Free PDF Illegal Tender: Gold, Greed, and the Mystery of the Lost 1933 Double Eagle, by David Tripp
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Illegal Tender: Gold, Greed, and the Mystery of the Lost 1933 Double Eagle, by David Tripp
Free PDF Illegal Tender: Gold, Greed, and the Mystery of the Lost 1933 Double Eagle, by David Tripp
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It is one of America's treasures -- the most valuable ounce of gold in the world, the celebrated, the fabled, the infamous 1933 double eagle. It shouldn't even exist but it does, and its astonishing, true adventures read like "a composite of The Lord of the Rings and The Maltese Falcon" (The New York Times). Illegal to own and coveted all the more, it has been sought with passion by men of wealth and with steely persistence by the United States government for more than a half century.
In 1905, at the height of the exuberant Gilded Age, President Theodore Roosevelt commissioned America's greatest sculptor, Augustus Saint- Gaudens -- as he battled in vain for his life -- to create what became America's most beautiful coin. In 1933 the hopes of America dimmed in the darkness of the Great Depression, and gold -- the nation's lifeblood -- hemorrhaged from the financial system. As the economy teetered on the brink of total collapse, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in his first act as president, assumed wartime powers while the nation was at peace and in a "swift, staccato action" unprecedented in United States history recalled all gold and banned its private ownership.
But the United States Mint continued, quite legally, to strike nearly a half million 1933 double eagles that were never issued and were deemed illegal to own. In 1937, along with countless millions of other gold coins, they were melted down into faceless gold bars and sent to Fort Knox. The government thought they had destroyed them all -- but they were wrong.
A few escaped, purloined in a crime -- an inside job -- that wasn't discovered until 1944. Then, the fugitive 1933 double eagles became the focus of a relentless Secret Service investigation spearheaded by the man who had put away Al Capone. All the coins that could be found were seized and destroyed. But one was beyond their reach, in a king's collection in Egypt, where it survived a world war, a revolution, and a coup, only to be lost again.
In 1996, more than forty years later, in a dramatic sting operation set up by a Secret Service informant at the Waldorf-Astoria, an English and an American coin dealer were arrested with a 1933 double eagle which, after years of litigation, was sold in July 2002 to an anonymous buyer for more than $7.5 million in a record-shattering auction. But was it the only one? The lost one?
Illegal Tender, revealing information available for the first time, tells a riveting tale of American history, liberally spiced with greed, intrigue, deception, and controversy as it follows the once secret odyssey of this fabulous golden object through the decades. With its cast of kings, presidents, government agents, shadowy dealers, and crooks, Illegal Tender will keep readers guessing about this incomparable disk of gold -- the coin that shouldn't be and almost wasn't -- until the very end.
- Sales Rank: #986092 in Books
- Published on: 2004-09-09
- Released on: 2004-09-09
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.00" h x 1.11" w x 6.00" l, 1.32 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 384 pages
From Publishers Weekly
In July 2002, a very rare U.S. gold Double Eagle coin sold for a record $7,590,020 at Sotheby's, making it by far the most valuable coin in the world. First-time author Tripp, former head of Sotheby's coin department, traces the peripatetic career of this Double Eagle, minted in 1933. FDR took the U.S. off the gold standard soon after a million $20 Double Eagles were minted. Never circulated, the coins were melted into gold bricks —save for two sent to the Smithsonian. Or such was the belief. In fact, mint workers purloined several Double Eagles, which were eventually seized by the Secret Service—all except one. Over the next 60 years, it was illicitly traded by various shady coin merchants and finally retrieved in 1996 during a much publicized sting at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The coin later spent time in a vault at the World Trade Center, but was removed just a month before the September 11 attacks. Several courtroom skirmishes later, the federal government finally allowed the gold coin to be auctioned at Sotheby's. Tripp's entertaining narrative is made more so by the many dramatic, sometimes nefarious characters of the coin trade, whom he paints in all their seediness. But covetous human nature—which always makes for an interesting read—stands center stage. B&w photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Here is a strange tale concerning the 1933 U.S. $20 gold coin. Legally speaking, the author should not have found any story about the "double eagle," as the coin is called in the jargon of numismatics, for the 1933 minting never entered circulation and was melted down in adherence to New Deal strictures prohibiting private hoards of gold. But somebody at the Philadelphia Mint absconded with a handful of 1933 double eagles, one of which surfaced 70 years later at an auction for which the author served as a consultant. That job inspired Tripp to research the history of the coin. Tripp initially recounts the genesis of the coin's design, executed by famed sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens at the behest of President Theodore Roosevelt. He continues by describing its physical minting and arrives at his crucial factual sources, periodic Secret Service investigations into the pilferage of the coins. Containing multiple seductions, including gold, the obsessive aspect of collecting, and pure mystery, Tripp's able debut might be a sleeper. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
"Illegal Tender is an excellent read -- the first book I've ever read where the protagonist is a coin, the 1933 double eagle. It's a first-rate adventure story, and I was instantly hooked. Anyone who as a kid dug for treasure in his backyard will love this book. It made me want to get my metal detector out of the closet and go on a quest of my own." (Ben Mezrich, author of the New York Times bestseller Bringing Down the House)
"A solid-gold spellbinder. David Tripp's Illegal Tender has all the elements of a classic thriller -- foreign intrigue with Egyptian royalty and American presidents, a government sting, a rare object with a multimillion-dollar price tag -- and most amazing of all, the story he so deftly weaves together is all true." (Linda Fairstein, author of the New York Times bestseller The Kills)
"Dazzling history....Tripp compellingly unravels the mystery behind the rarest of rare coins. Entertaining and illuminating!" (Neal Bascomb, author of The Perfect Mile and Higher)
"I was dazzled and mesmerized by this wonderful, exciting story. The oddballs and villains who populate the world of numismatics -- King Farouk most notably among them--are matched only for interest by the thin-lipped zealots who, for decades, have tried to track down the missing gold coins that lie at the heart of this extraordinary tale. David Tripp has added vaults-full of absorbing details, and in living color, to the ancient notion that the love of money -- or coin -- is the root of all evil." (Simon Winchester author of Krakatoa and The Professor and the Madman)
“The definitive history” (The New York Times)
“Meticulous research adds a stamp of authenticity to what unspools like a Hollywood Blockbuster.” (Entertainment Weekly)
“Exciting reading....A true-life thriller.” (Kirkus Reviews)
“Tripp's entertaining narrative is made more so by the many dramatic, sometimes nefarious characters of the coin trade, whom he paints in all their seediness. But covetous human nature—which always makes for an interesting read—stands center stage.” (Publishers Weekly)
"Exhaustively researched...This engaging record of an important numismatic saga has the suspense of a whodunit.” (Library Journal)
“More like an Agatha Christie mystery than a history book…
an enthralling, convincing and, best of all, page turning account” (ANS Magazine)
“The book delivers. It reads like a historical thriller… Informative and provocative.” (Numismatist)
Most helpful customer reviews
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
A riveting, well written adventure
By Susanna Hutcheson
I'm not a coin collector. There are one or two coins I'd love to own. And I do own a few lovely ones. I say this so you'll know I'm not a member of the society of coin collectors --- that closed society of people who have their own vocabulary and ways of doing business.
But I wanted to read this book because I became interested in why Roosevelt the second opted to steal gold from the American public, making it illegal. I also was enchanted with this coin that Roosevelt the First wanted so badly. He wanted it to not contain the motto, "In God We Trust" because he believed in separation of church and state. So the story begins in 1907.
Well, I got much more from this book than I bargained for. To begin with, it's written wonderfully well. If you remember the old Dragnet radio and television shows, you'll recall how Joe Friday always said, "It was Tuesday, March 1 in Los Angeles. It was raining. ETC." It drew you in. You could picture it, get a feel for it. Well, Tripp does that in this book. He accurately tells the reader when the action takes place --- sometimes including the exact time. He often tells what the weather was like that day.
The book is exceedingly well documented. It is a true historical drama and mystery that, even today, is not really solved. All but one of these lovely coins are illegal. Yet we have reason to believe others exist --- somewhere.
You'll enter the rather mysterious world of the true coin collector and dealer. You'll be thrilled at what you find. You'll meet people of greed. Just to hold this illegal coin, this beautiful, magnificent piece of history, must be the thrill of a lifetime. Yet few people have done so or ever will.
You'll follow the coin from the mint to the final auction that makes this one coin legal (the others, if there are others, are illegal.)
This is a fascinating book and I recommend it highly.
-Susanna K. Hutcheson
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
A Prosaic Tome That is a Very Interesting Read
By Scott Barman
As with any thriller, the book opens with the background and history of the our protagonist, in this case, the Saint-Gaudens $20 Double Eagle. Tripp repeats the well known history of how President Theodore Roosevelt wanted to extend the gilded age and update the design of US coinage. Roosevelt thought the design of the Mint's Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber's were bland and not fitting of a great nation. Tripp reproduces reports of conversations and letters from Roosevelt to Barber and other US Mint officials demanding they follow the instructions of sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, as to how the coin would be minted. If you have not heard the details of this history, the first chapter is a must read.
From the history of the rise of the Saint-Gaudens $20 Double Eagle, Tripp then talks about its demise. With the country in the throes of the Great Depression and the country revolting against President Herbert Hoover at the polls, Tripp discusses the tension between Hoover and the transition team of Franklin D. Roosevelt. While the country was experience a near total economic collapse, Tripp writes how FDR did not want to do anything that would give Hoover credit for doing anything before the March, 1933 inauguration.
Hours after FDR's inauguration, the Senate approved the appointment of William H. Woodin as the Secretary of the Treasury. Woodin worked tirelessly with the Hoover administration to try to stop the damage. Tripp paints a great word picture as to how Woodin and FDR created a policy that helped the country pull out of the depression.
One of the problem was the amount of gold leaving the United States and being used for overseas trade. More gold was leaving the Treasury than they were taking in. At Woodin's urging, FDR signed an executive order recalling all privately held gold. As this executive order goes through many updates, Tripp brings us inside the Philadelphia Mint facilities as they continue to mint 1933 $20 Double Eagles. Tripp puts us right in the Mint and traces the path of these gold beauties.
With the order to melt these coins in 1934, the mystery begins. Tripp weaves the story in true mystery novel style following the trail of several of these coins as they leave the Mint. This includes the one coin with a legal export receipt that was shipped to King Farouk of Egypt. Tripp' coverage of the "Palace Collections of Egypt" or King Farouk's by the Egyptian government (website in English) is a classic twist of capitalism and greed meeting politics.
The book bogs down a bit starting in the late 1950s as the trail for all of the Double Eagles gets cold and the various law suits are settled. The story picks up again with the discovery of the Farouk coin. Tripp follows the trail from its consignment in England through the seizure in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City by the United States Secret Service. From there, the book reads like an episode of Law and Order leading up to the settlement and auction of this one-of-a-kind coin.
The only thing that makes this only a four-star book is that Tripp's prosaic tome makes this composition a somewhat arduous read. One may require a dictionary close at hand to fully understand the lexicon he uses. If nothing else, the book did help improve my vocabulary. Otherwise, Illegal Tender is a wonderful book to read and better than most mystery novels because it is true!
Illegal Tender won the 2005 Book of the Year award from the Numismatic Literary Guild.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful.
Reads like a novel but this one is a true story!!!
By Paul Tognetti
If you are a fan of novels like "Topaz" and "The Maltese Falcon" then you are bound to enjoy David Tripp's "Illegal Tender: Gold, Greed and the Mystery of the Lost 1933 Double Eagle". But this is not fiction. Rather it is a true story spanning more than 70 years and starring of all things a $20 gold coin!!!
You see when Franklin Roosevelt took the country off the gold standard immediately after his inauguration in 1933, he ordered that all gold coins in circulation be returned to the government. It was a monumental task of course but most patriotic Americans voluntarily complied. Likewise, any gold coins that had been minted and not yet circulated were also ordered to be destroyed. In early 1933, more than 445,000 double eagle coins had been struck by the U.S. Mint. Somehow, a tiny quantity of these coins managed to see the light of day. And this is what "Illegal Tender" is all about. You'll learn how these coins managed to escape the clutches of the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia and all about the individual who was responsible. It is equally fascinating to read about those collectors who were able to obtain a rare 1933 "double eagle". For most of these folks the "double eagle" turned out to be an albatross. Be careful what you wish for!!! And as it became known that a quantity of these "illegal" coins had somehow fallen into the hands of collectors, David Tripp chronicles the Herculean efforts of the Secret Service to retreive them. Pretty compelling stuff!!!! Along the way you'll also be introduced to a number of coin dealers, lawyers and other assorted charactors who also play a role in this intriguing tale. Just what was it about these coins that was causing such a commotion?
"Illegal Tender" gets off to a fast start and I found myself hooked right away. However, I thought the story lost a bit of momentum over the final few chapters. Nevertheless this is a well written book that certainly deserves your attention. Recommended.
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