Nitric: It would be silly to claim nobody held onto illegal gold coins. That's not what I wrote. Most people turned their gold in - that's a simple fact. After The Gold Act became law, gold coins had no monetary value. They were a liability - they couldn't be legally used to purchase anything.
Do you know what "Hammondizing" is?
There was no Silver Act. Silver coins (and silver certificates) don't have anything to do with gold coins.
The law initially defined "hoarding" as owning more than $100. Most people simply turned their coins, got paper or coin in return, and spent it. Just like many people sold their silver dollars when the Hunt Bros. tried to corner the market - although those individuals probably did a bit better in terms of market return.
Oh I'm not arguing that people did in fact turn their gold in. What I was arguing....was that there were a lot of people that did not. Some understood what was going on.
I'm not good at writing...lol I know there wasn't a silver act. But our money was backed by silver and gold. So, that did not make gold worthless. Gold still had a value....
Either way, Whether it was illegal or not, people did hold onto it. It was not worthless.
If they said today to turn in all your (fill in the blank). of course you'll have lines of people doing it because that is what they are told to do, or are convinced it is what's best for them, or whatever reason..... There are going to be a lot of people that do not do it, for whatever reason. Maybe, they don't agree, maybe they see something coming, think they can get rich,etc......
You brought up the Hunt Brothers... I've talked to guys that sold half or all their silver at that time. There were other people buying, because they thought it was going to keep going. My grandfather sold half his silver and kept half in case it kept going up he said guys were going door to door buying any silver you had.. Well, he held too long and it dropped. What I'm getting at, no matter what happens or what the law is, there are a lot of people that try to think beyond or why is this happening, Why am I being told this. And They Should!!!!!!
You brought up that "Machine guns" are outlawed, And yes they are around. They are not worthless. If you have the money, you can find one. Why? Who knows, a lot of reasons. Not something most of us would be willing to risk everything on. But when the risk becomes so valuable, people forget consequences. Outlaw it? It becomes very valuable to someone. I'd take a bet that those are buried and found occasionally too. If I found one I'd just cover back over and move on. I wouldn't want the head ache
