This month, we have the honor of displaying an extremely rare piece of American and Economic history: The 1933 Double Eagle Gold Coin.
The coin has a fascinating history. In 1933, in the midst of the Great Depression, the United States struck almost a half million twenty-dollar gold coins, commonly known as Double Eagles. At virtually the same time President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an Executive Order banning the payout of gold in order to wean the country off the gold standard. The 1933 Double Eagles became illegal to own and were never circulated. Two were sent to the Smithsonian Institution for posterity, and the rest were melted into gold bars and sent to Fort Knox.
Or so it seemed.
In 1944, a 1933 Double Eagle appeared in a New York auction, and the United States Secret Service launched an investigation. It was revealed that a U.S. Mint employee had stolen a number of the coins in 1937. Though nine were surrendered or seized, one which had been purchased by King Farouk of Egypt, disappeared. In 1996, as part of a Secret Service sting at the Waldorf Astoria, a British coin dealer was arrested while trying to sell a 1933 Double Eagle, which he swore was the coin owned by King Farouk.
In 2002, the coin was sold at auction for $7,590,020, nearly doubling the previous world record. The story of the 1933 Double Eagle has inspired four books, a documentary produced for the Smithsonian Channel, and an episode of the television show The Closer. The coin also has been displayed at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
I hope you find the time to visit and see this remarkable piece of American history while it is on view in our Robert H. & Clarice Smith New York Gallery of American History.