1933 Double Eagle & Coin World Article

AndyMac

There's a nice article on the 1933 Double Eagle controversy in the latest issue (8/3/09). The article states "In the 1930s and early 1940s examples were openly bought, sold and exhibited." It would seem that the government retroactively made them illegal to own. It was my inpression that only tax laws can be made retroactive. Perhaps someone in the know can answer this.

Coinosaurus

It turns out that you can keep pretty much anything in litigation for a very long time, if you want to. Regardless of the law. And people want to. So they do.

firstmint

The U.S. Treasury Dept, waited for 11 years (1944) before they considered these to be items for confiscation.

Wolf359

<< <i>There's a nice article on the 1933 Double Eagle controversy in the latest issue (8/3/09). The article states "In the 1930s and early 1940s examples were openly bought, sold and exhibited." It would seem that the government retroactively made them illegal to own. It was my inpression that only tax laws can be made retroactive. Perhaps someone in the know can answer this. >>



Alcohol was illegal during prohibition and I can no longer allow my dog to crap on the neighbor's lawn. Anything can be made illegal retroactively, it's the "government".

BXBOY143

<< <i>

<< <i>There's a nice article on the 1933 Double Eagle controversy in the latest issue (8/3/09). The article states "In the 1930s and early 1940s examples were openly bought, sold and exhibited." It would seem that the government retroactively made them illegal to own. It was my inpression that only tax laws can be made retroactive. Perhaps someone in the know can answer this. >>



Alcohol was illegal during prohibition and I can no longer allow my dog to crap on the neighbor's lawn. Anything can be made illegal retroactively, it's the "government". >>

CaptHenway

<< <i>There's a nice article on the 1933 Double Eagle controversy in the latest issue (8/3/09). The article states "In the 1930s and early 1940s examples were openly bought, sold and exhibited." It would seem that the government retroactively made them illegal to own. It was my inpression that only tax laws can be made retroactive. Perhaps someone in the know can answer this. >>



Regardless of the merits of the case, it is the government's contention that the coins were stolen, and that the government did not discover that the coins were stolen until 1944.
TD