Philadelphia family battling U.S. Treasury for rare gold coins

One Philadelphia family is going to court with the U.S. treasury over the ownership of some rare coins. This sure puts fighting with your siblings over your grandmother’s jewelry into perspective.

The Associated Press reports: A Philadelphia jeweler’s family is fighting the U.S. Treasury in court this week for the return of 10 gold coins worth perhaps $80 million or more. Treasury officials say the rare “double eagles” were stolen from the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia in 1933.

They come from a batch of $20 gold coins that never circulated after the country went off the gold standard. All but a few were melted into gold bullions. Two are now kept at the Smithsonian.

Survivors of Philadelphia jeweler Israel Switt say they found 10 “double eagles” in a bank deposit box in 2003. But the government says the box was rented years after Switt died in 1990. The seized coins are being kept at Fort Knox. One “double eagle” sold for $7.59 million in 2002.