By David L. Ganz

Litigation between the government and the Langbord family over 10 1933 double eagles continues in Philadelphia in United States District Court. The latest skirmish was an attempt to depose a number of former government officials on the issue of what they were thinking at the time that they agreed to allow the King Farouk specimen of the 1933 $20 to be sold at public auction.

In a 2002 sale, the Farouk 1933 double eagle was sold by Sotheby’s and Stack’s for $7.59 million. No doubt this was a motivating factor in Joan Langbord’s decision to try and legalize 1933 $20s that were found in a bank’s safety deposit box thanks to the decision made long ago by Israel Switt, a jeweler and sometimes coin dealer in Philadelphia, who was Langbord’s father.

Switt’s metaphorical fingerprints are on all of the known 1933 double eagles that previously circulated and were seized by the government. This includes the Barnard specimen seized in 1947; J.F. Bell’s coin offered by Stack’s in 1944, the Flanigan specimen of 1943, the James A. Stack specimen seized in 1951 and others.

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