Doesn't the US Treasury have a history of going around and seizing gold coins? I forget exactly why but I think it was because they were all recalled when we went off gold standard? I vaguely remember people finding these in deposit boxes, sharing it with the news and then magically losing it all when the treasury shows up to seize them. Ah here we go http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102 not really relat…
It's only the 1933 Double Eagles that get seized, and only because the government's position is those coins were never legally issued, meaning private possession of one could only have come about via theft from the Mint, which makes the coins stolen government property.