HARVEY STACK'S NUMISMATIC FAMILY, PART 45

To begin my story about 1967, I return to our lawsuit against the Treasury challenging its rulings about importing gold coins. In early January the hearing judge came back with an opinion that we were correct in asking for a repeal of the Gold Coin Import License. We were very happy, but the Treasury Department's Office of Gold and Silver Operations (OGSO) was not. A day or so after the judge's ruling came down, the OGSO delivered a document to our attorney that said: "Notwithstanding the rulings of the hearing judge, application for the license is denied."

We were shocked. We went through the entire hearing and won the case and still we were denied a license. As our attorney explained it to us, the Government Office by their denial were making us appeal to a higher court. We said we would like to continue, and our lawyer began the process of filing an appeal stating that the OGSO was being "arbitrary and capricious."

About a week later, the OGSO sent an answer to our lawyers, in effect suggesting that we should not pursue the case as they were working on some changes. Our lawyers advised us to hold back from further action which we did.

However, our client in the Netherlands got very sick, and could not wait any longer. He decided to sell the collection overseas where no rulings would delay it. We were heartbroken but understood that his health was more important than his desire to have Stack's sell his coins in America. We appreciated that he had waited as long as he had.

During late spring 1967, the Professional Numismatic Guild (PNG) had a meeting during a New York Convention where a member of the OGSO delivered a talk to the membership. At the meeting, an under director of the OGSO explained why regulations were put into force and the results that had come from the regulations. Then he announced that as the intent of the import regulations had been satisfied, licenses would no longer be required for genuine gold coins dated before 1933 to be imported into the United States.

So Stack's had succeeded in its goal of ending the requirement for export licenses. Unfortunately we had lost the collection that had motivated us to go into battle in the first place, as the delay in getting to this point was just too extensive. We did get a rousing cheer from the PNG membership!

After this final ruling, our buying and receiving from overseas was easier again, and we could better serve our clients in building and selling their collections.

To read the complete article, see:
Harvey Stack Remembers: Growing up in a Numismatic Family, Part 45 (https://www.stacksbowers.com/News/Pages/Blogs.aspx?ArticleID=3390)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
HARVEY STACK'S NUMISMATIC FAMILY, PART 44 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v22/esylum_v22n20a17.html)

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