October 14, 2015
A decade-long battle over the fate of 10 rare gold U.S. coins will return once more to an appeals court as the Treasury Department seeks to regain possession of the Double Eagles from the heirs of a family of jewelers.
The case, which has flipped back and forth three times, hinges on whether or not the coins were illegally seized by Israel Switt, a 1930's gold dealer in Philadelphia and the father of Joan Langbord, whose family is fighting to keep the coins now valued at $80 million.
In 1933, the Philadelphia Mint produced 445,000 $20 gold Double Eagles, but they never went into circulation after President Roosevelt, trying to stop a bank panic, removed gold coins from circulation and outlawed ownership of large amounts. While most of the coins were melted down into gold bars when the U.S. left the gold standard, several were smuggled out and have skyrocketed in value ever since.
The government argues that the coins cannot be the family's property because they were never circulated and could only have been stolen. An initial ruling in 2009 found that the government had improperly seized the coins from the family and denied them due process when they asked for them to be authenticated. The family, which discovered the coins in a safe deposit box in 2003, argues that they are their rightful property by virtue of the government failing to respond to a seized property claim within the required 90 days.
In 2011, a jury reversed the 2009 decision and returned the coins to the government. Then in April of this year, a three-judge appellate court ruled 2-1 in favor of the Switt family.
Federal prosecutors have asked for yet another appellate review of the case, which led to a hearing on Wednesday, the San Luis Obispo Tribune reports. In the meantime, the coins are being held at Fort Knox, Kentucky.
Designed by sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the coins feature a flying eagle on one side and a representation of liberty on the other side.
One of the coins, owned by King Farouk of Egypt, sold for $7.6 million in 2002. A London coin dealer who later owned and was jailed by the U.S. government shared proceeds with the United States in a deal brokered by lawyer Barry Berke, who represents the Langbords.
Though the Langbords have offered such a split with the government, their proposal has been denied.
