1933 gold turn-in

[Old Bookaroo]

lastleg:

When the Hunt Bros. tried to corner the market, they didn't count on the fact that a rapidly rising silver price would dramatically increase the supply.

At $50/oz., suddenly Grandmother's silver didn't have quite the sentimental value it had when it was only $20.

Additionally, the Kodak company came up with a new photographic process that didn't require anywhere near as much silver as their old processes required. As I recall, photography was the largest "industrial" use of silver in the USA.

So the brothers Hunt were shoveling water against the tide...

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo

 

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[Old Bookaroo]

Nitric:

I think it could be a very interesting exercise to go through the old newspapers and find articles about people who were arrested for violating the Gold Act. I glanced through Wikipedia and there were several stories about big casino seizures by the US Government.

Perhaps the G-Men didn't get all of every haul...

Instead of spending time looking for the famous "Four Corners Gold Act" cache, people might be overlooking something nice quite a bit closer to home.

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo

 

[Old Bookaroo]

Nitric:

About your farm story. I posted this a few years ago - forgive me if you've already seen it.



From Sudden Wealth by "Deek Gladson."

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo

 

[Argentium]

Old Bookaroo , I most certainly did not equate Hitler, Stalin, and F.D.R. I was in fact very clear in the choice of words I used ,
and I stand by them . This like the Volstead Act (Prohibition ) was very bad legislation .

 

[Nitric]

Nitric:

About your farm story. I posted this a few years ago - forgive me if you've already seen it.

View attachment 1192941

From Sudden Wealth by "Deek Gladson."

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo

No, I've never seen that! That's interesting!

I know of a couple of families that did have gold and silver hoards that went way back that were passed down. I was fortunate enough to see a couple of them. You would be amazed at what is out there that no one ever hears about. One I was real close to, with helping to sell it. There are a lot of people out there that don't look like they have any money ,that have lots and lots of it. They can live next door. The old farmers and construction guys in the area where I grew up were that way.

I'm not into the coin and metals anymore, But I wish I would have asked the real old timers what they had seen or what happened in 1934. Some of the inside stories from people that were actually there and doing it, might have been interesting! Some stuff we will never hear about or know. And of course you would get made up or exaggerated stories too! Some of the stories from the 60's on that I heard were interesting enough! Guys taking silver into Canada to sell by the trunk load. I don't remember the details to why they were doing that. Maybe, it was to get around some law here?


We should all bury some stuff for the next couple of generations to hunt down and find. lol Even just a pile of nickels will be interesting for someone a hundred years from now to find!!! My hoard? zinc pennies and pop tabs! And a metal medallion with a smiley face on it!

 

[pepperj]

Guys taking silver into Canada to sell by the trunk load. I don't remember the details to why they were doing that. Maybe, it was to get around some law here?

It happened on this side of the boarder also, loads were going south for the melt. I assume it was to get around the law of not melting currency, foreign coinage was ok to process.

 

[MUDSLINGER]

Well this thread brought out some interesting points. So most would agree there is a good chance some likely small caches of gold exist in and
around some properties. we just have to be thorough when searching. If you have found one elaborate a bit if you want. In a house or outside
around the property. anyway GL and HH

 

[Kevin in IN]

Kevin in IN:

"Look what happened to the people in California who found a cache of gold coins and made it public. The state jumped in to claim their share, nearly half the value."

I missed that part. Beyond income tax, what did the state of California claim?

Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo

The story was run on our local news and they made mention that nearly half the value of the find would go to the state. I personally don't agree with the state taxing you on something you found on your own property. I would keep quiet just to keep big brothers fingers out of my pocket.

 

[hbeaton]

I'm straying a bit off course with this but there's a logic in there somewhere...I think....


Reading this thread and feeling what i'll call the "ping pong effect" of going back and forth on what I would or would not have done with whatever gold coins I had in 1933 (had I been alive then) after Executive Order 6102 goes into effect I end up kind of agreeing that I would have probably turned in my coins for the the roughly $20 per oz rate that was established at that time. As the country was reeling from the Depression and FDR trying to get New Deal legislation passed, the gold turn in was just part of several initiatives aimed at righting the economic ship. Rather than get into all the specifics of whether that EO (and the ensuing legislation like the Gold Reserve Act, etc) should have been allowed to happen, the real rate of wealth transfer of the gold turn in as a function of real vs nominal GDP (which was a smaller drop in the total bucket, economically speaking, yet its ripples did translate to real double digit GDP growth for the next four years, growth that would probably not have happened at that rate under normal monetary conditions) blah blah... I decided to just think to myself "why hoard?" and played out scenarios of what really would have happened.

Ok its 1933, the crash, the Depression, I see the economy going to hell in a handbasket and now I have to turn in my Gold (for what appears to be a now commodity-less backed piece of paper that leaves me feeling less than comforted)...I think other places outside the U.S. would probably still take gold bullion/melt value of whatever I have in coins/bars, so maybe I should cut my losses and get the hell out the country...ok stop right there: How many people (even those defying the law and hoarding their gold) were really in a position to do anything about it? i.e. leave the US if they thought things were too bad or really be in a financial position during the Depression to not have to watch every single cent spent and to make the simple deduction..."uh, so gold is basically worthless now? but this piece of paper will be accepted everywhere for goods and services and pay debts owed? Yea let me take that route).

As was noted earlier, the face value on gold coins ($10 and $20 especially was a lot of money then and many did not simply have a whole bunch of gold lying around to start with) people really did not have much of a choice. So when faced with little option, yea sure some people hoarded (more than $100 that was still legally allowed after the EO) because they just didnt know what was going to happen and panicked. I imagine most people just wanted to get back to a more stable way of living and collectively more people had that line of thinking to get the country back on track than to think of an even worse economic alternative.

In any event, I would not have wanted to be around (rich or poor to be honest) during such a tumultuous period on many levels. While we can debate that today's outlook is not so bright either and that something similar could be coming on the horizon, currently I feel fairly confident in my current economic/banking needs.

Having said all of the above, I do hope more than a few folks did do a bit of hoarding and maybe just maybe I might find some of that

 

[1637]

I read about three years about. a family that found alot of 1933 gold coins in their dads or grandfathers safe after he died.and the feds wanted to take it all because they in not turn it in back in 33.does any know what happen in this case?
thanks brad