Gold Nationalization 1933 – Family Stories ?
RWB
Posts: 8,082 ✭
I am interested in learning about any depression-era related numismatic stories the members might happen to have.
I’m particularly interested in anecdotes relating to the gold hoarding and nationalization orders, or to the conversion of coin collections into ready cash for basic necessities.
(Please, no canned “gold bug” tales – that’s not what I’m looking for.)
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Gold Reserve Act of 1933
$10 Gold Certificate
Gold Confiscation Order
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
Growing up as a YN who lusted after above all things gold coins, this story (and the one about the 1935 NY Yankees team autographed program she threw away sometime in the late 60s during a move) used to turn me inside out! As an older numismatic, I have been able to reassemble what might have been in my grandmother's box, and included in the collection a gold birthyear 1914 type set. A few years ago I showed the coins to my grandmother (who is still alive) and she grew very nostolgic - she recognized the designs though she had not seen them in decades.
>>>My Collection
regulators and a failing bank in Newton, Illinois which is fascinating.
In 1933 Grandpa married Grandma and they had 63 cents total. Gold was pretty irrelevant to the family.
My father in law was born in 1919. He is 88 years old, going in 89 years. When he was six years old in 1925 his aunt gave him and his three siblings each a brand new 1925D $2.50 gold coin.
He still has the coin, 82 years after he received it. I saw it for the first time in 2004. It was in an envelope. I bought a capital holder for it and had my father in law put the coin in the holder. He told me that when he dies he wants the coin to go to my wife. Thereafter it would go to one of our sons.
<< <i>Yeah, I don't think my family came into contact with gold coins all that often. I wonder how many people did. >>
The issue of high monetary value aside for depression-era gold coins aside, I think their purpose from the turn of the century onward was largely ceremonial. Something I forgot to add to my other post, is that in addition to my collection, I aquired a small, red jewelry box with a green felt lining - embossed on the top in gilt lettering are the words "Merry Xmas" and inside there is space for one $2.50 coin.
>>>My Collection
<< <i>That's a great story, Artist! >>
Thanks!
>>>My Collection
Growing up my grandma told me that they scraped by on deli meats, day old bread and potatoes. definitely no gold in the family coffers (other than their wedding bands which i now have)
Tom
1) Most people didn't have gold to turn in.
2) It was considered a patriotic duty to do so.
<< <i>"We were supposed to turn in our gold, but we didn't have any to turn in", was how my grandmother explained it. Two points:
1) Most people didn't have gold to turn in.
2) It was considered a patriotic duty to do so. >>
My family fell under category 1. What suprises me is that if the response was largely obeyed, how did so many coins survive? Just scrolling through the PCGS population reports shows thousands of coins. Any thoughts?
<< <i>
<< <i>"We were supposed to turn in our gold, but we didn't have any to turn in", was how my grandmother explained it. Two points:
1) Most people didn't have gold to turn in.
2) It was considered a patriotic duty to do so. >>
My family fell under category 1. What suprises me is that if the response was largely obeyed, how did so many coins survive? Just scrolling through the PCGS population reports shows thousands of coins. Any thoughts? >>
A lot of them were shipped to Europe.
Where was all the family gold coins? Certainly we must have some in the bank or old drawer somewhere? I remember a sort of collective kind of groan---with a sort of satirical laugh from my grandparents. I received the story that we were not rich---that they had gone through the depression. That there was no money left---less more any gold coins. And my grandparents reminded me that they would have turned them in anyway. We all must remember that up until my generation---most folks really believed in our government. That they told the truth---and that you must obey for the good of everyone. It was that WWII attitude where everyone worked together. I cannot complain, however, as they all helped me with my collection.
My grandmother's sister---my great aunt---was a coin collector. I was given a couple of coins that I still have till this day. Was supposed to get her gold when she died---but her house was looted by her family after her death. They showed up years later at another family members 50th wedding anniversary.
On my wife's side of the family----her parents went to school with mine---I asked my mother--in--law the same question. Got virtually the same answers. My wife's family actually helped to feed a lot of folks during the depression. Anyway, she told me that one year she got a 5 dollar gold piece as her Christmas present from her boss. I asked what she did with it? Was taken to downtown Baltimore where dresses were bought.
I did have another aunt whose father--in--law collected one dollar gold pieces. I actually saw them as a child. That aunt just died last year----she NEVER knew what happened to those gold coins.
Guess you could say that I was close---just not close enough. Bob [supertooth]
I guess I should not be so surprised that the government might act inconsistently. The Secret Service gold investigations in the Nat. Archives for that period clearly demonstrate that they did not know much about coin collecting.
$10 eagles was the common gift. Over $500 face deposited with thier local bank a few days after thier wedding day in 1932.
When asked if they had received any nice new double eagles.....$20's (aaah the rare late dates!!!)...........the response was........that was too much money to expect for a gift. Never received one.
Chance favors the prepared mind.
I never forgot the scene in which the wood from a picket fence was stripped to put wood in the stove to help keep the family from freezing at night.
This member is about 55-60 years old. His father was a in a wealthy family growing up, and whenever his father needed money (to go buy candy, cloths, etc) he would go to a dresser in the master bedroom, where the top drawer was a cache of gold coins-$1-$20. This coin club member asked his father if he ever remembered any of the coins he had spent. Sure, he remembered the $20 Liberty's and Saints, Indians, etc--no particular dates though. The coin club member then asked his father if he remembered anything unusual. Sure! His father responded. He remembered how a cashier struggled to make change after spending a $4 gold piece.
Ouch!