United States Mint Gold coins Still in the Vaults...
cagcrisp
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United States Gold Coins: (No Idea why the Mint broke the coins down in the following manner or the FTO that was arrived at)
Coin years range from 1850 – 1929: Denomination; Pieces; FTO
$1.00 = 3; .117 FTO
$2.50 = 53; 6.381 FTO
$5.00 = 188; 45.297 FTO
$10.00 = 117; 56.448 FTO
$20.00 = 1,291; 1,247.634 FTO
Various Type = 97; 63.442 FTO
Subtotal 1,749 coins; 1,419.319 FTO
Coin years range from 1856 – 1919: Denomination; Pieces; FTO
$3.00 = 1; .100 FTO
$5.00 = 18; 4.500 FTO
$10.00 = 18; 9.000 FTO
$20.00 = 50; 50.000 FTO
Subtotal 87 coins; 63.600 FTO
TOTALS; 1,836 coins; 1,482.919 FTO…
1
Comments
What is FTO?
Fine Troy Ounce
Still in the vaults? By what source-- references?
Per Mint Director Ryder, “ The West Point Mint has been storing more than 4 million foreign gold coins for decades that were repatriated from World War II, including nearly 2,000 pre-1930 U.S. gold coins. Ryder said that, in 1992, while serving as the 34th Mint director, he wanted to empty the coffers and put the coins into the numismatic marketplace.
Ryder said he received opposition from several people who collected examples of the coins being held in Mint vaults, who didn’t want the stored coins released for fear it would drive down the value of their own coins.
“I think it would be great to be able to do something with those coins because each has a story to tell,” Ryder said.”
Cool, but the numbers seem small in comparison to what is continually coming in from Europe.
United States Gold coins 1,836 coins = 1,482.919 FTO
Foreign Coins: 4,686,358 Gold coins = 991,855.139 FTO
All carried on the United States Mint's Balance Sheet @ $42.2222/FTO.
That's $2.0B worth of Gold coins carried on the books for $41.9M...
As Bryce said, I think there are a lot more in Europe, shipped over in the 1930's after the gold confiscation. I never thought we melted most of the gold. Why go to the expense of melting and re-assaying it? It was already assayed and would have been accepted as is.
Side note. I wonder what they have at Ft. Knox? Did the 1974 audit include coin?
I am sure that they melted everything they confiscated in the 1930s and turned them into gold bars. What we a talking about here are gold coins that were captured during World War II. If the number is only 2,000 pieces, it won't really hang over the U.S. collector market. My guess is that a lot of them are rather beaten up.
147,341,858.382 FTO at Fort Knox
There are no Gold coins at Fort Knox...
"Release the hounds".
Put them in special packaging and sell them off.
Seems ridiculous that the mint would hold these coins. True, most could not be put into circulation, but they could be sold by the mint and reduce inventory, record maintenance and storage space. Cheers, RickO
If they're there ... most likely that's where they will stay.
Considering that they just sold off the “West Point hoard” there is even less excuse to just hold these in a vault. And if they did a GSA style auction they would certainly get a pretty premium over the bullion value which is probably all they recognize today.
TurtleCat Gold Dollars
The primary use of gold is still for things like industrial, jewelry, dental and so on. A lot of these coins that got melted probably had no numismatic premium whatsoever.
GSA Gold coins when? I will buy a $20. Do a raffle for the rest.
Anything historically significant or otherwise unique should go to the Smithsonian.
"It's like God, Family, Country, except Sticker, Plastic, Coin."
Thanks for the better details. The post title (to me anyways) implied the coins were perhaps original unreleased Mint products... which would be a whole different ball game. Thus my interest in more details and references.
Repatriated coins from World War II would certainly make more sense. Perhaps they have not been released due to questionable status and possible legal reasons. From whom were they obtained or repatriated? 'Repatriated' can have a rather broad meaning. Were they obtained from a defeated enemy government (who may have stolen them from individuals)? If so... perhaps there are others with claims of ownership. For example... a lot of artwork was stolen or obtained by questionable practices during the war... and some of it is now being reclaimed by the rightful owners heirs, etc.
Were they looted from banks, homes, etc. by victorious troops?
Were they actually from US accounts that were seized by hostile governments during the war? If so... then certainly legitimate to 'repatriate' since they were already owned by the US.
So there may be some 'stigma' or 'stains' regarding the coins. If there is no documentation on exactly how they were obtained, or if there may be other legitimate owners, they should be released in appropriate packaging and documentation as a collectible from an historic time period. They do little good for the US Mint just sitting there; certainly not part of the Mint purpose or mission?
Why? So they could store them in their basement?
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
These acquired assets could come from several forms of repatriation. Melting them down into bars would remove their identification and a possible claim brought against the Government for their reacquisition by the original owners, just in case some of them were positively identified by graffiti or other distinct markings. A GSA type sale would be pretty cool though, since I never got in that action back in the day.
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Are they still using gold in dentistry? Not my dentist. I have a gold crown that is over 45 years old. I have another crown made out of ceramic, while it looks natural, I had to replace it three times already. You get what you pay for!
Did they give a break down of the foreign coins???
Wow cool post. I live 15 min from West Point and i play the golf course which is right next to the mint. Ill be thinking about this when i play next . They should release the coins in a GSA type process