Thread: 1933 Double Eagle trial over - UPDATE

1933 double eagle trial: Government wins

Jury rules in favor of Mint

July 20, 2011 3:48 p.m.

Associate Editor Steve Roach reports from the courtroom that the federal jury has rendered an unanimous verdict in favor of the government in the 1933 double eagle trial. A press conference is in progress. The Langbords left immediately upon hearing the verdict.

The verdict establishes that the government is the owner of the 10 1933 double eagles. The Langbord family turned over to the government the 10 coins in 2003 seeking an opinion on authenticity. The government confiscated the coins instead of returning them to the family. The Langbords had filed suit claiming ownership rights.

In-depth story to follow Thursday morning.

http://www.coinworldonline.com/articles ... ment-wins/

Background articles and trial info @
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-242799.html

1933 double eagle trial: At long last, a conclusion

Government calls decision vindication for the American people

By Steve Roach-Coin World Staff | July 21, 2011 10:55 a.m.

A 10-member jury unanimously decided that the 10 1933 Saint-Gaudens $20 double eagles allegedly found by the Langbord family of Philadelphia in 2003 belong to the U.S. government. The verdict was rendered July 20, the 10th and final day of the Langbord trial, after about five hours of deliberation.

Members of the jury left the courtroom to begin deliberations at 10:27 a.m. and returned to read the verdict at 3:25 p.m.



The jury’s verdict was read by Juror No. 9, who served as foreman. Each member of the jury read his or her verdict and each agreed that the government had met its burden of proof.



When Judge Legrome D. Davis issued instructions to the jurors at the beginning of the day’s session, he noted that this “unusual caseâ€

The case of the double-headed gold coins

By Claudine Zap | The Upshot
Jul 21, 2011.. .

It's a case that combines history and mystery--and very valuable gold coins. The stakes were certainly high: One of these rare $20 pieces sold for a record $7.59 million in 2002.

Here's the story. A jury decided that a Philadelphia woman, Joan Langbord, who found the coins in her father's bank deposit box, never should have owned them, and that the U.S. government was right to take them back.

The government argued that the never-circulated gold coins should never have been anywhere outside the U.S. Mint. Only a half-million of the coins were made. The rare "double eagle" coins, designed by sculptor August Saint-Gaudens, are fervently sought by collectors—and worth a mint. When the United States abolished the gold standard in 1933, most of the pieces were melted down.

Two were sent to the Smithsonian, and 20 disappeared—the very 20 that can be traced to Langbord's father, a Philadelphia jeweler named Israel Switt. In challenging Langbord's ownership rights, the government argued that the dollar coins were most likely stolen. Langbord, who is 81, argued that her father did business with the Mint, and the coins could have been acquired legally.

But the government case seemed to sway the jury against Switt: The jeweler had been investigated for illegally possessing gold coins in the 1930s and '40s, but Switt was never prosecuted because the statute of limitations had expired.

The Secret Service believed that Switt worked a shady deal with a cashier inside the U.S. Mint to acquire the coins, which are currently being held at Fort Knox.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upshot/case ... 21245.html

So now it's OK to punish the children for the parents' sins? He just wanted a "better life" for his family.

The jeweler had been investigated for illegally possessing gold coins in the 1930s and '40s, but Switt was never prosecuted because the statute of limitations had expired.

So what? The government isn't deporting 20+ million illegal aliens that are still squatting here. Give her back daddy's coins, she too deserves a "better life", no?

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