[OT] why was private gold ownership made illegal in the US?

[Tim May]

On Wednesday, July 3, 2002, at 08:50  AM, Michael Motyka wrote:
> IIRC many of the wealthy were quick enough to ship huge amounts of gold
> to Europe. That is one reason I have heard given that the St Gauden's
> $20 gold pices of that era are possibly poor investments - there is a
> reservoir of them overseas.

But St. Gaudens coins were readily available during the time when gold 
ownership was banned.

(Let me be overly careful: They were purchasable from coin stores and 
mail order places in the mid-1960s. I know because I used to see them 
listed at a price I clearly remember: $49.50.)

I assume they did not just suddenly become available at the time I 
happened to be paying attention, and that they were purchasable in 1960, 
1950, 1940, etc. The exemption for numismatic value, of course.

Owning coins for collector, or numismatic, value, is of course a 
different kettle of fish than owning gold as bullion.




--Tim May
"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, 
butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance 
accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give 
orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, 
pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, 
die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." --Robert A. Heinlein