Extensive meltings of other gold coins occurred after the 1933 gold recall. 1954 data published by the mint indicate that the mint alone melted 39% of all double eagles struck, 37% of all eagles, 35% of all half eagles and 15.4% of all quarter eagles! (ref 3). Numismatists also know that 270,232,722 silver dollars (mostly Morgans, some seated's?) were melted in 1918 under the Pittman act, thus the total Morgan mintage of 656,989,387 must be taken as the original pre-melt figure. Mass meltings of 90% silver coins occurred in the nineteen sixties and in 1980 when silver reached $50 per ounce.
$10.00 GOLD 1795-1797 SMALL EAGLE REVERSE 13,344 MOST MELTED
$5.00 GOLD 1795-1798 SMALL EAGLE REVERSE 18,512 MOST MELTED
$2.50 GOLD 1796-1807 CAPPED BUST STARS 18,524 MOST MELTED
Well, consider that ownership of gold in the United States is a privilege, not a right. Yes, the law is still ''on the books'' granting the government the right to recall privately owned gold. Let's take a look at the background.
It was in April 1933 and in his first ''official'' act in office; President Roosevelt declared a banking ''holiday'' and issued the order to confiscate gold. Executive order: By virtue of the authority vested in me by Section 5(B) of The Act of Oct. 6, 1917, as amended by section 2 of the Act of March 9, 1933, in which Congress declared that a serious emergency exists, I as President, do declare that the national emergency still exists; That the continued private hoarding of gold and silver by subjects of the United States poses a grave threat to the peace, equal justice, and well-being of the United States; and that appropriate measures must be taken immediately to protect the interests of our people. ''Therefore, pursuant to the above authority, I hereby proclaim that such gold and silver holdings are prohibited, and that all such coin, bullion or other possessions of gold and silver be tendered within fourteen days to agents of the Government of the United States for compensation at the official price, in the legal tender of the Government. All safe deposit boxes in banks or financial institutions have been sealed, pending action in the due course of the law. All sales or purchases or movements of such gold and silver within the borders of the United States and its territories, and all foreign exchange transactions or movements of such metals across the border are hereby prohibited. ''Your possession of these proscribed metals and/or your maintenance of a safedeposit box to store them is known to the government from bank and insurance records. Therefore, be advised that your vault box must remain sealed, and may only be opened in the presence of an agent of the Internal Revenue Service. ''By lawful Order given this day, the President of the United States.''
In this act of theft, the citizens of the United States of America were compensated at the ''official'' price of $20.67 an ounce. That was the ''official'' price of gold for 97 years. Following the confiscation, the dollar was devalued by 40% - and the price of gold was revalued upwards to $35 an ounce.
Under the authority of the Emergency Banking Relief Act, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order No. 6102, which allowed the government to confiscate all privately owned gold in the United States. The owners would be repaid in paper dollars whether they liked it or not.
Dentists, jewelers and coin collectors were exempt from this Executive Order, and were allowed to own gold. (In terms of coins, the actual terminology used was ''gold coins having a recognized special value to collectors of rare and unusual coins.'')
In order to help alleviate the effects of this financial crisis in American history, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued the Gold Recall Act in March of 1933. By the terms of this act, the President demonetized all further gold releases by the United States Mint. Those coins still on hand at that time, including almost the entire mintage of the 1927-D Double Eagle, were destroyed."
