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tender at their face value. Lary v. Commissioner, supra. When
the fair market value of legal tender exceeds its face value,
such legal tender is property other than money. Cordner v.
United States, 671 F.2d 367, 368 (9th Cir. 1982) (defining
"property" for purposes of section 301(b)(1)(A)); see also Joslin
v. United States, 666 F.2d 1306 (10th Cir. 1981).
The gold coins petitioner received from the sale of timber
to C&D are commemorative coins issued by the U.S. Mint which are
not currently circulating legal tender. Accordingly, those coins
are "property" within the meaning of section 1001(b) and are to
be valued at their fair market value for purposes of section
1001.
Petitioner conceded that the value of each 1-ounce gold coin
he received had a fair market value of approximately $350. At
trial, petitioner credibly testified that he did not sell any
timber in 1992 but used money he had earned in prior years from
mining or gold refining to support his family. Merfeld, the
owner of the coin shop, testified that for 1992 he did not sell
any gold coins to C&D. Moreover, Gary Schroeder, the timber
manager at C&D, testified that no other customers required C&D to
pay for timber in gold coins, and that the only business C&D did
with the coin shop was with respect to the transactions engaged
in for petitioner. There is no documentary evidence establishing
that C&D lumber purchased gold coins from Merfeld in 1992. Thus,
we hold that with respect to 1992, petitioner did not have any
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