Well, this time I will start from a break (like I always do at my job… I hope that my chief doesn’t read that), particulary I mean a break from cryptos.

I’d like to wite about a small, shiny piecie of material … a coin, and meanwhile to refresh my knowledge about history of numismatics.

Gold Reserve Act of 1934 January 30, 1934 was signed by the U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in January 1934, due to the Roosevelt’s controversial gold program. In short, the Act transferred ownership of all monetary gold in the United States to the US Treasury and prohibited the Treasury and financial institutions from redeeming dollars for gold.

There is a quite comprehensive article on: https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/gold-reserve-act , so I wouldn’t focus much on it.

Getting back to business, the Saint-Gaudens double eagle is a twenty-dollar gold coin, produced by the United States Mint from 1907 to 1933. The coin is named after its designer, the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, who designed the obverse and reverse.

And the story is about the ones minted in 1933…

Due to reminded at the begining Gold Reserve Act none of the minted in 1933 Double Eagles were ever officially circulated, and all but two were ordered to be melted down. The two intentionally spared coins are exhibited in the U.S. National Numismatic Collection.

And thats the end of story …well actually it isn’t, now the most intresting part begins.

Unawares, an amount of few double eagles wchich were destinied to be melted, had evaporated, thats mean not literally, they just dissapeared.

But, as my biology teacher from primary school used to say: „in the nature environment, nothing is dissapear” (thats exact translation from polish language),the coins were stolen, possibly by the U.S. Mint cashier, and found their way via Philadelphia jeweler Israel Switt into the hands of collectors.

During several years, the coins were circulating in numismatic market before the Secret Service became aware of their existence.

An official investigation into the matter was launched by the Secret Service in March 1944. Prompted by the fact, that the investigation was taking place, a Texas dealer sold one of the coins to a foreign buyer, and it left the U.S. on February 29, 1944...

...to be continued soon