Creators Podcast
Episode #12
11.30.2024
The events that unfolded to create the 1933 Saint Gaudens double eagle gold coin trace back to one of the most important years in United States history. There’s so much history packed inside one tiny little coin, it’s almost mind-blowing.
After I finished making this podcast episode on the epic gold coin, the 1933 double eagle, I felt like I just ran a marathon. What a ride, and there’s so much more to the story… but we have to start here –
The 1933 Double Eagle
We start the story with an amazing letter that I found while reading the incredible book, ‘Illegal Tender,’ by David Tripp. The letter was from one of the biggest coin collectors from back in the day, John Garret.
Garret is writing a letter to his coin dealer in early 1934, because he just realized the enormous economic events of the previous year might have produced a few highly rare and collectible coins.
The 1933 double eagles, and the other gold coins produced as well. He asks his coin dealer if there were any made, if he can get any, and if they’re even legal to own. After a few months, his coin dealer responds to his request and says the double eagle was struck in 1933, but he can’t get any, and neither can anyone else.
It’s a great place to start this amazing story. So why are the 1933 double eagle gold coins so rare? And what great collectors own them? You wouldn’t believe the events that unfolded in 1933 to create the double eagle gold coins. Luckily, we have a great resource to guide us through this amazing story.
Illegal Tender
It would be impossible to learn about the 1933 double eagle gold coins without this great book. That’s really how strongly I feel about this book, it’s a work of art, if you are into coins. The book was published in 2004 by David Tripp, titled, ‘Illegal Tender.’
The book walks through, step by step, the entire story of how the Saint Gaudens double eagle gold coins were designed, created, collected, and ultimately became some of the greatest collectible coins of all time.
I would strongly recommend you go buy this book and just read the entire thing right now. It must have taken years to research all the details included in this story, so David Tripp does an amazing job, and if you happen to know Mr. Tripp, please tell him thank you, and I’d love to talk with him more about these double eagle gold coins, and how he put this treasure of a book together.
Creating the 1933 Double Eagle
So this is really important to the 1933 double eagle story. The timeline. And how the political and economic events of just a few months created the most amazing collectible coins in history.
In February, 1933, workers at the U.S. Mint were preparing to create the double eagle gold coins, exactly like they’ve done in every single year before. This would be the 25th year these coin were struck at the mint, but like David Tripp says in his book, “and it was to be the last.”
It’s impossible to go on any further in the double eagle story without talking about the banking crisis that was raging at this exact time the Mint workers were preparing the dies for these coins.
And we can’t talk about the banking crisis that was raging without talking about the presidential election that had just taken place a few months before, in November of 1932. It all ties together.
The 1932 Presidential Election and the Great Depression
We’re in the depths of the Great Depression at this exact time. And President Herbert Hoover had been fighting the economic crisis almost his entire four years in office. Things were not getting better. They were getting much, much worse.
The election of 1932 saw a landslide victory for FDR, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The people needed change, or hope, or anything that might turn this economic ship around.
But as the landslide victory for FDR was a clear signal things need to get better, the banking crisis kicked into high gear. After years of slowly eroding, now banks were failing at a rapid pace. Confidence in the financial system was at an all time low, and getting worse.
The big problem is the election was in November of 1932, and FDR wouldn’t be sworn in until March of 1933. That’s several months of uncertainty, confusion, and panic. They called it the, “Great Void.” The period between the election and inauguration, where the lame duck president, Hoover, really didn’t have the confidence from the people any longer. But the new president, FDR, didn’t officially have the power to make any changes yet.
So the financial panic grew, day after day, after day.
William Woodin, Secretary of Treasury
We can’t talk about the 1933 double eagle story without talking about William Woodin.
After the election, FDR slowly began assembling his cabinet that would join him in the White House once he’s sworn-in. But amazingly, Roosevelt waits until just two weeks before the inauguration to choose his Secretary of the Treasury.
Now, maybe he was searching to fill this position as soon as he was elected, and everyone he asked just told him, “no way!” That was my first idea, because this is going to be an extremely difficult job.
And this entire time, banks are failing left and right. The system is on the brink of collapse. And you would think by naming who would head up the Treasury immediately after FDR won the election, it might help calm some nerves. But FDR didn’t do that, he waited. But finally, Will Woodin accepts the position, and gets right to work.
With just two weeks from FDR being sworn-in, Woodin meets with the current Secretary of Treasury, Ogden Mills, and they began to monitor the situation together.
Woodin is working around the clock to get a grasps on the banking situation, and he’s finding out how grim it really is.
Gold Withdrawals
Will Woodin is finding out that one of the biggest problems is that gold is being withdrawn from the system. People are pulling the gold out of the banks, and hoarding it, hiding it, and saving it under their pillows, just because it’s the only thing that anyone really trusts as a store of value.
The wealthy people are terrified to keep money in the banks, because if their bank happens to fail, they’ll lose everything. So they pull their money out of the banks in the form of gold, then look for a place to keep it. Anywhere but in the banks.
Some wealthy people and companies store their gold outside of the country, in foreign bank accounts. They were afraid the U.S. Government might confiscate their gold so they set up shell companies to disguise the account owners.
Now, the average, everyday American citizen was catching on to what was happening. They began closing their bank accounts, and requesting their entire balance paid out in gold so they could hide it somewhere as well. Maybe in the safe, maybe under the floorboards, maybe buried in the backyard. But there was one place the gold wasn’t found, and that was in the banks!
And that’s a big problem for the financial system at the time. The entire system relied on most of the gold being held inside banks or with the U.S. Government.
That’s how the system was set up. All commerce was backed by the value of the gold sitting neatly in vaults. But now the bank vaults were losing the only thing that kept them afloat.
Roosevelt’s Inauguration
Finally, the day had arrived that couldn’t come soon enough. The Presidential Inauguration of 1933. With the banking panic going full speed, FDR is sworn-in as president, and just one hour later, historic measures are put into place aimed directly at the grim financial situation.
First, the government was no longer able to allow gold withdrawals of any kind, to citizens or to foreign governments. Not only that, but a banking holiday was to begin immediately, nationwide.
Second, they created, “special trust accounts,” that could be opened at any bank. The goal was to lure people back to the banks to make deposits with money or gold they were hiding from fear of the next bank failure.
Third, FDR and his crew announced prohibiting hoarding of gold, and stiff punishment could be assessed to any gold hoarders in the form of a $10,000 fine or ten years in prison. What they didn’t include was any guidelines as to what exactly ‘gold hoarding’ actually was, but that wasn’t important at the time. What was needed was strong language to bring any sort of confidence back to the American public.
Here’s what David Tripp said in his book about the reaction to these initial measures by the newly sworn-in president:
“Never before in the nation’s history had a new president taken such sweeping, dramatic, controversial, and complex actions immediately upon taking office. He had invoked war powers and assumed quasi-dictatorial powers. Yet Americans across the country took a collective sigh and began to adjust accordingly. At least they now knew the rules of the game.” -David Tripp’s book, ‘Illegal Tender’
The Emergency Banking Act of 1933
What resulted just five days after the inauguration was the Emergency Banking Act of 1933. With an extension of the banking holiday, the new administration began to assess the health of each bank, and then allow only the healthiest banks to re-open.
Confidence was renewed, even just by the tiniest amount. But it was a crucial turnaround that was needed if there was any hope in saving the entire financial system.
1933 Double Eagle Gold Coins
Now, back to the coins. During this entire economic, “firestorm,” as David Tripp writes in his book, amazingly, the U.S. Mint continues striking new 1933 double eagle coins!
There’s a gold recall, all payouts of gold are now prohibited by the government and the banks, and new laws passed called, “The Emergency Banking Act,” but nobody tells the U.S. Mint to stop making gold coins – so they don’t…
1933 double eagle’s continue to roll off the Mint presses from mid-February to May. Over 545,500 coins struck, and now sitting in the Mint vaults.
So, Why are these coins so rare and valuable? How can one of these coins sell for almost $19 million at auction? You’ll never believe what happens next, and luckily we have the great book by David Tripp, titled, ‘Illegal Tender,’ to tell the entire story…