In a press release, the U.S. Mint describes two events at the upcoming ANA convention in Pittsburgh - a panel discussion on the 1933 Double Eagles and a mint artist Q&A session. -Editor

"Last week you discussed Tripp's book on the 1933 Double Eagles, and the fact that the U.S. Mint is going to display ELEVEN 1933 $20's that it has recovered over the years at the Pittsburgh ANA. The TEN pieces that were previously recovered (by fair means or foul) from the Langbord family have been well photographed. I am curious about the 11th piece, which was surrendered to the Mint by a collector in recent years.

"Frankel's book on the 1933 $20's included a picture of a 1933 $20 that was not not the Farouk piece and not one of the Langbord ten pieces. I cannot remember off the top of my head if Tripp's book included this picture as well. Could somebody please take their Frankel book, or the Tripp book if it includes that picture, and see if they can determine if the Mint's 11th coin is the mystery coin included in Frankel's book, and maybe Tripp's. If it is NOT, then there is still one piece out there in the Wild.

"Many years ago at an ANA Convention, long before the Langbord coins surfaced, Carl Carlson told me that he had once been commissioned to photograph a 1933 $20 for a collector, with the condition that he not retain any negatives or prints of the coin. This may have been the source of the mystery coin photographs, but of course we will never know."

In 2021 Sotheby's published this provenance of the 1933 Double Eagles. Those surrendered to the Mint in the 1930s and 40s were destroyed (but I wasn't sure if the two examples in the National Numismatic Collection originated with these - see David Tripp's remarks below).

The ten Switt/Langbord specimens and the Farouk specimen survived. Only the Farouk specimen has been declared legal to own.

Not shown was the "mystery" specimen surrendered to the Mint by another party. -Editor

"The coin image depicted in Tripp's book and images of the coin now in Mint custody exhibit the same diagnostics, including post-strike marks and damage from handling.

"On the obverse a raised diagonal mark appears below the B in LIBERTY; trailing scuffs are found in the field to the left of Liberty's hair; and on the right, a spot appears at the end of the eighth ray down from Liberty's side.

"On the reverse, a number of deep horizontal cuts appear on the eagle's wings and neck; a mark in the field above the eagle's beak between the two rays is the same; and an identical sharp horizontal cut extends through the lower portion of the upright of the second L of DOLLARS."

"The one illustrated in the back of my book ‘the mystery coin' (p. 308) is indeed the 11th piece. It has identical scuffs and scratches, etc. which are clear identifiers, as noted. The original print of the photo in my book has a Nov 1980 Kodak ‘stamp' on the back.

"Here are the images in the back of my book of the 11th coin to be exhibited. Obviously the images were taken under different lighting conditions and different technologies. But it is conclusive.

"The photo with the red ground is the photo printed in 1980."

The reconstructed provenance in the Sotheby's catalogue does not include the Smithsonian examples.

The provenance of the "mystery coin" however, is included (p. 46, beneath the chart):

THE ‘MYSTERY' COIN'S RECONSTRUCTED PROVENANCE:
United States Mint, Philadelphia, 1933; via George McCann (February [?] 1937); Israel Switt, "at about the beginning of February 1937"; Abe Kosoff, 1937 or later; R.E. Naftzger, Jr., date unknown; H. Jeff Browning (via Mike Brownlee, Stanley Kesselman, and Julian Leidman), 1975 (c. $250,000 ); Anonymous (via Mike Brownlee), after 1978; United States Government, after 2011.

Here is the entire Sotheby's catalogue entry:
https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/three-treasures-collected-by-stuart-weitzman/the-1933-double-eagle/"

Thanks, everyone - great information. Be sure to check out the exhibit if you're at the ANA on Friday, August 28th! -Editor