United States v. Barnard, Civ. No. 898.
| Decision Date | 22 July 1947 |
| Docket Number | Civ. No. 898. |
| Citation | 72 F. Supp. 531 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES v. BARNARD. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Tennessee |
John Brown, Asst. U. S. Atty., of Memphis, Tenn., Chas. R. McNeill, Atty. for Treasury Department, of Washington, D. C., for plaintiff.
Frank J. Glankler, of Memphis, Tenn., and Harry J. Stein, of New York City, for defendant.
This action, in the nature of a replevin, was brought by the United States of America to recover from the defendant a $20 Gold Piece of the United States, commonly called a "Double Eagle", bearing date of the year 1933.
The coin in question was purchased in the year 1944 for $900, by the defendant, a member of the American Numismatic Association, from one Bell, who was also a collector of rare and unusual coins.
The plaintiff contends the coin in dispute was lawfully minted by the United States Mint at Philadelphia, but was never lawfully issued or put in circulation as money, and never became currency or legal tender of the United States; that said coin, never having been lawfully issued as money, or currency, was a chattel, or an article of virtu, at the time it left the Mint and thereafter, and the defendant, though a bona fide purchaser, acquired no title in the purchase of same against the United States Government, the rightful owner. Plaintiff alleges the coin was illegally taken from the Mint upon substitution of a like coin of another year.
The defendant denies plaintiff is entitled to have the coin returned to it, asserting that he is a collector of rare and unusual coins and, as such, purchased this one from another collector in good faith, in due course of trade and without knowledge that it had been stolen or surreptitiously taken from the Mint if it had, in fact, been so stolen, or taken. He claims the coin in controversy was lawfully minted as United States money, or currency, was issued as such, and is not a chattel, or an article of virtu; further, that regardless of the manner in which the coin left the Philadelphia Mint, it was complete on its face, negotiable and transferable by delivery, and his right, title and interest in same is superior to any claim or title of the plaintiff.
On these issues the decisive question, in the Court's opinion, is whether the coin in dispute, after having been minted, was issued as money or currency of the United States, or whether the status of the same was that of a chattel, or an article of virtu.
The proof is that the United States Government minted 445,500 Double Eagle coins at its Philadelphia Mint during the period between March 15, 1933, and May 19, 1933; that such coin could only be issued and circulated legally by the Philadelphia Mint, upon receipt by said Mint of an order from the Treasurer of the United States; that the Mint did not, at any time, receive such an order except one to deliver two of these coins to the Smithsonian Institute. In addition to the two coins sent to the Smithsonian Institute, twenty-nine others were destroyed by testing and by the Assay Commission, leaving 445,469 Double Eagle coins for the year 1933 on hand at the Philadelphia Mint when they were later ordered melted into bullion. The remaining Double Eagle coins were carefully and meticulously weighed before and after they were melted and the weight of same, following the melting process at the Mint, equalled the weight of these coins prior thereto.
Restrictions on all gold became operative in the early part of 1933, when, on March 6, 1933, the President of the United States proclaimed a "Bank Holiday" during which all banks were prohibited from paying out gold coin. On the...
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Langbord v. U.S. Dept. of Treasury
...Seizure at 20.) In asserting the reasonableness of its actions, the Government relies heavily on the 1947 decision in United States v. Barnard, 72 F.Supp. 531 (D.Tenn.1947), which found that a 1933 Double Eagle had not left the mint through legal means. However, the court in Barnard was sim......
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Langbord v. U.S. Dep't of the Treasury
...of action was to institute forfeiture proceedings to allow a court to determine the disputed property rights. See United States v. Barnard, 72 F.Supp. 531, 532 (W.D.Tenn.1947) ; App. at 59. The District Court, who throughout this case was the Honorable Legrome Davis of the Eastern District ......
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Langbord v. U.S. Dep't of the Treasury
...Langbord).Since 1944, the United States has attempted to locate and recover all extant 1933 Double Eagles. See United States v. Barnard , 72 F.Supp. 531, 532–33 (W.D. Tenn. 1947) (seeking replevin of a 1933 Double Eagle held by a private collector). The only exception has been a 1933 Double......
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Langbord v. U.S. Dep't of the Treasury
...through a fraudulent breach of trust from the Philadelphia Mint, so the United States Government had lawful title to the coin.38 ( Id.). The Barnard decision was well-publicized in, e.g., the New York Times and the Numismatist, a coin-focused magazine. (Tr. 211, at 123–26). By 1952, the Gov......