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CURSE OF THE DOUBLE EAGLE

NEVER BEFORE HAS A SINGLE GOLD PIECE INSPIRED SUCH FEVERISH DESIRE AMONG MEN—OR ° HELD SUCH DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES. A RARE LOOK AT THE WORLD’S MOST EXPENSIVE COIN BY BRYAN CHRISTY

All eyes turn forward as David Redden, Digital counters loom above the stage to Sotheby’s vice chairman and top auctioneer, track the bidding in dollars, euros and mounts his pulpit. A silver-haired man with pounds. “This will not be a long sale,” Red-

K large ears and dark eyes, he adjusts his den announces. “It will be a great moment.” microphone and picks up his gavel. It is July Redden’s specialty is selling the rarest of 30, 2002. A congregation of millionaires the rare. He has taken 130 crates of bones Y sits in rows of padded chairs for an auction and sold them as the most complete Tyran- more than half a century in the making. nosaurus rex in history. He has flogged Soviet There are no cheap seats tonight—it’s stand- space suits and capsules. He has even auc- M ing room only for the relative unfortunates tioned off the deed to a lunar rover that will crowded in the back of the main Sotheby’s most likely never return to earth. Most of all,

C salesroom. In the gallery’s 12 private sky- though, he traffics in stories. boxes, a few guests have drawn the curtains. The key to selling rarities is provenance: Others sip wine in plain view. Who owned it and how badly do you want Onstage, a pedestal holds a glinting your name added to the list? An ob- circle of metal less than an inch and ject’s story is what gives it value. a half in diameter. It is the only Tonight’s coin has a provenance item up for bid: a $20 U.S. gold as great as any coin in American coin dated 1933—the legendary history: Nearly 70 years ago it Saint-Gaudens double eagle was stolen from the U.S. . (“Saint-Gaudens” after its de- According to the auction cat- signer, “double eagle” because alog, “no $10 coins are known as eagles). could, or can, be legitimately

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° K Y M C

PHOTOGRAPH BY RICHARD IZUI

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owned by any individual—until this one. dled an ounce of gold, and this one, all who have come in contact with her. Until now.” Apart from two 1933 double shining in the spotlight, seems especially As it turns out, Redden is about to eagles on display at the Smithsonian, Red- ethereal. Experts call it the most remark- drop the hammer on what may be the den’s coin is believed to be the only one of able coin ever produced in America—the biggest coin scam in history. The object on its type, for decades rumored to exist only Mona Lisa of coins, the Holy Grail. Up display this evening may or may not be in the back rooms of the most devout col- the coin Redden and company have led lectors. Tonight the U.S. Mint is a Sothe- everyone to believe it is. And in an irony by’s client. Together they have spread the consistent with the coin’s history, a felon word of the coin’s dark, illegitimate will sell the government’s stolen passage through the vaults of coin: The government’s auction- wealthy and unscrupulous eer, Sotheby’s principal owner men—a history of personal Alfred Taubman, will report betrayals, lost fortunes to federal prison the and intrigue. Only fleet- morning after the sale ing reference is made to because of a price- more recent crimes— fixing scandal. All of how it was smuggled which only enhances into the country, the true account of how the British coin the 1933 double dealer who will eagle, the one that walk away with never made its way half the money to- into the papers. It’s night was once led an astonishing tale from the Waldorf- of deception and Astoria hotel in double-dealing, handcuffs—and the proving that money auction catalog con- changes everything— tains just one mention even the law. of the wiretaps and the Nine minutes after undercover sting that he began, Redden slams brought the coin to light. down his gavel on the win- Redden and his team ning bid of $6.6 million. The ° have spent months turning the buyer is anonymous. Including coin into a star, emphasizing its sin- 15 percent in buyer’s fees and $20 gularity and mystery. Matt Lauer wears tagged on to mark the face value of the white gloves to hold it on the Today show. coin, Redden has just shattered the gives a photograph world record for a coin sold at public of the coin the entire upper fold of its A rarity revealed: This 1933 double eagle inspired auction: $7,590,020. Metropolitan section. During its public- passion, desperation and greed in top collectors. Someone now owns a very odd story. relations tour, the double eagle travels by close, however, the coin seems fairly un- K armored car, airplane, train and limousine remarkable. On the face, a zaftig Lady THE BAIT convoy, protected alternately by the U.S. Liberty, thick-limbed and masculine, On December 8, 1995, an unseason- Secret Service, U.S. Mint police, Federal strides forward. She holds a freedom ably warm day in Amarillo, Texas, Y Reserve Bank security, po- torch in her right hand, an olive branch agent Dave Freriks of the U.S. Secret lice, the California Highway Patrol, the in her left. The tip of her nose is a bit Service pulled up to the Santa Fe U.S. Army and corporate security teams. worn, and one leg is scratched and pitted. Restaurant & Bar. Shortly before lunch- M time, Freriks, all six feet and 230 COIN DEALING IS A SCREW-THE-WIDOW PROFESSION. pounds of him, lifted himself out of his

C car and walked up to a white Cadillac FOR A DEALER, THE BIG MONEY COMES WHEN A DeVille idling in the parking lot. A WIDOW OR GRANDKIDS WANT TO GET RID OF THOSE farm boy who left the family spread in 1957 for a career in criminal justice, DUSTY TRAYS THEY FOUND IN A SAFE-DEPOSIT BOX. Freriks headed the two-agent Lubbock office, 100 miles to the south, and dealt It is given its own room at . Though her hair still snakes in the wind, mostly with counterfeiting, tax dodges By the night of the Sotheby’s auc- she doesn’t glimmer as much as an un- by the Texas militia and computer tion, any collector wealthy enough to touched coin in a collector’s vault. She is crimes. His sole brush with the big time buy his dreams wants the 1933 double a woman of secrets, a woman with the came after John Hinckley shot Presi- eagle. Now Redden will stoke that pas- power to turn men to crime. dent Ronald Reagan: Within hours sion in $100,000 increments. He starts at Like the Maltese Falcon, she repre- Freriks had gathered Hinckley’s $2.5 million. Bids flow in from the floor. sents all things to the men who have academic records from Texas Tech. “Two million eight on the right,” handled her in the past six years: wealth, The driver of the Cadillac got out Redden says. power, fame—often all three. And like and presented his ID to the agent. Most Americans have never han- that mythical object, she has corrupted Freriks groaned inwardly at the manu-

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Con man or jack-of-all-trades? Texan Jack Moore sparked the historic Secret Service sting. For agent Dave Freriks, the double eagle was a chance to cap a long career with a big bust.

factured drama of the move. The man ordered chicken fajitas. Within an hour happened by chance: One day he noticed was Jack Moore, a retired truck driver Freriks’s ears were tired. Moore called a strange and beautiful on and an occasional source for an FBI him “friend” within minutes and clearly Groendyke’s desk—a 1908 Saint-Gau- agent Freriks knew. In the preceding relished being in the company of an dens double eagle. Groendyke, an Okla- days, Moore had been in contact with agent. He said he grew up poor. Said he homa trucking magnate, had bought it Freriks about a story involving a stolen was a retired truck driver for Groendyke to commemorate his father’s birth year. coin. -related crimes were a Transport. Said he was a former Las Groendyke was a coin dealer’s case for the Secret Service, not the FBI, Vegas limo driver—for a debt collector. dream—a man with deep resources and so Freriks made the drive. Oh, and a gun dealer. scant coin knowledge. Moore decided Moore, a short man with a Texas- More to the point, though, Moore’s to give him an impromptu lesson in nu- ° size belly, looked to be in his late 50s. He sideline was coins—didn’t collect them mismatics. You can’t do better than a led Freriks inside the restaurant, reflex- himself but loved to deal them. His Saint-Gaudens double eagle, Moore ively saying hello to strangers. They crowning achievement was collecting for told him, praising the coin. With excite- took a table in the back corner and his former boss, John Groendyke. It ment he pointed out its lifelike Lady

MONEY NOBODY WANTED

Some coins become precious objects, but others just can’t buy a break K

HALF-CENT PIECE THREE-CENT PIECE 20-CENT PIECE SUSAN B. ANTHONY ZINC PENNY Y Minted: 1793–1857 Minted: 1851–1889 Minted: 1875–1878 DOLLAR Minted: 1982–present The half cent never gained The three-cent piece was the The dollar has its origins in Minted: 1979–1981 and 1999 When the penny switched popularity, even though it $2 bill of coins. According to the silver taler, an Austrian from mostly to copper- The least popular coin in the M was one of the first coins the Nancy Green of the American currency, while original New modern era, the Susan B. plated zinc, production costs U.S. Mint issued. In many Numismatic Association, it World coins were Spanish suffered from a design dropped to .81 cents, making years none were made at all, was issued because stamps reals, based on a system that flaw—it was hard to distin- it the cheapest coin the Mint according to Ken Bressett, cost three cents at the time. divided money into eighths. guish from the quarter. Just manufactures. That doesn’t C editor of the Guide Book of “It was long-lived,” she (That’s why the phrase two 857 million were released in stop people from hating it— Coins, a.k.a. says, “but it became unpop- bits refers to a quarter dol- two decades (typically a few or the Mint from stamping the Red Book. “You’d think it ular because it was just so lar—it’s two eighths.) So billion of a given coin are more. “We make more pen- would be needed—the low- odd.” Also odd is that ver- where did that leave the 20- minted each year). The final nies than anything else,” says est denomination avail- sions in two different metals cent piece? Odd coin out. An 41 million were made in Michael White of the U.S. able,” says Bressett. “But it overlapped: A silver coin was unusual denomination in 1999 before the current gold Mint—nearly 7 billion in was shunned.” And laughed produced from 1851 to 1873, any system, it was derided. dollar was unveiled in 2000, 2003 alone. In other words, at. Hence its nickname, the and a one from 1865 Outside of the liquor indus- and then it was good-bye, they’ll keep making ’em as ha’ penny. to 1889. try, fifths are useless. silver dolly. fast as we can throw them out.

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superstar in this strange world. He once outbid Dennis Rodman for an 1885 sil- ver trade dollar ($907,500). He owned one of only seven Brasher doubloons, an American Revolution–era coin made fa- mous by Raymond Chandler’s novel The High Window. He signed autographs for strangers at coin shows. He was 49, he was aggressive, and he had a seemingly endless supply of money and unknown big clients. He was Italian American and under investigation by the IRS. Freriks’s interest was piqued. When information on the 1933 double eagle arrived from Washington, Freriks spent days poring over it in his bulletproof office. The coin had once been a major case for the Secret Ser- vice. According to U.S. Mint records, 445,500 double eagles were made in An expensive piece of paper: With this document, the U.S. Mint and Sotheby’s legitimized the sale of a stolen coin. 1933, and all but two sent to the Smith- sonian were melted down into gold bars Liberty and the delicate rays of sunlight placed in circulation’?” he asked. “That by 1938. Or so the official story went. surrounding her. The double eagle was means it’s illegal.” Freriks understood. Then, to the astonishment of the Secret the biggest American coin, he ex- Even 60 years after the fact, owning the Service, a genuine 1933 double eagle plained, the most valuable by sheer 1933 double eagle would be equal to popped up at a coin auction in New weight and the most beautiful. Com- possessing stolen government prop- York in 1944. Apparently a Philadelphia missioned by Teddy Roosevelt and de- erty—a particularly valuable piece of Mint employee had stolen a small but signed by America’s greatest sculptor, government property. undetermined number of coins, and Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the double When lunch ended, Moore gave when he and his fence were questioned, eagle entered circulation in 1907 and Freriks photocopies of his Red Book and they yielded little. In the years after 1944 ended with the 1932 run, after Franklin articles about the coin and Parrino from the Secret Service aggressively pursued ° D. Roosevelt ended the gold-coin pro- stolen 1933 coins, tracking down deal- gram. Groendyke was thrilled and saw ers who had contact with the man who the shining gold piece in his fingers in a had fenced the coins. One after another new light. Bitten by the collecting bug, they turned over their coins and then he hired Moore and a partner to assem- their friends—no one wanted to lose his ble a complete set of the $20 gold coins. coin and make another’s that much Under Moore’s guidance, Groendyke more valuable. Agents discovered that collected 53 unique examples in three the giants of American — K years. Moore put the collection’s value wealthy, politically connected men—had at nearly $2 million. a sweet tooth for the 1933 coin. The Freriks caught himself before he prices they paid suggested the men knew Y was completely sucked in. Here he was, something was wrong in the rare coin’s meeting with a fast-talking guy in the Sotheby’s auctioneer David Redden directs the bidding. past, yet they bought it anyway. middle of nowhere, listening to him Freriks was not surprised. Rich M ramble on about obscure coins as if they The Numismatist and Coin World. And people always seemed to need the one were buried treasure. What was the to make sure he had Freriks hooked, he thing they couldn’t have. On paper the

C crime, he asked, and—more impor- dropped his bomb. Parrino, Moore coin men were genteel even when they tant—how was Moore involved? claimed, was a mobster. sued to keep their coins (and lost). The other day, Moore told him, a By the end of 1952 the Secret Ser- coin dealer in Missouri named Jay Par- THE TARGET vice had confiscated and melted down rino had offered him a 1933 double ea- Back in Lubbock, Freriks sent word to nine coins. A 10th coin had left the gle. Freriks didn’t have the faintest idea Washington and asked for files related country after a Texas coin dealer sold it what Moore was getting at. Didn’t he to the 1933 double eagle. Then he dug to King Farouk of Egypt. In 1954, after just say the last double eagle was mint- into the material from Moore and made Farouk was overthrown, Sotheby’s tried ed in 1932? Moore explained that 1933 inquiries about Jay Parrino. to sell his coin for the new Egyptian gov- coins were made, but they were all sup- Parrino was elusive. By Freriks’s ernment. The U.S. State Department posedly melted down at FDR’s order. account, he seemed to have appeared protested, and the coin was removed Moore took out a book he had brought out of nowhere in the late 1980s to be- from auction. That was the last official with him, R.S. Yeoman’s A Guide Book come one of the leading figures in coin sighting of one of the stolen coins. If a of United States Coins—the Red Book collecting. He took out full-page ads in 1933 coin had escaped the U.S. govern- to coin dealers. He leaned across the enthusiast magazines, boasting millions ment’s dragnet, it would be rare indeed. table. “See there, where it says ‘none of dollars in rare coins. Clearly he was a (continued on page 78)

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they found in the safe-deposit box or in DOUBLE EAGLE—(continued from page 70) the bottom of a dresser drawer. “They’ll rob you to death,” says one coin dealer. Knowing their colleagues will take ad- “I can get my guy to wire $1.5 million if somebody vantage of their family, many collectors hands me a briefcase with some cash in it.” who are on death’s door will sell off their coins. And that’s only one of a m dealer’s many fears. “Most big-money Agent Freriks was fired up. After a 13, 1995 and continuing long past the dealers make their money off one play- time, so were his bosses in D.C. This close of the sting operation, Moore er,” says another dealer. “They guard wasn’t just about a coin; this was about recorded his conversations with their player and do anything to find stolen government property. If Parrino Freriks, too. yours.” At coin shows, customers at a were caught with the double eagle, he MOORE: It’s immaterial to you or the busy display case will pick up five coins could go to jail. At a minimum he’d people you represent what I make off and return four. Thieves may hear of a lose the coin—and a lot of money. With of him, isn’t it? sale and follow a dealer home. For six months to retirement, Freriks de- FRERIKS: That’s correct. We don’t years one of the country’s leading nu- cided to launch the biggest case of his care what your cut is. mismatists, Columbia University’s Dr. career. If he handled it right, he would MOORE: All right. In other words, if I William Sheldon (father of today’s one- solve a multimillion-dollar mystery. That, say, “When we make this deal and we to-70 coin-grading system) swapped he thought, would be historically cool. see the coin and the wire transfer is his coins with the collections he was re- Moore, meanwhile, was bent on plac- coming down, you hand me a briefcase searching. Passion is a weakness. One ing himself at the center of the case. He with a hundred grand in it.” You don’t of the juiciest prospects in the coin laced his facts about the coin with care, do you? world is a collector on the verge of stories about Parrino and organized FRERIKS: Right. achieving a complete set. Even though crime. He said Parrino was rumored to MOORE: Okay. Moore told Parrino his buyer was not be connected to money launderers and FRERIKS: You mean that’s gonna be who he might be thinking, Moore’s Las Vegas underworld figures. When your cut from him? reputation as Groendyke’s dealer Freriks said he doubted Moore was in it MOORE: He does people like that all helped lure Parrino into his trap. just to rid the coin business of a “black the time. On December 19, 1995 Freriks au- mark,” Moore switched gears. He told FRERIKS:[Surprised] So he’s gonna be thorized Moore to up his offer by Freriks that Parrino had once cheated handing you a hundred thousand just $250,000, to $1 million. Moore was al- him on a $5,000 commission. Freriks’s for setting this thing up? ready past that figure. A day earlier he doubts ebbed: Revenge is a more typi- MOORE: Maybe. Who knows? I mean, had told Parrino, “I can get my guy to cal motive for an informant. it’s immaterial to you, isn’t it? wire a million and a half if somebody— Moore became Secret Service Confi- FRERIKS: Well, it’s immaterial to me, and I don’t care who—hands me a ° dential Informant 324-15. but whether or not you get to keep it is briefcase with some cash in it.…” In an auction, as the saying goes, all something else. “I got you,” Parrino replied. you need is two people who want Moore was in it for the money. “I Throughout the operation Moore— something. In a con, all you need is mean, here’s my position,” he told not Freriks—made the key strategic de- one. U.S. Secret Service agent Dave Freriks on December 18, 1995. “If you cisions. Moore set the price and the lo- Freriks wanted Jay Parrino. And Jack want me to help you with a longtime cation and even suggested that he wear Moore knew it. deal to get this guy for all the other a body wire for meetings. He contin- stuff he’s done and everything, I’ll ued to tape his phone calls at home but THE SETUP work with a different kind of deal…but warned that his tape recorder crapped K Moore had dealt with Parrino more if this is just a onetime deal, I want to out occasionally. Freriks suspected than a dozen times. Parrino—short, make something out of it.” Moore might have another reason for with smoothed hair and a rumbling It was typical informant bullshit— his inconsistent recordings, but he did Y voice—was the best dealer he knew for every coin dealer has a little larceny in not press his informant. truly unique American coins. His his heart, he thought. Freriks kept his Moore played Parrino and Freriks prices were high. He was wily, too. At eye on the target. He instructed Moore similarly: Parrino wanted money; M one point Moore and his former boss to offer Parrino $750,000. Moore had Freriks wanted an arrest. Moore, of Groendyke hired Parrino to buy an other ideas. It was ridiculous to lowball course, wanted both. unusual coin anonymously in Chicago. a price the government would never By mid-January the deal appeared C According to Moore, Parrino reported pay. When Parrino suggested $1.5 mil- set, and Freriks promised Moore a that the coin wasn’t up to their stan- lion, Moore responded, “We would like $5,000 reward. On January 18, 1996 dards. Then he bought it for himself, to pay less,” but he didn’t fuss. he told Moore, “Don’t offer any more had it regraded and sold it to the two Moore and Parrino were now part- money.” The next day Moore called men at a $76,000 markup. Parrino claims ners, middlemen in the transaction, Freriks, upset. “Parrino’s saying he he never went to Chicago for Moore with Moore representing an unknown won’t take care of me until the whole and Groendyke. “Everything that comes Texas buyer, Parrino the invisible Eu- thing is over! I can’t do this for out of Moore’s mouth is a lie,” he says. ropean seller. “What’s the most money $5,000,” he whined. “You people do Freriks obtained legal authority for we can give to these guys?” Parrino not have any idea what kind of bullshit Moore to record his telephone conver- asked Moore on December 18 as large is gonna happen once this happens—if sations with Parrino. Sitting on the snowflakes fell outside both men’s homes. it happens.…” edge of his bed, using his granddaugh- There were four inches in Amarillo Freriks typed an e-mail to head- ter’s tape recorder and a suction-cup and one in Independence, Missouri. quarters regarding Moore’s commis- microphone, Moore talked to Parrino Coin dealing is a screw-the-widow sion: “324-15 was advised at length about the weather, his Christmas plans profession. For average dealers, the big that any monies received without the and money. Moore loved taping his money comes when a widow or grand- knowledge of this service would be 78 calls. In fact, beginning on December kids want to get rid of those dusty trays (continued on page 153)

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in the U.K. coin world, the head of the DOUBLE EAGLE—(continued from page 78) British Numismatic Trade Association: London coin dealer Stephen Fenton.

The deal was set. All parties knew the gold coin was THE TAKEDOWN coming from England. But who was the mystery seller? For an international dealer of Stephen Fenton’s stature, traveling to New York on the Concorde was a necessary part of subject to seizure when their existence play cases, no coins in view. Parrino was any big deal. The U.S. coin market became known. 324-15 suggested we alone. They shook hands like old defied supply-and-demand economics: offer more than the $1.5 million al- friends, and Moore handed over a 1907 The U.S. had the least history but also ready made and was instructed not to proof coin from Groendyke’s collection. the greatest wealth; its coins were the offer any more money, not to charge With the coin in his possession, Parrino most expensive in the world. At coin any more for a fee and that if the deal believed he was simply fronting Moore shows, American coins sold for thou- could not be completed on January 24, his $150,000 commission on the upcom- sands while ancient Roman coins were 1996 at the Waldorf in NYC, the deal ing sale. The Texan had other plans. set out in dishes like jelly beans and sold should be terminated.” Moore returned home with $50,000 in for 15 bucks. The reason? Americans Freriks thought he could control his in- cash, two $25,000 checks, some antique had invented a way to turn numismatic formant. But Moore was better than that. guns, 65 Krugerrands, two receipts and art into money: slabbing. a story for Freriks. Parrino, he said, had THE SIDE DEAL Slabbing—grading coins based on offered him a job laundering $10 million appearance and encasing them in small Moore called Freriks back with a new in Vegas every three months for ultrasonically sealed plastic boxes—took side deal, a scheme to earn a commission $100,000 a trip. The last guy to hold the the worry out of buying coins. Graded on that would not be confiscated. “What if I job had been killed. Parrino had safe- a scale of one to 70, stamped and sealed, did this—and I think this would be legal deposit boxes overflowing with bullion a slabbed coin was a commodity. It could if you think about it. I have a coin, a and cash. The 1933 double eagle, he told be traded over the telephone like pork high-relief $20 gold piece worth, conser- Freriks, was “just the tip of the iceberg.” bellies or soy futures. And in America it vatively, $135,000 to $150,000. What if I Parrino recoils at these assertions, call- was. With more people trading more of- sell him that for an amount way over?” ing them ridiculous. ten, slabbing had transformed coin col- Freriks liked the sound of it. “Whatever To Freriks, some of the story rang lecting into coin investing, driving up the money you made that way would not be true, but the rest—like the part about prices of American coins and attracting affected by this at all,” he told Moore. Parrino being so antigovernment that he dealers from around the world. “He just paid too much for the coin,” planned never to pay taxes and to fund Fenton had spent his life in the coin Moore agreed. the local militia—was clearly a snow job. business. He dropped out of school at the And so a clandestine agreement was “I couldn’t have cared less, frankly,” age of 15, worked several years for the reached between Moore and his Secret Freriks says today, “as long as Moore Mayfair Coin Company and then went off Service handler. Moore would make his wasn’t doing anything illegal, didn’t lie to on his own. In 1980 he opened Knights- ° cut through a sham coin sale to Parrino me and we got the coin. I didn’t care bridge Coins, a dimly lit shop down the at an inflated price. What Moore did not about his separate coin dealings. It was street from Christie’s, in a plush row of tell anyone was that the coin he intended totally unrelated, and I wanted to be art galleries and rare-book dealers on to use belonged to John Groendyke. able to say so in court.” Duke Street in the St. James’s area of “True collecting,” David Redden is So Moore took a coin he did not own, London. His shop was not designed for quoted as saying in biographer Robert went on a trip he did not pay for, gave browsing. Customers were expected to Lacey’s book Sotheby’s: Bidding for Class, the coin to a man he did not like and know what they wanted. Now 43, Fenton “is not about the actual possession of ob- wrangled a $150,000 commission for a was one of Europe’s leading dealers, with K jects. With the greatest collectors—who deal he knew would never go through. American coins as his specialty. may physically keep their things in bank In other words, Parrino paid Moore to The Englishman passed easily through vaults—the collection exists in their send him to prison. U.S. Customs. On his forms he declared Y heads.” Groendyke might have tracked “The guy had brass balls,” says a re- that he was carrying more than 100 coins his valuables in his head, but Moore had tired FBI agent familiar with the case. whose total value was $742,450.50. The two safes in his garage and lockboxes at a How could Moore give his friend John coins, his documents pledged, ranged in company called Stout Safe Storage with Groendyke’s rare coin to Parrino, believ- date from 1830 to 1932. M Groendyke’s coins inside. Moore, who ing that Parrino was about to go to jail? On February 7, 1996 Fenton and a began working for Groendyke Trans- Moore answers the question with a shrug. cousin he had brought along for the port in 1962, had complete access to “Groendyke knew all about it,” he says event took a room at the Hilton. At eight C Groendyke’s collection. today. Groendyke, who later had his en- P.M. he called Parrino. They agreed to When Parrino balked at the size of tire collection stolen by Jack Moore, has a meet the next morning. Meanwhile Moore’s commission, Moore raised the different explanation. “He’s a crook,” he Moore and Freriks had checked into the offer for the 1933 to $1.65 million. says of Moore. Kimberly, a few blocks from the Waldorf- Moore then drove his red GMC pickup The deal was set for February 8, 1996 Astoria. Moore also had a suite reserved 600 miles from Amarillo to Parrino’s at the Waldorf-Astoria. By now, all par- in his name at the Waldorf, but it was office, behind an unmarked door in the ties knew the 1933 double eagle was occupied by Secret Service agents. basement of the Mark Twain Bank, a coming from England. But one question At eight the next morning, Freriks nondescript institution off Route 70 in lingered in the minds of Dave Freriks, walked Moore to the Waldorf. Together Independence, Missouri. Moore rang his bosses and Moore: Who was the with New York agents, he did sound the bell and waited. He wasn’t wearing a mystery seller? checks on the room, arranged the fur- wire. An alarm buzzed and let him The answer lay in the coin’s history. niture for a good picture and told through the first of two doors. The sec- Fifty years ago only the richest and most Moore where to stand. Then the phone ond door opened. He found himself in well-connected collectors ever touched rang—Parrino and Fenton were in the an office full of safes. Several were the coin, and the man flying to New York lobby. The agents hurried next door, stacked on the south wall, with a large with the 1933 double eagle was no ordi- where they would observe the action via one on the west wall. There were no dis- nary coin nut. He was the biggest player a hidden camera. 153

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Late sleepers were just poking out of and Parrino burst into laughter. The real sury secretaries and Mint directors were their doors for a newspaper when Par- one. That was a good one. They laughed known to favor a shortcut to fill holes in rino, Fenton and Fenton’s cousin too hard, and they didn’t stop. They their private collections. If Fenton’s 1933 stepped out of the elevator on the were giddy. In the next room Secret Ser- double eagle was a fake, chances were it Waldorf-Astoria’s 22nd floor and vice technicians adjusted their head- was a 1932 double eagle with the 2 al- walked to Moore’s corner suite. phones. Inside the table lamp was a mi- tered to look like a 3. Before he got on the elevator Parrino crophone. Across the room, hidden in a Though he would later say he “couldn’t m had noticed a unique electronic device clock radio, was a surveillance camera. have shit a peanut,” Moore comes across in one of the hotel lobby shops, a tele- Nearly a dozen agents now watched a on tape as cucumber cool. He played the phone that purported to tell you monitor in the next room. yokel. “I don’t usually dress this nice,” he whether a person on the other end was Moore took out a more common $20 deadpanned at one point, and Fenton lying. It was on his mind as he knocked gold coin to test his scale. Fenton had and Parrino had to hold their bellies. It was on Moore’s door. brought a test coin too. So had Parrino. the laughter of men who couldn’t wait. “Hey, Jay,” Moore said, welcoming his They laughed even harder. He was going to call the buyer, Moore guests into a lavish suite with a sitting area Like a cocaine dealer, Moore placed said, moving to the phone. Then he and a view of New York. Agents had his sample coin on the scale. Heartbeats paused. “Did you show him that proof?” spread Moore’s clothes about and had set raced as Fenton took out the 1933. he asked Parrino, nodding in Fenton’s out his damp toothbrush in the bathroom. Moore took off his glasses. His eyes direction. Parrino stepped inside, confident. Jack were bad, he explained. Everything was Parrino scoffed. For some reason Moore, he knew, was typical of the pro- an apology. When he slipped and said Moore had insisted he bring with him to fession—a one-client coin man who had “son of a bitch,” he turned to Fenton. New York the 1907 coin used as collat- read a few books. “They’re big shits in “Excuse my language,” he said. “I’m eral. Irritated, Parrino took the coin out their world,” Parrino says today of most from Texas, and I don’t know any other of his pocket. dealers. “They come to my world and way to talk.” It didn’t make sense for Moore to care they’re nothing—and they’re jealous.” It was pure Texas bullshit, and Fenton so much about a 1907 coin with a 1933 They eyed each other nervously through and Parrino ate it up. in the room, and he knew it. So Moore did what anybody skating on the thin their greetings. Fenton was a few inches In a sense Moore was slabbing the mo- end of a lie does. He vamped. He taller and several pounds heavier than ment. He examined the 1933 double ea- praised the 1907 coin to Fenton. “I’m Moore or Parrino. With thinning hair gle with a 20-power glass. If the coin going to win five grand when this coin and dark, penetrating eyes, Fenton was a checked out, he was supposed to call his expert comes in,” he laughed. And even man who looked at you when you were buyer waiting down the hall. Then they though he’d been instructed not to stand not looking at him. Moore liked him. would wire $1.65 million to London. in front of the surveillance camera, at that “I have a little deal here I thought There are countless scams in the coin moment he did. In a flurry of activity hid- might help me,” Moore said. He was business—mint marks added or re- den from the lens, he snatched the coin wearing ostrich-skin cowboy boots, a moved, dates altered or counterfeit coins from Parrino as soon as he offered it. ° gold-coin ring, a gold-coin necklace, a made from cast impressions of a real It was a slick move. Moore had set up Western-style shirt, Wranglers and a coin. One famous counterfeiter was so Parrino and Fenton, nabbed a buyer’s Members Only jacket. “I have to be my- proud of his skills that he signed his fee and a Secret Service reward and self,” he had told the agents. coins with a miniature omega. pocketed his own collateral. Moore’s to- He led the men to an electronic coin Moore pretended to look for tooling tal haul was now $305,000—if he could scale on an end table. A table lamp of- around the date. In the early years Mint get away with it. fered extra light. “The real one weighs employees sometimes stole dies and He picked up the telephone. “You all 33.4 grams,” Moore explained. Fenton struck their own coins. Even a few Trea- might as well come up,” he said. “It’s here, and it’s real.” K Moments later an agent posing as Moore’s buyer (dressed as a rich rancher, much in the style of John Groendyke) Y and another playing the part of his New York coin expert (dressed in a suit) walked into the room to close the trans- M action. As they pored over the coin and concluded that it was real, Moore cracked an in-joke to the expert: “Just make sure C I get my five grand.” In the five minutes it took to examine the coin, the agents in the surveillance room readied themselves for what they assumed would be an easy bust. But they saw on the monitor that Fenton’s cousin was reaching under his jacket repeatedly, as if he were fingering a weapon. Outside in the hallway the agents were fired up to move swiftly. The door to the room slammed open, catching Parrino, Fenton and his cousin by complete surprise. Agents took them down hard, particularly Fenton’s cousin. They slammed Parrino to the ground, too. According to Moore, “Parrino kept hollering at me, ‘Don’t say anything! Don’t say anything!’” Freriks whisked 154 “Well, what’ll it be? Classic rock or easy listening?” Moore next door.

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Agents arrested Parrino and Fenton. and made his reputation. His discretion, However, the record undercuts his story. The charge: conspiracy to embezzle however, worked against him when “What would happen to the value if it property of the United States. Moore tagged him as a mob guy. were legalized?” he is heard asking Fen- Today Parrino works out of an un- ton on the surveillance tape. THE CURSE marked office in Blue Springs, Missouri. “Double,” Fenton replied. Freriks was pleased. He had Parrino on The windows are polarized; the doors Fenton also felt no remorse and fought tape on January 3, 1996 saying that the have only a peephole. If you knock with- to get his coin back. First the coin dealer’s m seller would smuggle the coin “in a roll out an appointment, no one will answer. trade association, the Professional Nu- of common bullion pieces or put it in a Jay Parrino does not do retail. By his mismatists Guild, eager to set precedent, set and mislabel it as a ’32.” Fenton had own account, he has owned the finest ex- confronted government lawyers with an done exactly that. The asking price for amples of all but four of the 5,318 pieces unusual defense: A brief was filed on the double eagle alone was twice the val- listed in the Red Book. In 1999 he Fenton’s behalf arguing not that the 1933 ue of the coins Fenton had declared on bought the famous $10,000-bill collec- double eagle was legal but that it was just his customs forms. To Freriks it added tion of Binion’s Horseshoe Hotel and as illegal as the most important coins in up to criminal intent. Casino in Las Vegas. numismatics. The world-record 1804 sil- Freriks had collared the two biggest Parrino paid a high price for his asso- ver dollar, the 1913 , names in the coin business and recov- ciation with the 1933 double eagle. His the 1894-S Barber dime, the 1943 cop- ered a piece of per cent—not one American history. of the most cele- Everything had brated coins in col- worked out perfect- lecting was ever ly. However, the “issued” by the Mint. storied coin would Mint employees demonstrate that it stole dies, forced had plenty of black errors and, inno- magic left. cently or not, coun- To the shock of terfeited many of agent Freriks, two these most impor- months later the U.S. tant coins. A whole Attorney dropped branch of collecting criminal charges depends on unis- against both Par- sued coins. If the rino and Fenton. 1933 double eagle Prosecutors refuse was illegal, so were to go on record, but the top five most conjecture in law valuable U.S. coins. ° enforcement circles Mint officials are ran that federal of- loath to talk about ficials decided the the patchwork en- conspiracy case forcement policy would be too costly, on unissued coins. too time-consum- Kenneth Gubin, ing, too difficult former chief coun- to win. But the sel and a consultant feds quickly shifted to the prosecution, K their attention to a refers to these as bigger prize: the coins with “check- double eagle itself. ered backgrounds” Y The U.S. Attor- or “unclear parent- ney’s office filed a age.” That coin col- civil forfeiture ac- lecting depends on

M tion to establish these “scandalous” clear title to the coins is part of what coin. If Fenton made the 1933 for-

C wanted it back, the burden of proof was voice shakes as he recounts the cost of feiture case so important. Gubin favored on him (not the government): He had to his arrest: “I had the best tables at a settlement: “If you litigate, you might prove he was its rightful owner. Parrino American Numismatist Association con- get a decision that impacts your ability to was free to walk. He returned to Inde- ventions. People are on waiting lists for keep other coins off the market.” One pendence a bitter man. years to get a table, and I had the best. lawyer involved adds that a precedent in “Ridiculous,” Parrino says today of They took them all away from me. I had the coin case might extend to Stinger Moore’s Mafia talk. “I have no relations, full-page ads in Coin World and Numis- missiles or other stolen government no ties to the mob. I’ve never taken, matic News. I never ran one since. Two property. To Gubin, “a bad decision was never stolen.” Several competitors inter- years of depression, family problems. I worse than a compromise.” viewed for this article complained of lost all kinds of customers. It virtually Stephen Fenton’s personal lawyers Parrino’s arrogance but did not impugn destroyed my life—in my business all a were even more aggressive than those his integrity. Parrino offers a more mun- guy’s got is his reputation.” representing the Numismatists Guild. dane reason for his wealth than mob He is not remorseful. “I did something They assembled an argument with a sen- money: He built his career by acquiring I thought was perfectly okay,” he says. “It sational twist. During discovery, prosecu- coins on behalf of institutional investors was not illegal.” He rattles off a number tors produced hundreds of pages of U.S. for retirement funds, IRAs and mutual of ways the 1933 coin might have legally Mint and Secret Service records. Buried funds. When the laws changed in the entered the market, saying, “The gov- in those pages were documents showing 156 1980s, he switched to personal collections ernment’s case was based on folklore.” that in 1944 King Farouk had requested

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and been granted an export license by ties, Sotheby’s was badly tarnished by a lawyers involved in the Fenton settle- the Treasury Department to take his price-fixing scandal. The double eagle ment dismiss such talk, calling the 1933 1933 double eagle out of the country. An was just the kind of promotion it needed. “the Loch Ness monster of coins”— illegal coin legally exported: The export Sotheby’s would not only sell the gov- everyone has a sighting. During the in- license carried a whiff of legitimacy. ernment’s coin, it would also sell the vestigation of this story, however, a noted Fenton wasted no time. His was the firm’s own return to legitimacy. numismatist offered PLAYBOY convincing Farouk coin, he said, and he could On March 19, 2002 U.S. Mint director evidence not only of another 1933 dou- m prove it. On January 18, 2000, at the Henrietta Holsman Fore went on the ble eagle but of a coin whose story rivaled U.S. Embassy in London, Andre de Today show and said that 10 coins had Fenton’s claim to a Farouk provenance. Clermont, a Middle Eastern coin expert escaped the Mint and that hers was the The Mint did not offer amnesty to all and colleague of Fenton’s, told U.S. fed- last one. On July 26, during a Boston holders of double eagles. Instead it did eral prosecutors that he got Fenton the radio program, Redden claimed that what rulers do in fairy tales—it changed coin from a Cairo jeweler, who’d bought this was the King Farouk coin. the law. It issued Fenton’s 1933 double it from the children of a colonel who The 56-page Sotheby’s catalog, the eagle. The Bureau of Engraving made was close to Gamal Nasser, who himself engine of the auction house’s marketing up a special title document, which itself had overthrown King Farouk. When campaign, overflowed with phrases such is a collectible. At the auction, the Mint asked for records as proof, De Cler- as “All but one; and therein lies a tale,” as charged the buyer an extra $20, as if the mont replied that sadly he had nothing well as “And then there were 10.” Pho- year were actually 1933 and he was step- but the man’s word. tographs and biographical data on King ping up to the window for a new coin. Was it likely that Parrino and Fenton Farouk filled several pages. Provenance “The guy who bought the coin paid for had possessed King Farouk’s coin, the charts detailed the history of the 10 the paper,” says a Philadelphia coin deal- coin with the greatest story of all the coins. Even though the catalog conclud- er. “In five years another coin will come 1933 double eagles, and had kept the ed “we’ll never know for sure,” the “10 out, and it’s gonna be another bullshit provenance hidden? Today Parrino de- coins, one king, last chance” campaign story.” For the same reason, Parrino says clines to answer. In Moore’s account had its desired effect. he refused to represent several clients neither Parrino nor Fenton ever men- Virtually every media outlet got the interested in bidding on the coin. He tioned Farouk. On the day of his arrest story wrong in a way that made the coin calls the Sotheby’s auction “a complete, Fenton swore in a signed affidavit that appear more valuable than it was. Ten total and utter farce.” Monetizing their he had bought his 1933 double eagle 1933 double eagle was a touch that Pick- “anywhere from five to 10 years ago,” ens and Redden joked about. Like kings mixed in with foreign and British coins. The real Farouk coin exists, of old, they made their property legal De Clermont appears less sure of the and outlawed the rest. alibi he gave to Fenton. “You’ve been to an expert says. When the They also made their partner Stephen Cairo?” he asks during an interview in Fenton a very rich man. He took home his cramped London office, a jumble of government changes the law $3.465 million. The Mint regards the pay- coin books and catalogs for women’s “jelly out as a finder’s fee. The Mint also earned ° coats” and plastic lingerie. “Remember, to treat 1933 double eagles $3,465,020, less expenses it has not dis- people construct all sorts of stories. Peo- closed. Sotheby’s and the coin dealer ple put out versions of what they want to as other unissued coins, “the Stack’s took less than their 15 percent say. You know what I mean?” buyer’s commission. They split $660,000. Fenton produced a wire transfer and truth will come out.” U.S. Secret Service agent Freriks re- a sales receipt for “U.S. gold coins,” tired to his home in Lubbock with an ac- printed on his own stationery, dated Oc- knowledgment for his role in bringing in tober 3, 1995. The receipt was made out coins were simply what the government the double eagle, and he remains dis- to a bank. This, he told prosecutors, in- had recovered over the years; Farouk gusted at how the criminal case turned K cluded the 1933 double eagle. If his sto- was Fenton’s courtroom defense. A out. “He got all that money,” he says of ry was true, he had bought the world’s lawyer involved in the case spoke off the Fenton, “and I got a letter I threw away.” most valuable coin from an unnamed record for this story and marveled at the On May 21, 1996, barely a month after Y source for less than $220,000. way the media mistook Fenton’s legal ar- criminal charges against him were In January 2001 U.S. Mint director gument for fact. Even Fenton has admit- dropped, Jay Parrino paid $1.485 mil- Jay Johnson signed a settlement agree- ted to PLAYBOY that not everything he lion for a . Two M ment with Stephen Fenton. The Mint said during his ordeal was true, but years later Parrino sued Jack Moore for and Fenton agreed to sell the coin and that’s as far as he will go. breach of contract and fraud during the split the pot. The government included Does anyone in the coin world believe 1933 double eagle sting. Moore settled C in the language of the decision a warn- that only 10 1933 double eagles existed? for $140,000, but as Moore’s attorney ing to high-end coin collectors: “This Parrino was on tape talking about two said, “Texas is a debtor’s haven.” settlement shall not be deemed to have others, and today he says several exist. In 1999 John Groendyke discovered any precedential significance or effect, “There have got to be others out there,” that his coins had been sold by Moore, legal or otherwise, on any other coin or David Tripp, the author of the Sotheby’s who kept the money. Groendyke sued and property of the United States, including catalog, admitted days after the auction. was awarded $1.2 million from Moore. Ac- any other 1933 double eagle that may Israel Switt, the Philadelphia jeweler cording to Groendyke, he has recovered exist.” Johnson was proud of his deci- originally accused of fencing the coins, only a small fraction of the money and sion. “I had a chance to be historical, and had boasted to a buyer that he had more does not know where his coin collection is. I took it,” he says today. He was not proud than two dozen 1933s. One of the oldest, Jack Moore, living outside Amarillo in a of what happened next. The Mint’s asso- most respected names in numismatics modest home he does not own, offers no ciate marketing director, David Pickens, calls the Sotheby’s 1933 double eagle explanation. “I have coins in different in consultation with Stephen Fenton, auction “a sham.” The real Farouk coin places around the country,” he says. chose Sotheby’s to auction the coin. exists, with title, and the expert knows its At press time, the identity of the new location quite well. When the govern- owner of the 1933 double eagle re- THE ENDGAME ment changes the law to treat 1933 dou- mained a mystery. By 2002, after more than $300 million in ble eagles as other unissued coins, the b 158 criminal fines and civil class-action penal- expert says, “the truth will come out.” Two

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