U.S. Secret Service Bans Sale of Silver and Gold Liberty Dollars on Ebay

In early 2011 Bernad Von Nothaus was convicted by the US government and identified as a domestic terrorist by Federal prosecutors  for minting his own silver and gold coinage, and then offering those coins for sale to clients. He dubbed the coins “Liberty Dollars” and by doing so he attracted the attention of the U.S. Secret Service, Federal Reserve and a host of other government agencies.

According to the government, Von Nothaus was a counterfeiter, though he made no attempts to actually counterfeit U.S. currency.

After Von Nothaus’ conviction, the Secret Service warned they would be confiscating all Liberty Dollar coins manufactured by Nothaus’ company, NorFed.

Since the shutdown of VonNothaus’ operation, many of the coins have been offered for sale or trade on Ebay, and in mid December 2011 the Secret Service took action. They contacted Ebay, which in turn advised sellers of the coins on their site that they could no longer engage in the trade of silver coins with the Norfed Liberty Dollar hallmark:

The United States Secret Service has requested the removal of all Norfed Liberty dollars on the eBay site as counterfeits. … Please do not relist this item(s). We appreciate that you chose to list this coin on our site and understand there was no ill intent on your part. Your listing fees have been credited to your account.

There is nothing special about the Liberty Dollar coins other than the fact that they are pure silver; and that they actually have essential value as compared to general circulation U.S. legal tender that is, essentially worthless in terms of metal value.

The Secret Service has gotten involved in order to ensure buyers don’t get confused by thinking they are acquiring legal U.S. tender.

http://marketdailynews.com/2012/12/18/u-s-secret-service-bans-sale-of-silver-and-gold-liberty-dollars-on-ebay/