Nothing seems to obsess the U.S. government more than gold.  Could this be due to the fact that gold represents an alternative currency to the failing U.S. dollar, despite the assertions of Fed Chairman Bernanke that “gold is not money?”

The case of the government’s effort to seize 10 1933 Double Eagle gold coins from the heirs of a private coin collector highlight the unlimited time, effort and expense the government is willing to expend in their war against gold.  The heirs of coin dealer Israel Swift discovered the Double Eagles in a safe deposit box.  After voluntarily showing them to the U.S. Treasury, the government promptly confiscated the coins, claiming that the coins had never been officially released by the U.S. Mint due to President Roosevelt’s executive order on April 5, 1933, ordering all private citizens to turn over their gold to the government.

An in depth article by Coin Week examines the case of the 1933 Double Eagles and details substantial evidence against the validity of the government’s right to confiscate the coins.  The article also wonders what implications this case will have on future seizures of rare coins from private citizens and comments on the government’s decades old zeal in pursuing the 1933 Double Eagles.

“It is unbelievable to me how much the government has spent on this,” exclaims Dr. Steven Duckor. “It is ludicrous for the government to be spending this much time, effort and money in the 1940s, from 1996 to 2002, and now in the Langbord case. The government should spend money on more important priorities,” in Duckor’s view. “It would be okay to make a deal like they did last time. I would not mind some type of deal.” Dr. Duckor is an expert in Saint Gaudens Double Eagles. Among living collectors who reveal their names, he is probably the most sophisticated and widely respected.

After the government seized the Double Eagles in 2004, the Swift family heirs sued the government for their return.  Last July, after the conclusion of a civil trial, a jury concluded that the government had the right to seize the coins.  The case remained on hold while a federal judge considered subsequent legal motions filed in the case.  On August 29th, the federal judge ruled that the gold coins “remain the property of the United States” and that “Given the evidence, a reasonable jury could find that the ’33 Double Eagles were knowingly stolen or embezzled from the Mint.”   What a shocker – a federal judge ruling in favor of the government!

The case of the Double Eagle seizure is not an isolated incident and the federal government has become increasingly brazen about suspending or ignoring rules of law to settle matters in its own favor.  In a Bloomberg interview, Professor David Skeel says blatant violations of long established law principles by the government is starting to have a profoundly negative impact on the nation’s economy.

Will government gold seizures and other actions that violate principles of law continue to escalate?   We don’t even want to think about how bad things will get.  GATA reports today that in an interview with King World News , Marc Faber fears that “gold will rise so fast that governments will feel compelled to try to confiscate it from investors.”

The very thought that gold investors need to live in fear of their own government is a chilling thought.  Bury your gold deep!