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A good book about the 1933 Double Eagles
BillJones
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Recently I found this book on a remainder table at a bookstore in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. It starts off with a chapter about Theodore Roosevelt’s battle to the 1907 High Relief $20 gold pieces made. Then it gives the history of the 1933 double eagles and the protracted battle that the government had with former mint employees, coin dealers, collectors and foreign governments to confiscate and melt them.
Without going into the issue too far, I was especially struck by the way the government devoted so much time, money and resources to recover a group of 10 coins with a face value of $200 and a bullion value of less than $400 after FDR artificially raised the price gold to a then too high $35 an ounce. Much of the recovery effort was during World War II when the government obviously had more important issues to consider.
If there is an interest in this I’ll post up more about the subject.
Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
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Both Tripp's book and Alison Frankel's book ("Double Eagle") were extensively discussed here when they were published. (Tripp's book focuses more on how the coins were handled and how the thefts were accomplished, while Frankel's book focuses more on the government's chase, the sting that netted the coin and the resulting legal case.)
If you're particularly interested in why the Secret Service pursued the 1933 double eagles, Frankel's book covers that issue pretty thoroughly - she says that in the '30s and early '40s they pursued anyone or anything that looked like money, including gold-foil covered chocolate coins (I'm not kidding). My own interpretation is that the head of the Secret Service was either a nut-case or they were trying really hard to justify their budget (which wouldn't surprise me, given the weak economy of the time and the resulting tight constraints on the government budget).
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Sean
I did enjoy in this book how they ripped apart FDR for everything he did and did not do in 1933..... I don't like FDR at all.....
It is surprising that you have not heard anything on the legality on these 10 seized coins.....
By the way, the 1933 is only the most famous example of going after gold - in the Secret Service files at the Nat. Archives, they describe hundreds of similar cases - each in its own way telling the story of a distrusting public and the zealotry of the Secret Service. The 1933 really needs to be thought of in that context.
Tripp's book is wonderful, and so much the better for you if you found it in the bargain bin!
<< <i>I did enjoy in this book how they ripped apart FDR for everything he did and did not do in 1933..... I don't like FDR at all..... >>
I don't blame FDR as much as you do. As the following post pointed out, FDR needed a transition from the gold standard to fiat money. The trouble was he did levy a very heavy tax on all of the Americans who were patriotic and turned in their gold. As soon as Americans surrendered almost of their gold, he artificially raised the price from $20+ to $35 an ounce. The idea was devalue the dollar, which made American exports more attractive. The theory was that more exports would stimulate the American economy.
We can thank FDR’s first Treasury Secretary, William Wooden, for getting the provision through that allowed collectors to retain gold coins that had were of historical significance. His proposal combined with the fact that FDR was a huge stamp collector and had a minor interest in coins saved collectors and their coins from the mindless government robots in the Secret Service and the Philadelphia mint.
The real heavies in this story are the Secret Service agents and other government bozos who seemed to have more interest in punishing coin collectors than the people who committed the real crimes. The only people paid any penalties in this case were the collectors who purchased the 1933 double eagles in good faith. The Philadelphia mint cashier who stole the coins was never prosecuted. The Philadelphia jeweler and his partner who knowingly received the stolen goods were never prosecuted. And the dealers who might have known that the Philadelphia jeweler did not have a clear title to coins were never prosecuted. All of those who were responsible for criminal behavior got to keep their profits.
Only the collectors paid. And for them there was not compromise that might have netted the government some badly needed revenue during World War II. And there was not reprieve for the 1933 double eagles, which were national treasures, from the melting pot. Government robots did their duty with no regard for what might have netted the government some revenue or for future generations of collectors and historians. Instead they netted something less than 10 trivial ounces of gold that went into a nondescript gold bar. All the bureaucrats got to pat themselves on back for their collective rigidity.
I currently have both checked out from the Library and am just finishing up the Fankel book. From what I've read thus far I think you've summed it up quite suscinctly when you said,
<< <i> All the bureaucrats got to pat themselves on back for their collective rigidity. >>
I read it prior to the 10 new 1933's being outed. That certainly deservers another chapter.
Here's my old run down of the book thread from April of '05: Link
collections: Maryland related coins & exonumia, 7070 Type set, and Video Arcade Tokens.
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