1933 St. Gaudins, only ten know to exist in the world, one by a private collector which was sold at auction July 30, 2002 for $7,590,020.00.
A little history on this particular coin!
Why would anyone buy gold coins? A good example is pictured above. Of course no other person will probably ever buy this gold coin, only one is know to exist in a private collection. Then again never is a long time. Read on for a little history on this particular gold coin gem.
First publicly issued in 1850, the twenty-dollar Double Eagle gold coin was made from gold ore from the California Gold Rush. In 1907, this gold coin underwent a radical face-lift at the hands of famed American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. The Double Eagle was discontinued in 1933 by executive order, when President Franklin Roosevelt took the country off the gold standard in an attempt to right the course of the U.S. economy during the Great Depression.
Buying gold coins became illegal and literally millions were melted down. People in the U.S. were hoarding gold coins and bars and gold certificates. the nation's financial system was undermined and any gold coins in circulation were strictly forbidden. The people were unable to legally buy gold coins, or even own them unless they had some numismatic value.
With payment in gold, or hoarding of gold or gold coins prohibited, thousands of citizens turned in their gold to the banks but no one told the U.S. Mint to stop making new gold coins: The mint produced 445,000 new $20 Double Eagle coins after Roosevelt's order, but never put them into circulation. In 1937, the U.S. Mint's stockpile of 1933 Double Eagle gold coins was destroyed (with the exception of two earmarked for historic preservation, which currently reside at the Smithsonian Institution), but several gold coins were stolen and circulated. The Secret Service discovered years later that George McCann, the Mint's chief cashier, had stolen 10 of the gold coins, but one by one the Treasury Department and other federal agents recovered all of them - save one.
How the last 1933 Double Eagle survives to this day is part of the fascination with this rare gold coin. In 1944, agents for Egypt's King Farouk -- an eccentric collector of stamps, aspirin bottles, old razor blades and coins -- applied for an export license for a 1933 Gold Double Eagle Coin. As the result of a Treasury Department oversight, Egypt was granted the license and a 1933 Double Eagle gold coin was housed in the private collection of King Farouk, one of the greatest coin collectors of all time.
It wasn't until a few weeks after the license was signed that suddenly everyone realized the mistake. The gold coin was illegal to own, and in fact clearly had been stolen from the U.S. Mint, but the contemporaneous political climate stymied attempts to retrieve it. In 1944, the US was in the middle of a world war, and Egypt stood at the crossroads in the middle of the Mediterranean. It was not the right moment in diplomatic history to go and try to make a claim on a gold coin, but the coin detectives waited until 1952, when Farouk was overthrown to get it back.
In 1954, King Farouk's 1933 Double Eagle turned up in Cairo at a state-held auction of the deposed king's coin collection. The U.S. government recognized that the 1933 Double Eagle gold coin was in that collection, and they officially asked the Egyptian government to pull it from the sale and return it as stolen property of the United States. Although the coin was withdrawn, it was not returned and authorities lost track of it for more than 45 years. The coin disappeared...
In 1996, British coin dealer Stephen Fentonbrought brought the coin to the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, to sell to an American collector. Federal agents, posing as coin collectors, seized the 1933 Double Eagle gold coin in a successful sting operation and while it cannot be proven with absolute certainly, it is believed that this gold coin is the same 1933 Double Eagle from King Farouk's prized collection. Fenton was put in jail, but he soon got out and went to court in order to battle the U.S. government over ownership of the coin. Meanwhile this gold coin itself was stored in what authorities thought was a secure location: a vault at the World Trade Center.
But the gold coin was fated to survive yet again. Just weeks before the twin towers were destroyed on September 11, 2001, the case was settled out of court and the Double Eagle gold coin in question - which was minted legally, yet was illegal to possess - was allowed to be privately owned, and was moved to Fort Knox, Kentucky. It was subsequently put up for auction. The gold coin was sold to an anonymous bidder at a Sotheby's auction on July 30, 2002 for the whopping sum of $7,590,020 prompting U.S. Mint director Henrietta Holsman Fore to proclaim the 1933 Double Eagle gold coin "the most valuable coin in the world."
I just want one!
A GREAT PERSONAL STORY...
My experience of buying gold coins is somewhat limited, but I have bought a few over the years and sold all of them at a profit. The 1911 S St. Gaudins shown above is still in our collection for the following reason. Several years ago a friend approached me and asked if I was interested in purchasing a gold coin, which is similar to the above gold coin example.
After examination we agreed on a purchase price of around $400.00, the gold coin was put away and literally forgotten about. As the price of gold exploded in recent years we would occasionally monitor its value using E-Bay. Today, (2009), the gold coin is valued from $1400.00 to $5,984.00 depending on grade. Our gold coin would probably be somewhere in the middle. Buying gold coins can be an exciting hobby, knowing which gold coins to buy can earn wonderful profits, provide security for your future and have always been the perfect hedge against inflation.........Richard
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