Reply #64: There never really was a ban on owning US gold coins [View All]

[Art_from_Ark]

Technically, in the early days one couldn't own more than 5 coins of the same date and mint, but essentially US gold coins (with one notable exception) were legal to hold and were often bought and sold from the 30's through 1974. I bought my first US gold coin (an 1852 $2.50 Liberty) at a coin show in Joplin, Missouri, in 1972, and my first gold coin ever in 1967 or 68. But I do remember going to a coin show in 1967 and seeing $20 gold pieces for the first time and thinking that the owner was breaking the law by not turning them in.