BENBROOK (CBS 11 News) ? More than $200,000 in rare coins was gone in a flash.

The coin heist happened in the middle of the night at a business in the 8000 block of Camp Bowie West in Benbrook.

“They were $1,000 – $3,000 a piece,” said Ron Swiney, the coin seller. “They knew exactly what they were looking for I think.”

Police say the thieves came in through the ceiling, drilling through rebar and 8 inches of concrete into the vault.

“Then they got in there drilling a hole through the top of the safe with a rotor hammer drill,” Swiney said. “I think it probably took about three or four hours to drill that hole out of there.”

The thieves appeared to be in quite a frenzy. Any coins dropped were left behind.

“They missed this one,” Swiney said, holding a coin worth $35,000. “It’s the rarest coin of the Morgan Dollars, and it’s not in very good shape.” His only insurance was a surveillance camera. But the thieves cut it. “I figured sooner or later it would happen. Been lucky for 6 and a half years basically,” said Swiney.

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By Wesley Millett and Gerald White, authors of book “The Rebel and the Rose“.

In April 1865, the Civil War ended for most Americans. The war, and its various aspects, continues to capture the interest and imagination of many Americans who are fascinated by the battles, leaders, and strategy displayed during that conflict. Mysteries endure, too, including the ultimate disposition of the Confederate treasury.

Much of the mystery was engendered by Union officials, who greatly inflated the value of the Confederacy’s treasury to several million dollars. This was probably done to increase the incentive to Union soldiers combing the villages and roads of the Carolinas and Georgia for the treasury, and for Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who had fled Richmond. The actual value of the treasury was probably not much more than $500,000.

The trek south of the Confederate government has been well documented in a number of first hand accounts written several years after the war. The authors were primarily participants in the evacuation of Richmond and they included Confederate cabinet officials, army officers, and treasury employees. Many of the accounts were published in the papers of the Southern Historical Society, in an effort to dispel rumors that Davis took the money for himself and his family. One treasury clerk ? in particular, Micajah Clark ? provided a detailed accounting of the disposition of the funds.

An aspect of the treasure that Clark omitted concerned the fate of 39 kegs of Mexican silver dollars. These were coins that the Confederacy received through the sale of cotton to Mexico. The Mexican coins had been transported to Danville, Virginia, and when the Davis party was forced to move further south, primarily by wagon, the more than 9,000 pounds of silver would have considerably slowed down the procession. For this reason, the coins were almost certainly buried in Danville, and evidence suggests, they remain there today. Read Full Article Here

Last Minute Amendment Could Have Shut Down Precious Metals Coin Dealers

ICTA (INDUSTRY COUNCIL FOR TANGIBLE ASSETS) recently helped defeat an 11th hour proposal that would have put precious metals dealers under the jurisdiction of the CFTC which may also have led to federal licensing and further regulation of the industry.

In late April, during Senate consideration of the 2008 farm bill (HR 2419), a section was added to reauthorize the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and amend the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA). The House Agriculture Committee marked up similar legislation, so the two CFTC bills were both being considered by the joint Senate/House Conference Committee that would recommend the final bill.

A last minute amendment was introduced at the Conference Committee by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) that would have expanded the CFTC’s jurisdiction beyond the futures markets to include the cash markets.

Had this amendment been accepted, it could have radically changed the manner in which the rare coin/precious metals market functions. In addition, the proposed CFTC jurisdiction could have led the way for CFTC licensing and trading restriction requirements would have affected almost every dealer who sells precious metals including not just bars but certain coins as well.

ICTA worked with lobbyists for the Coalition for Equitable Regulation & Taxation (CERT) and others to inform the Conference Committee legislators of the disastrous impact that this amendment would have on the precious metals industry, including creating an unnecessary second layer of oversight by yet another governmental agency (the CFTC), since cash markets are currently overseen by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). (more…)