Rare gold coins cannot be confiscated - An invaluable privilege: due to their historical status, rare U.S. coins are not exposed to gold confiscation laws. Why is this important? During the recession of the 1930s, more than 90% of all U.S. gold coins were confiscated by the government and melted into gold bricks, with the exception of rare coins. In addition to preserving their value, this further benefited rare coin collectors as it drastically increased the rarity and therefore the value of their collections.