Continuing our series on weird gold stories (Check out the one about at least 15 gold coins that are now somewhere in a landfill). . .

From the Salt Lake Tribune:

Washington City police have arrested a woman suspected of stealing 15 antique gold coins and trading them at face value at a Zions Bank branch.

The 24-year-old woman found the gold coins stored at the home of a family she was living with in Washington, north of St. George, said police Lt. Ed Kantor. The woman had moved from Missouri into their house about a month ago after befriending their daughter on the Internet. On March 16, the woman brought 15 of the $20 gold pieces into the bank in St. George and exchanged them at face value, when in fact they are worth at least $1,000 apiece based on the price of the gold alone, said Rob Brough, a spokesman for Zions Bank. She told the bank teller she needed the money to pay for groceries at a nearby Wal-Mart.

She was caught Wednesday when she came back to the bank with the daughter, Kantor said. A teller recognized her, and she was arrested on suspicion of theft. The family didn’t know the coins were missing until police told them, but the coins are now secure in a Zions Bank vault and bank security officials are arranging to return them, Brough said.

We all know that gold holds onto its value.  A nice suit of clothes for a man costs roughly the same amount in ounces of gold as it did 300 years ago, which is a pretty good feat considering the rate of inflation.  Coins or bullion, ingots or jewelry; gold does very well for itself.

In no situation is this more the case than in that of the 1933 Saint Gaudens Double Eagle gold coin.  In an effort to help the floundering US economy, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 6102 of 1933 and the Gold Reserve Act of 1934, both of which prohibited the circulation and private ownership of gold coins and bullion.  Coins deemed collectors items (also known as certified gold) were exempt from this list, but all other coins were returned to the US Mint.  The 1933 double eagle was minted concurrently with the issuing of these orders, and most of them were melted down.

Two of the coins were donated to the US Mint Museum and should technically have been the only two in existence, but a theft occurred at the mint and at least twenty coins made their way into the hands of collectors.  Most of these were seized by the Secret Service when an investigation was launched in 1944, but one of them made its way into the hands of King Farouk of Egypt.

King Farouk completed this transaction in full compliance with US laws: his ministers applied for the coin to leave the US and all the paper work was processed a few days prior to the Secret Service learning about the theft at the Mint nearly nine years earlier.  King Farouk got his coin and, while the US did try to get it back, WWII stymied their efforts for the most part.  When the King passed away, the coin passed out of general knowledge only to resurface in a sting operation in the 1990s.

There was fierce debate about who the coin belonged to, as the coin dealer who had it in his possession claimed it was his, but the US government wanted the coin back as it had been stolen in the first place.  A court battle ensued, and it was decided that the coin would revert back to the government to be sold, and the profits divided between the Treasury and the coin dealer it belonged to, Stephen Fenton.  It was put up for auction in 2002 at Sotheby’s New York and sold for a whopping $7,590,020.00; nearly double the price paid for any other coin. The bidder was completely anonymous and the auction took less than nine minutes.

There have been more 1933 Double Eagles discovered since 2002, but none have been sold.  GoldMadeEasy.com doesn’t have any 1933 coins, but they have some lovely Saint Gaudens Double Eagles, nonetheless.

On Sunday, British archaeologists in Israel got a lovely Hanukkah surprise: a horde of gold coins dating to the 7th century. Nearly 300 coins were found in a collapsed building that was being excavated in the parking lot that outside the Old City of Jerusalem. It is suspected they were hidden in a niche of some type in the house and were buried when it collapsed. Both the house and the coins date to the time of Heraclius, the Byzantine emperor from 610 to 641 CE.

Excavations are in the early stages and will continue for some time. The money is being referred to by many as “Hanukkah Money” because of the tradition of giving children gelt, or coins, over the course of the holiday. It is also the largest cache of of gold coins found in Jerusalem from the period.

Read more here.

According to MarketWatch, gold has reversed some early morning Thursday losses and the dollar is sliding down again against the Euro and the Pound, due to huge rate cuts in Europe. In the midst of all this financial turmoil though, there are always little bright spots and yesterday was one of them for the Salvation Army.

It was the first day that a $50 Liberty coin was dropped in one of their red kettles, wrapped in a $2 bill. The charity has been receiving these and other gold coins since 1986. The tradition began in the Chicago area, and has since spread to the rest of the country.

“We’re deeply appreciative of these special gifts,” says Lt. Colonel David E. Grindle, a Salvation Army Metropolitan Division commander. “The coins are always a great help, particularly now when there is a greater need than ever before. This year the demand for Salvation Army services is far exceeding the pace of our donations.”

So not only does gold help individuals preserve their assets and wealth, but it can still help those in need. Pretty good for a one ounce coin.

Read the full article here.

The US Mint has halted the direct sales of several of its gold coins due to a sharp rise in demand and has placed several others under allocation restrictions. The one-ounce American Eagle and the American Buffalo fall under the restrictions, while the supplies of the smaller weights of the American Eagle are almost invariably depleted. The mint warns that once the supplies are depleted, no more of that specific coin will be produced in 2008.

According to the US Mint: “”Due to the extreme fluctuating market conditions for 2008, as well as current market conditions, gold and silver demand is unprecedented and the demand for platinum is unusually high.”

However, these coins may still be available for purchase from third parties.

Read More. . .

The increased demand for gold and silver has had at least one unexpected, but very welcome, consequence. The American Eagle Foundation, a not for profit organization based in Tennessee and dedicated to “the care and protection of the majestic Bald Eagle, the U.S.A’s national symbol,” has reported that their 2008 commemorative legal tender coins are selling at a brisk pace. A percentage of the profits from the sale of these limited editions coins will go to setting up a permanent endowment for the care and future of the birds. The coins were minted to commemorate the 35^th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act.

Read More:

MarketWatch

American Eagle Foundation