When did the Treasury "chill out" over people owning gold $20's?

CaptHenway

In 1933 the U.S. Treasury got very aggressive in gathering in bulk U.S. gold coins. There were exceptions made for numismatic coins and small gold holdings up to, IIRC, $100 face per person, but if you had a 250-coin bag of common $20's they wanted to talk to you.



Obviously all restrictions were lifted on Dec. 31, 1974, but it is my understanding that at some point in the late 1950's the Treasury stopped, or seriously lessened, enforcing the restrictions on pre-1933 U.S. gold. Does anybody have a link to something on this?



Thanks,



TD

rawteam1

Let's see, they couldnt stop the booze, they didn't stop the drugs, they didn't stop the illegal immigration, but you are insinuating they got almost everyone's gold ??? Very doubtful...

CaptHenway

Found something in the Coin World Almanac that says that in 1954 the Treasury redefined gold coins made in 1933 and before as being of exceptional value and therefore exempt. Now just need to find the exact text.

BAJJERFAN

Originally posted by: rawteam1

Let's see, they couldnt stop the booze, they didn't stop the drugs, they didn't stop the illegal immigration, but you are insinuating they got almost everyone's gold ??? Very doubtful...

That's not what he insinuated at all. He said they were aggressive in going after bulk quantities; he said nothing about how effective that aggression was.

ricko

The Langbord's are still fighting that issue.... Cheers, RickO

ricko

The Langbord's are still fighting that issue.... Cheers, RickO

ricko

The Langbord's are still fighting that issue.... Cheers, RickO

BAJJERFAN

Originally posted by: ricko

The Langbord's are still fighting that issue.... Cheers, RickO

Bears threepeating!

roadrunner

I think you could "collect" $20's at any time post 1934 Gold Reserve Act as long as you weren't "hoarding." At some point the definition was no more than 5 of any one date/mint. That could mean you could have 5 of any common date from 1850-1928....probably enough room to get 300-500 coins. I think as long as you had some semblance of a "collection" you were left alone. Weren't Bass, Eliasberg and others collecting $20's in the 1940's? A partial bag of a couple dates wasn't going to cut it. Didn't Treasury Secretary William Woodin get the wording of "collectible/rare/important" etc. put into that GRA (ie the exemption)?



David Ganz has a nice timeline of the 1933-1978 period in one of his articles. I've referenced it here before. And it's easily found via Google. The only hoarding case that I've read that actually went to trial was some guy who had the coins stashed at his bank...$5K value as I recall (Sept 1933?). The bank told the guy to give up possession and he refused. The govt's case had a big hole in it because it was found out that the FDR signed the recall order, not the Treasury Secretary as required by federal law at that time. Woodin later signed the order and the guy's gold coins remained in the govt's possession. I'm not aware of any other "hoard" that was confiscated by the govt in the 1930's or 1940's

CaptHenway

Have the information as to when and why they changed the rules. Will appear in an article I will be submitting to The Numismatist after the first of the year.