Dealers/Collectors who were alive when this happen, talk to me.....

guitarwes

Just read in the new "Coin Values" magazine (AUG 07) on pg. 84, when all that Gold melting and storing subsided from the depression era and after, that on Dec. 31, 1974, the public could once own gold again, legally I guess?

I would be a fool to think EVERYBODY turned in their gold like good little boys and girls back then, but was gold bullion and coins traded in PUBLIC(auction houses, flea markets, dealer's shops, etc.) after the depression and before 1975?

It said in the little excerpt "prohibiting U.S. Citizens from owning most forms of gold." Were you thrown in the Penn for having the "other" forms of gold you weren't supposed to have?

Since I was born in 1977, I don't have, or have never heard, a first hand view/experience about this. Yes, this will probably show your age a little (or alot), but enlighten me please.

Michigan

<< <i>Just read in the new "Coin Values" magazine (AUG 07) on pg. 84, when all that Gold melting and storing subsided from the depression era and after, that on Dec. 31, 1974, the public could once own gold again, legally I guess?

I would be a fool to think EVERYBODY turned in their gold like good little boys and girls back then, but was gold bullion and coins traded in PUBLIC(auction houses, flea markets, dealer's shops, etc.) after the depression and before 1975?

It said in the little excerpt "prohibiting U.S. Citizens from owning most forms of gold." Were you thrown in the Penn for having the "other" forms of gold you weren't supposed to have?

Since I was born in 1977, I don't have, or have never heard, a first hand view/experience about this. Yes, this will probably show your age a little (or alot), but enlighten me please. >>




Exceptions were made for US gold coins for coin collectors.

I believe that foreign gold coins were prohibited but there was active underground buying and selling going on.


One of the most popular illegal to own foreign gold coins was the one Canada made in 1967 for their centennial. Many of these were
smuggled across the border to the US in various ways.

dimples

I remember when me and my parents went on vacation to England in 74' my dad had me carry a pocket full of gold sovereigns through customs non-declared because of the new laws. I felt like James Bond on a mission.

Dan

RichieURich

All of the U.S. gold coins were legal (except for the 1933 $20 which is discussed in many other threads). Foreign gold coins before 1959 I think were OK but after 1959 weren't allowed. I guess the government believed that one or two of those 1967 Canadian $20 gold pieces could bring the U. S. economy to its knees, so they weren't allowed.

Writersblock

When the regulations went into effect All US gold coins (other than the 1933 double eagle) were considered legal to own, buy, and sell. Foreign gold coins before 1933 were considered to be legal, and you could get an import license for them, if they had recognized numismatic value on April 4th 1933. Foreign coins dated after 1933, and earlier dated coins known to be being restruck to provide a market for gold were declared to not be rare and were illegal to import or deal in.

This changed a little in 1954. All pre-1933 coins, other than the known restrikes, were declared eligible. Coins dated after 1933 were judged as to whether or not they had a "true numismatic value" on a coin by coin basis by the Treasury Dept. The Treasury used the opinion of the Curator of Numismatics at the Smithsonian as the final arbitrator.

In 1961 matters changed again. Before 1961 Americans could own gold held outside the country. President Eisenhower during his final days in office signed an executive order forbidding the ownership in gold abroad.

Then in Oct the Office of Domestic Gold and Silver Operations was created. Now every gold coin brought into the country had to have an import license and determination as to wheter the coin could come in was determined by the ODGSO. The problem was there was no longer any consistancy on what could be imported. Licenses were awarded on the whim of the director and just because one dealer got a license to bring a certain coin in, the next dealer trying to bring the same type coin in may be denied. All coins after 1960 were denied. This was the way it stayed until 1969.

In 1969 they again decided that all non-restrike pre 1933 coins were rare and no longer needed licenses to be imported. and a small number of post 1960 issues were granted the right to be imported.

In December of 1973 they decided to allow all Mexican gold coins dated before 1960, with included all of the restrikes of the 1940's coins. But at the same time they declared ALL gold coins dated after 1960 to be illegal, including the ones they have previously declared legal and had issued licenses for.

Gold bars I don't know much about but it appears that they were judged on the same basis as coins. Of course since most gold bars were pre-1933 this did not cause much of a problem. Gold medals were judged based on the ratio of their gold value to their market value. If the gold was worth 90% or more of the market value of the medal then it was illegal.

One of the good things that the ODGSO did was in 1964 they decided that it was no longer illegal to own gold certificates. From 1933 to 1964 it was illegal to own gold certificates. At times the government even confiscated them from dealers at coin shows. It was the attempted confiscation of some gold certificates from Harry Foreman at a show that led to the change. (Harry was a teenage dealer at the time, but he and his family fought the confiscation and it led to their change in legal status.)