...
took the United States off the gold standard and
President FordGerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
signed legislation that again made it legal for the public to own
gold bullionA bullion coin is a coin struck from precious metal and kept as a store of value or an investment, rather than used in day-to-day commerce. Investment coins are generally coins that have been minted after 1800, have a purity of not less than 900 thousandths and is or has been a legal tender in its...
) any recovered 1933 Double Eagle, as gold bullion, was destined to be melted. Therefore, while Double Eagles recovered prior to 1974 were melted down, any Double Eagle recovered now can be spared this fate. Currently, with the exception of the one sold on July 30, 2002, 1933 Double Eagle coins cannot be the legal possession of any member of the public, as they were never issued and hence remain the property of the US government.
On October 28 2010 United States District Court Judge Legrome D. Davis Oct. 28 released of a 20-page decision by U.S. District Court Judge which is expected to lead to a trial in late 2011 or in 2012.
Unauthorized replicas
In 2004, National Collectors Mint released gold-plated replicas of the 1933 Double Eagle, ostensibly under the authority of the
Northern Mariana IslandsThe Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , is a commonwealth in political union with the United States, occupying a strategic region of the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines...
, a U.S. Commonwealth. NCM advertised and certified the coins as "legal tender of the CNMI," a bogus designation.
The replica coins did not include any "REPLICA" or "COPY" indications on their faces. The design of the replica coins match the original coins in concept of design, though were not physical replicas. The only difference in basic design between the NCM replicas and the original Double Eagle was the addition of the CNMI territorial seal under the U.S. motto on the reverse.
After some controversy over the nature and marketing of these replicas, the coins were reissued with the word "COPY" stamped across the eagle's stomach.
Further reading
- Alison Frankel, "Double Eagle: the epic story of the world's most valuable coin." New York: Norton, 2006 ISBN 0-393-05949-9
- David Tripp, "Illegal tender: gold, greed, and the mystery of the lost 1933 Double Eagle." New York: Free Press, 2004 ISBN 0-7432-4574-1
- Bryan Christy, "Curse of the Double Eagle," Playboy Magazine, April 2004
- COINage Magazine, January 2006, "Barry Berke and the 1933 Double 'Legal'," pp. 46-48
- Linda Fairstein, "The Kills: Fictional story based on the King Farouk owned 'Double Eagle' coin." Little Brown, 2004 ISBN 978-0-7515-4284-4
External links