The Million Dollar Heist of 1933
How the US government's attempt to destroy its own gold coins created the most valuable treasure in human history.
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How the US government's attempt to destroy its own gold coins created the most valuable treasure in human history.
Full transcript of The Million Dollar Heist of 1933
In 1933, the US government ordered the destruction of every single gold coin. But ten escaped, sparking a seventy-year Secret Service manhunt. Seeking to save the banks, President Roosevelt outlawed private gold. At the Philadelphia Mint, workers melted the coins into generic bars. But a corrupt cashier slipped ten pristine specimens into his pockets. He sold them to a dealer, who smuggled one to Egypt's King Farouk. Furious, the government hunted the coins across the globe. Over decades, agents seized and melted nine of them. The final coin vanished into a London vault for decades. In 1996, agents set a sting at the Waldorf Astoria. They arrested a British dealer and grabbed the final coin. In 2021, that single survivor went up for auction. It sold for a staggering eighteen point nine million dollars. By trying to destroy this metal, the government made it the most valuable coin in human history.