Reply #218: Some more comments

[Art_from_Ark]

US gold coins, with a very famous exception, have ALWAYS been legal to own, at least up to a certain quantity of the same date and mintmark. And for the past 20 years or so, Uncle Sam has been an active player in not only the bullion coin-selling business, but also in the gold commemorative-selling business, selling both types of coins at far higher mark-ups than what is stated as the face value. There's no way the government would try to confiscate these coins at face value, because they would get their ass sued off in court, and LOSE. And the Mint would lose a very big money-maker, the gold 5-dollar commemorative, which is usually sold at around twice its bullion value.

What is a far more possible action is the prohibition of some types of foreign coins, such as the ones I mentioned above, and the Krugerrands, which were barred from importation into the US for a few years. While only those dates of the embargo were actually illegal to own (that is, all previous dates were grandfathered), there was confusion among customs agents, some of who thought that the interdiction applied to ALL Krugerrands, and even all South African gold coins. This essentially killed the market for Krugerrands in the US, even after the embargo was lifted.