PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- The descendants of a Philadelphia jeweler will soon learn whether they can sell the most valuable coins ever struck by the U.S. Mint, court papers indicate.
The storied "double eagles" $20 gold pieces, never officially released by the government, were discovered in a safety deposit box by the jeweler's grandson, Roy Langbord, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
Langbord turned the coins over to the U.S. Mint for authentication and the mint refused to return them on grounds they were stolen government property.
A federal judge has given the government until the end of the month to give the 1933-minted coins back to Langbord or prove they were stolen by his grandfather, Israel Switt.
"Maybe they were stolen in the 1930s but they certainly weren't stolen by the people who are holding them now," says Armen Vartian, general counsel for the Professional Numismatists Guild.
The only "double eagles" coin ever sold publicly fetched $7.6 million in 2002.
