Each Memo, Inventory and Description Regarding the 4,686,358 Foreign Gold Coins Held in Storage at the US Mint Facility at West
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Description of document: Each memo, inventory and description regarding the 4,686,358 foreign gold coins held in storage at the US Mint facility at West Point New York; any records describing coins other than gold held in deep storage at the US Mint facility at West Point, and memos, inventories and/or descriptions of other items of value (other than gold or silver bullion or coins) held at the West Point Mint facility for safekeeping, such as documents, artifacts, historical items, artwork, etc., 2018 Requested date: 21-May-2018 Released date: 21-June-2018 Posted date: 16-July-2018 Source of document: FOIA Request Disclosure Officer, United States Mint 801 9th Street, N.W., 8th Floor Washington, D.C. 20220 FOIA Online Request Form The governmentattic.org web site (“the site”) is noncommercial and free to the public. The site and materials made available on the site, such as this file, are for reference only. The governmentattic.org web site and its principals have made every effort to make this information as complete and as accurate as possible, however, there may be mistakes and omissions, both typographical and in content. The governmentattic.org web site and its principals shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused, or alleged to have been caused, directly or indirectly, by the information provided on the governmentattic.org web site or in this file. The public records published on the site were obtained from government agencies using proper legal channels. Each document is identified as to the source. Any concerns about the contents of the site should be directed to the agency originating the document in question. GovernmentAttic.org is not responsible for the contents of documents published on the website. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY UNITED STATES MINT WASHINGTON, D.C. 20220 June 21, 2018 FOIA Request #2018-05-151 This is in response to your May 21, 2018, request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for a copy of each memo, inventory and description regarding the 4,686,358 foreign gold coins held in storage at the US Mint facility at West Point; any records describing coins other than gold held in deep storage at the US Mint facility at West Point, New York; and any memos, inventories and/or descriptions of other items of value (other than gold or silver bullion or coins) held at the West Point Mint facility for safekeeping, such as documents, artifacts, historical items, artwork, etc. Enclosed as responsive to your request are the requested records (112 pages). Please be advised that the vault and compartment letters and numbers have been excised from the United States Treasury Department Mint Bureau Official Joint Seal pursuant to Title 5, United States Code (U.S.C.), Section 552(b)(7)(f). Should you disagree with this FOIA determination, you may appeal this decision within 90 days from the date of this letter. Your appeal must be in writing, signed by you, and should be addressed to: Mr. David J. Ryder, Director, United States Mint, 801 - 9th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20220. The appeal should reasonably describe the records requested from the denial of access, and should specify the date of your initial request and date of this initial determination. The appeal should also include any supporting arguments as to why you believe the records denied should be released, and should set forth the address at which you wish to be notified of the decision on appeal. Sincerely, £~~ Lateau D. Jones Acting Disclosure Officer/ FOIA Public Liaison Enclosure( s) 1J I . , 1 . : 1 ...:. 1 1 , ...:. -, .-.J.•,'J. .I. J. I DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY •• WASHINOTON OIG 88 041 ~e. 29, 1988 MEMORANDUM TO: Donna Pope Director United States Mint FROM~ Director of Audit United Sta~es Mint Office of ~he Inapector General SUBJECT: follow-up on Gold Audit Assay Results and Foreign Gold Coins on April 24, 1987, we issued Audit Repo~t Number OIG 87-42, •summary Report of Continuing Audits of United States Governmenc-owned Gold as of September 30, 1986•. The report stated that as of September 30, 1986, more than 241.2 million fine t~oy ounces or abou~ 92 percent of the Government's 262.S million fin• troy ounces of gold had been audited. Although no discrepancies were reported, the assay tests of.selected gold melts had noe been finalized, and foreign gold coins examined by auditors during 1984 and 1985 had not been authenticated to Yerify the recorded gold content of the coins (991,833.645 fine troy ounces). This repore summarizes our follow-up on the results of those maccers. BACKGROUND Ann~al audits have been made to carry out the continuing audits of United States Governme"t-owned gold required by Treasury Order No. 234-t, dated June 3, 197S. A three-member committee provided audit guidelines and general direction to gold audit teams. each year, che committee prepared and issued a report to the Sec~etary summarizing the results of the continuing audits. The last summary report was prepared as of September 30, 1986. ~res5ury Order 234-1 was subsequently cancelled by the Office of the tiscal Assistant secrecary. In a September 19, 1986, memorandum eo the Fiscal Assistant Secretary, we concluded that the Order was ~nnecessacy in view of the authority of the Inspector General to conduct audits of the gold stock under other Treasury Orders. Moreover, annual independent audits of the gold were no longer necessary because virtually all of the gold in the custody of the Mint had been audited and no discrepan~ies had b~~n found over the last 10 years. - -, ,\ ,,. ·r lj '7. :: 1. 1 1 ~-... 1\-' rSEC 'LEGAL -z- Because Treasury Order 234-1 has been cancelled, this report is intended to closeou~ the gold audits performed under that autho.r i ty. SCOPE ANO OBJECTIVES The obje~tives of our review were to follow-up on the test results of selected gold melts examined during 1986 and to verify the recorded gold contenc of the foreign 9old coins examined during l984 and 1985. Our revie~ included interviews with Mint officials, examination ot documentation, •nd obsarvation of the X-ray analysis of a 500 eoin sample selected from the foreign gold coin inventory. The work was performed at Mint headquarters and the West Point Bullion Depository during calendar years 1987 and 1988; it was conducted in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. In addition to verifying the gold content of the coins, we also made a review to estimate the numismatic value and source of the coins, and to obtain any information pertinent to whether the coins should be sold. A separate report will be issued on the results of chis review. AUOIT f'INOINGS The assay tests of selected gold melts were sati5factorily completed, and the gold content of the foreign gold coins was verified. The assay resul~s on samples taken from unparted bullion and coin 9old bars at the West Point Bullion Depository were r~ceived and found to be acceptable. As a result, we believe that.the ~ecorded inventory balances of 2,799,049.712 fine troy ounces of gold in the unparted bullion and 417,791.1G4 !ine troy ounces in the coin gold bars were accurate and fairly presented. The eests performed on the foreign gold coins were successful l~ verifying tneir gold con~enc. curing 1984 and 1985, we counted and weighed the coins. The inventory consisted of 4,686,357 gold coins, most of which were British Sovereigns, stor~d at West Potnt. The gold content of the coins is recorded as ~91,833.645 Eine troy ounces. we also selected a random samole of 500 coins for authentication. During 1987, the 500 coins were transferred to Mint headquarters, where the Mint's . - Form 977 (Revised 10/05) Treasury Department United States Mint ~ OFFICIAL JOINT SEAL INSPECTION REPORT Mint Location: United States Mint at West Point Date of Inspection: August 24, 2007 IDENTIFICATION Seal Serial No.: NIA Vault No.:• Compt. Control No.: NIA Compartment: Grip Lock No.: See below Date Sealed: July 20, 2007 Gold FOREIGN GOLD COINS - SEE BELOW Bars------------- Bars------------- Fine Ounces---------- Fine Ounces----------- Value$----------- Value$------------ CONDITION (Indicate: Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory) Lugs: Wax Impressions: Seal Jacket: Seal: Ribbon: Grip Lock: I. Do wax impressions and signatures on Official Joint Seal agree with copies of wax impressions and signatures? Yes/No 2. Do signatures on Mint copy agree with signatures on the original Official Joint Seal? Yes/No 3. Is there any evidence of tampering with seal, ribbon or grip lock? Yes/No 4. Is the Official Mint Tape applied to the compartment in such a manner that the compartment cannot be entered without breaking the tape? Yes/No 5. Did you find the compartment door locked? Yes/No REMARKS: On July 20, 2007,following the foreign gold coin bag inspection/movement, the following seals and locks ~uth Rosenthal (HQ), Donna Joseph (OIG) and Chery_/ Wo ·ehowski 'M): HQ - West Point and West Point metal 43 skids, containing 2070 plastic boxes offoreign gold coins, were sealed in The schedule shows 4,141 bags and a box ofsamples, containing 4,686,358 coins, 1,085,537.55 GTOs and 0991,855.139-- FTOs. The employees listed below inspected the seals attached to the door on the upper level We, the undersigned hereby certify that the above described Official Joint Seal was inspected t:4is day and found to be unimpaired in any manner whatsoever and that in our opinion the compartment to which the seal is affixed has not been entered since the seal was placed thereon, and could not be entere<l without impairing the seal.