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Liberty Dollar Office Raided by FBI – Gold and Silver “Coins” Seized

CoinLink — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 05:00:10 +0000

The future of an Evansville-based company that produces a “private voluntary barter currency” known as the Liberty Dollar is in question after federal agents raided the facility this week, according to an e-mail sent by its founder.

Federal officials reportedly raided the group’s headquarters, located in a strip mall at 225 N. Stockwell Road, early Wednesday morning and seized documents and precious metals.

FBI Agent Wendy Osborne, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s Indianapolis office, directed all questions on the raid to the Western District of North Carolina U.S. Attorney’s Office. A spokeswoman there said she had no information on the investigation.

Bernard von NotHaus, the group’s monetary architect and the author of the e-mail, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Von NotHaus developed the Liberty Dollar in 1998 as an “inflation-proof” alternative currency to the U.S. Dollar, which he has claimed has devalued since the Federal Reserve was established in 1913. The silver medallions are produced by a private mint in Idaho on behalf of Evansville-based Liberty Services, which also issues paper notes which the group says are backed by silver reserves.

The Following Message has been posted on the Liberty Dollar web site at www.libertydollar.org

………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Dear Liberty Dollar Supporters:

I sincerely regret to inform you that about 8:00 this morning a dozen FBI and Secret Service agents raided the Liberty Dollar office in Evansville.

For approximately six hours they took all the gold, all the silver, all the platinum and almost two tons of Ron Paul Dollars that where just delivered last Friday. They also took all the files, all the computers and froze our bank accounts.

We have no money. We have no products. We have no records to even know what was ordered or what you are owed. We have nothing but the will to push forward and overcome this massive assault on our liberty and our right to have real money as defined by the US Constitution. We should not to be defrauded by the fake government money.

But to make matters worse, all the gold and silver that backs up the paper certificates and digital currency held in the vault at Sunshine Mint has also been confiscated. Even the dies for mint the Gold and Silver Libertys have been taken.

This in spite of the fact that Edmond C. Moy, the Director of the Mint, acknowledged in a letter to a US Senator that the paper certificates did not violate Section 486 and were not illegal. But the FBI and Services took all the paper currency too.

The possibility of such action was the reason the Liberty Dollar was designed so that the vast majority of the money was in specie form and in the people’s hands. Of the $20 million Liberty Dollars, only about a million is in paper or digital form.

I regret that if you are due an order. It may be some time until it will be filled… if ever… it now all depends on our actions.

Everyone who has an unfulfilled order or has digital or paper currency should band together for a class action suit and demand redemption. We cannot allow the government to steal our money! Please don’t let this happen!!! Many of you read the articles quoting the government and Federal Reserve officials that the Liberty Dollar was legal. You did nothing wrong. You are legally entitled to your property. Let us use this terrible act to band together and further our goal – to return America to a value based currency.

Please forward this important Alert… so everyone who possess or use the Liberty Dollar is aware of the situation.

Please click HERE to sign up for the class action lawsuit and get your property back!

If the above link does not work you can access the page by copying the following into your web browser. http://www.libertydollar.org/classaction/index.php

Thanks again for your support at this darkest time as the damn government and their dollar sinks to a new low.

Bernard von NotHaus
Monetary Architect

The Following Links were also provided on the Liberty Dollar Site:
Search Warrent (Click to View PDF)
Seizure Warrent (Click to View PDF)
Agent Information (Click to View PDF)

All-Time Finest Collection of Private & Territorial Gold Patterns

CoinLink — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 12:25:34 +0000

by Greg Reynolds, a CoinLink exclusive report

The Robert Bass collection of Private & Territorial gold patterns, die trials and related pieces is the all-time finest in this field. Bass started buying territorial gold coins and patterns in the 1960s. He sold his collection of territorial gold in 1999. He was too emotionally attached to his territorial patterns, however, to part with them, until 2006 when he had to deal with personal and health problems.

Don Kagin reports that he purchased this collection from Robert Bass “more than one year ago.” It has taken a long time to inventory, weigh, research and prepare a catalogue of the items. Kagin emphasizes that a featured trio are “three unique Humbert $50 pieces” that were previously in the legendary Bushnell and Garrett family collections.

Items from more than thirty private mints or prospective mints are in the Bass collection. Eleven of these may never have minted gold coins.

This Bass collection contains 179 pieces. For about eighty-three of these, fewer than five pieces are known. Even more startling is that, of these eighty-three or so, more than fifty of them are unique, meaning just one piece is known to exist today.

Of course, there are several pieces from the well known gold coin firms of Clark-Gruber and Kellogg, which issued a significant number of copper die trials. The Bass collection also includes two dozen Restrikes including Conway and Baldwin pieces.

Many of the Bass pieces are encapsulated, graded and authenticated by either the Professional Coin Grading Service or the Numismatic Guaranty Corp. (NGC). Some others are encapsulated by the NCS, an affiliate of NGC. NCS certified items as genuine. Usually, NCS certified coins and patterns have problems that are too serious for them to qualify for NGC grading and certification. Because of the nature of life on the western frontier in the mid 19th century, collectors generally expect that private and territorial numismatic items will, on average, have more imperfections and problems than U.S. coins minted during the same time period.

In reference to U.S. coins, the term ‘pattern’ typically refers to not just patterns, but also to die trials, experimental pieces, certain kinds of restrikes and novodels, and other items that are not quite coins. Some of these are very difficult to explain. Likewise, the term ‘pattern’ has a similar meaning in the field of private and territorial gold. Most of the items in this field of ‘patterns’ are die trials, and thus most of the pieces in the Bass collection are die trials.

In some cases, an item may be both a pattern and a die trial. Consider the Cincinnati Mining & Trading $20 gold denomination. All Cincinnati pieces are dated 1849, are extremely rare, and have a legendary status among collectors of private and territorial numismatic items. The $20 denomination was probably never struck in gold for circulation. If any such Cincinnati $20 gold coins were struck, none have ever been seen (and revealed to exist) by a coin expert.

Two Cincinnati $20 pieces struck in copper definitely exist. Others may exist. These are definitely die trials and may be patterns, narrowly defined, as well. This design for a $20 gold denomination was obviously considered, or even planned. Yet, there is no evidence that a production run of Cincinnati $20 gold coins ever occurred. It is probably a design-type that was never adopted; hence, it is a pattern, narrowly defined.

These Cincinnati $20 patterns could have been struck in gold, but were struck in copper instead, or as the first step. The dies, and maybe machinery as well, were being tested in copper as copper is much less expensive than gold. Copper test strikings that resemble coins are die trials.

Coincidentally, another Cincinnati $20 gold pattern in copper, probably the only other, was just auctioned by Stack’s in New York on Tuesday, Oct. 16. It was formerly in the collection of Waldo Newcomer, and was in the famous 1914 exhibition sponsored by the American Numismatic Society (ANS). The ANS catalogue of that exhibition includes several illustrated pages, and this item is clearly seen on one of them, according to the Stack’s cataloguer.

At the Stack’s auction, bidding for this Cincinnati $20 pattern started at less than $20,000 and progressed for a long while. There were a few floor bidders. As the level climbed from around $40,000 to around $90,000, Don Kagin battled John Kraljevich. As prices climbed past $100,000, a telephone bidder became the leader. Eventually, there was a duel between this telephone bidder and a floor bidder who I could not clearly see from my vantage point. After a few more seconds ticked by, this floor bidder, #468, captured the piece for $149,500! Could this be an auction record for a territorial gold pattern in copper?

The $20 Cincinnati pattern in the Bass collection is NGC certified ‘Fine-12 Brown.’ Bass had two Cincinnati ‘pattern’ half eagles ($5 gold denomination). The copper piece is NGC graded Fine-12 and was earlier in a Stack’s auction in December 1997. The second $5 piece is made of gold plated copper (gilt), and is certified by NCS with the designation that the piece has the details of an Extremely Fine grade. I reiterate that collectors of territorial items are much less concerned about technical details than are collectors of 19th century U.S. coins.

One of the more unusual and mysterious pieces in the Robert Bass collection is a pattern $2½ gold coin, struck in brass, issued by the “Pelican Co.” It was in the Garrett collection for more than a half-century. The cataloguer of this piece in 1980 said that it was earlier in the Andrew Zabriskie and James Ellsworth collections. Almost nothing is known about the Pelican company and this is the only Pelican $2½ piece that has ever been known to the coin collecting community. It is NGC certified MS-63, an extremely high grade for a territorial pattern.

For many decades, the Garrett family collection was the best in the field of private and territorial patterns. The Garrett family also collected U.S. coins and a wide variety of numismatic items, including regularly issued territorial gold coins. While far from complete in any one area, the Garrett collection is one of the most fascinating and enticing collections for advanced numismatists to dream about. It was auctioned by the firm of Bowers & Ruddy in 1979 and 1980. The Garrett family collection was consigned by Johns Hopkins University, where it resided for years. The Robert Bass collection has many more territorial patterns than the Garrett collection had.

Amazingly, the Bass collection has four patterns of the 1849 Oregon issues. A half eagle ($5) in white metal grades “Very Good,” according to Kagin. Another half eagle in tin and lead is authenticated and encapsulated by NCS with a ‘Very Fine’ details notation. An Eagle ($10 gold denomination) struck in tin is NGC graded AU-55, which is an extremely high grade for a piece of this nature. Both Oregon gold coins and the corresponding die trials tend to be heavily worn and often have serious technical problems. An AU-55 grade piece of any Oregon variety is something that I definitely would like to see. There are fewer than four known of each of the three just mentioned Oregon die trials.

The fourth Bass Oregon piece is unique, that is it is the only one known. It is an eagle struck in a combination of metals, believed to be gold, lead and copper, and is gold plated, thus ‘Gilt.’ It is NCS authenticated with a notation that it has the details that correspond to an Extremely Fine grade. It was earlier in a Stack’s auction, in January 2002.

I cannot list here all the interesting and desirable patterns in the Bass collection. Don Kagin is preparing a full color catalogue that contains introductory, historical, and technical information, along with pedigrees. As far as I know, Robert Bass is not related to the late Harry W. Bass, a very famous collector of U.S. gold coins and patterns.

Many kinds of prices at work in marketplace

CoinLink — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 14:55:23 +0000

By Mark Ferguson for Coin Values

In the wholesale market for coins, which is dealer-to-dealer trading, some dealers buy and sell coins through electronic trading networks.

The dealers who use these networks regularly post “bid” prices or the prices they are willing to pay for certain coins. Many bid prices are sincere attempts to purchase coins wanted by customers, but others are attempts to buy great bargains if willing sellers are found.

Participating dealers also post on the network “sight-unseen” bids, in dealer parlance, indicating a willingness to accept any coins graded by particular grading services in the grades they are seeking to purchase.

Finest Known Ultra-High Relief Changes Hands Again

CoinLink — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 01:21:33 +0000

One of America’s greatest numismatic treasures has traded hands in a private-treaty sale. The finest-known “Ultra-High Relief,” graded Proof-69 both by NGC and PCGS, was purchased by Certified Assets Management (CAMI) of Wilmington, Delaware, from Heritage Auction Galleries of Dallas, Texas acting on behalf their client-owner, who remains a significant owner and collector of American numismatic rarities.

This rarity was last offered publicly in the Heritage auction of the Philip Morse collection of St. Gaudens twenties in November of 2005, where it realized $2,990,000, a record at the time.

While the actual price was not disclosed, both parties confirm that the new price substantially exceeds the previous auction price.

Heritage to Auction Kaufman’s Seated Proofs

CoinLink — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 15:16:42 +0000

Heritage will conduct the official American Numismatic Association auction in Milwaukee, and a Platinum Night event will be featured on Aug. 9, during which the first part of the Phil Kaufman collection will be offered.

Kaufman assembled one of the top all-time collections of proof Seated Liberty coins, many of which were earlier in some of the best collections ever. One highlight is Kaufman’s 1853 quarter, with arrows and rays, that is certified Proof-66 Cameo by Numismatic Guaranty Corp.

Kaufman’s collection will be sold in parts, with additional selections tentatively planned to be offered at Heritage’s September Long Beach auction and at the January Florida United Numismatists auction in Orlando. Earlier in this decade, Heritage sold many (or all?) of Kaufman’s proof Seated Liberty coins dating from 1859 to 1891. My impression is that Kaufman then retained his coins dating from the 1830s to 1858. Proofs from the 1838-1858 period are very rare.

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