Eleven coins. Ninety-three years of mystery. One historic display.
The United States Mint will place all 11 of the 1933 Double Eagle gold coins in its custody on public display together for the first time. Collectors can see the complete group on Friday, August 28, during the 2026 American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money in Pittsburgh.
The ANA will hold the convention from August 25 through August 29 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. The show will bring together hundreds of dealers, major auctions, educational programs, and displays of historic numismatic treasures.
However, this exhibition will stand apart. Few American coins combine art, economic crisis, government investigations, courtroom battles, and record prices quite like the 1933 Double Eagle.
A Historic Display for America’s 250th Anniversary
United States Mint Director Paul Hollis announced the display on July 28.
“Mint history is American history,” Hollis said. “As America celebrates its Semiquincentennial, we reflect on our Nation’s storied past. These 11 coins were minted during a time of hardship and strife, yet nearly a century later, they endure as treasured emblems of growth, resilience, and opportunity.”
The display will bring the Mint’s complete group together for the first time. Still, other 1933 Double Eagles remain outside Mint custody.
The Smithsonian Institution holds two examples that the Mint transferred for preservation. In addition, one privately owned specimen carries a unique legal status. Therefore, the Pittsburgh exhibit will unite the Mint’s 11 coins rather than every surviving example.
The Double Eagle That Never Entered Circulation
The Philadelphia Mint struck 445,500 Double Eagles in 1933. Each carried a face value of $20. Augustus Saint-Gaudens created the celebrated design at the request of President Theodore Roosevelt.
Yet the coins never entered circulation.
Franklin D. Roosevelt took office on March 4, 1933, during the worst banking crisis in American history. Two days later, he issued Proclamation 2039. He then signed additional orders that stopped banks from paying out gold. Executive Order 6102 followed on April 5, while a congressional resolution ended the domestic gold standard in June.
As a result, the government never released the 1933 Double Eagles as legal tender.
Mint officials placed most of the production in vaults. They also destroyed 29 pieces during metallic-purity tests. In October 1934, the Mint transferred two examples to the Smithsonian Institution. By 1937, officials expected the Mint to have melted the remaining pieces.
However, several coins had already escaped.
The Secret Service Opens an Investigation
The appearance of 1933 Double Eagles in the collector market eventually drew federal attention.
The Secret Service opened an investigation in March 1944. According to the federal appellate record, investigators concluded that Mint cashier George McCann had removed coins from the Philadelphia Mint. Investigators also linked their distribution to Philadelphia merchant and jeweler Israel Switt.
Over the following decade, the government recovered nine specimens. Officials later melted all nine.
One additional coin followed a very different path. King Farouk of Egypt acquired a 1933 Double Eagle in 1944. Before the government understood the coin’s status, the Treasury Department approved an export license. The coin then left the United States legally under that permit.
The Farouk coin disappeared from public view after Egyptian officials withdrew it from a 1954 auction. It resurfaced decades later through British coin dealer Stephen Fenton.
The Only 1933 Double Eagle Legal to Own
Secret Service agents recovered the Fenton-Farouk coin in New York in 1996. A lengthy dispute followed.
Eventually, Fenton and the federal government reached an unusual settlement. The United States Mint agreed to issue and monetize that single coin. The agreement made it the only 1933 Double Eagle that a private individual could legally own.
Sotheby’s and Stack’s sold the coin on July 30, 2002. The winning bid and buyer’s fee reached $7,590,000. The buyer also paid another $20 to monetize the coin. Therefore, the final price reached $7,590,020.
The anonymous owner later turned out to be fashion designer Stuart Weitzman.
Then, on June 8, 2021, Weitzman returned the coin to auction. It sold for $18,872,250. That result established a new auction record for any coin.
Ten More Coins Surface in Philadelphia
The story took another dramatic turn after the 2002 auction.
Joan Langbord, Israel Switt’s daughter, reported finding 10 additional 1933 Double Eagles in a family safe-deposit box. In September 2004, the Langbord family delivered the coins to the Mint for authentication while reserving its ownership claims.
The Mint authenticated all 10 in 2005. However, federal officials refused to return them. The government maintained that the coins had always belonged to the United States because the Mint had never lawfully issued them.
That disagreement launched one of the most important legal battles in American numismatic history.
A Jury Decides Who Owns the Coins
The ownership dispute eventually reached a federal courtroom in Philadelphia.
After a two-week trial in 2011, a jury unanimously sided with the government. The district judge later declared that the coins had not left the United States Mint lawfully. Therefore, the court ruled that they remained federal property.
The Langbord family continued its appeal. A three-judge appellate panel initially ordered the government to return the coins. However, the full Third Circuit Court of Appeals reheard the case. In 2016, the court affirmed the government’s ownership. The United States Supreme Court declined to review the dispute in 2017.
The government kept all 10 coins.
The Mysterious 11th Mint Specimen
The Mint’s 11th coin followed a quieter path.
After the 2011 trial, a private citizen voluntarily and unconditionally surrendered another 1933 Double Eagle to the government. According to the Mint, the owner had acquired the coin through the open market. The government also believes that the owner did not know private ownership violated federal law.
Like the other privately dispersed examples, this coin traces its history to Israel Switt.
The Mint publicly disclosed the specimen in 2018. That year, officials displayed it alongside two of the 10 Langbord coins at the ANA World’s Fair of Money in Philadelphia.
Now, eight years later, the Mint will go much further.
For the first time, collectors will see that 11th piece beside the entire 10-coin Langbord group.
A Numismatic Reunion Nearly a Century in the Making
The 1933 Double Eagle occupies a unique place in American numismatics.
The coins carry one of the nation’s greatest designs. Yet none entered circulation in 1933. They also connect the final chapter of America’s circulating gold coinage with the Great Depression, King Farouk, the Secret Service, federal courts, and the world auction record.
The August 28 display will place 11 physical witnesses to that history in one room.
For collectors, the event offers more than a look at rare gold coins. It will reveal the surviving evidence behind one of America’s most enduring numismatic mysteries.
