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Starck Contrasts
937.498.0854
jstarck@amospress.com
Jeff is the senior staff writer, was Coin World's 2003 Margo Russell intern and joined the staff in 2004. Jeff has been a collector since childhood and fondly remembers the challenges of completing Whitman folders by pulling coins from circulation and searching rolls from the bank. His current collecting interest focuses on Missouri-related numismatics and exonumia. He is the primary writer for the World Coins section in the monthly Special Edition and is responsible for Coin World's coverage of world coins and weekly International page. He graduated with a bachelor of arts degree from Webster University in St. Louis where he was editor-in-chief of its weekly student newspaper.
?So you want to make your own coins?
It’s not as hard as you may think
Anyone who pays attention to the modern new issues market
quickly becomes aware of the outpouring of commemoratives, often from far-flung
tropical island nations or war-torn African countries, but also from national
mints like the Royal Canadian Mint and the Mint of Poland.
Private issuers abound, with European and Asian and even
American companies directing programs intended to capture segments of the
market.
Maybe you want to cash in on that craze by issuing your own
coins, with a theme of your choosing? But invading a country is too dangerous,
and buying a sovereign island outright is too expensive.
So, you could always partner with a mint that already has a
relationship with an issuing authority like Palau, the Cook Islands, or
Somalia. Let’s assume that you will coordinate the program with the Mint of
Poland, which issues coins for the National Bank of Poland as well as several other
partners.
A popular size for the many noncirculating legal tender
coins struck by the Mint of Poland is a silver, crown-size coin measuring 38.61
millimeters and weighing 28.28 grams. This is a fairly standard size among the
Mint of Poland and the Pobjoy Mint, among others.
Mintages have been getting ever smaller as the market
explodes and competing issues clamor for attention. A recent issue for the
gold-plated 2015 $1 coin for the Year of the Goat had a mintage of 1,500
pieces.
Back of the envelope calculations indicate that 1,500 coins,
at $17.27 per ounce (the closing London market price on Oct. 22), would have a
base precious metals cost of $21,789 U.S. That price doesn’t account for any
special technology like gold-plating, color or embedded jewels, some favorite
embellishments at the Mint of Poland.
That price doesn’t include the die-making or manufacturing
costs, since artists and other employees have to be paid to do the work. And it
also doesn’t include the cost for a license.
You need a license to drive, but why do you need a license to
issue coins?
Well, in this case, the sovereign privilege of striking
coins comes at a price. Each nation is responsible for its money supply, and
commemorative coins, though unlikely ever to be cashed, are in accounting-speak
potential liabilities to the bottom line.
Whether it is Niue or Armenia or Belarus or any other
country you want to officially issue the coins, there is a cost that must be
paid. Issuers are always quiet about this relationship, but recent news reports
about the New Zealand Mint suggest that the company alone pays about
half-a-million dollars U.S. every year for the dozens of coin programs it
issues under that island’s name.
Suddenly this proposition seems a little pricey, huh?
Well, maybe that means you want to consider a different
route, without involving national mints and all that legal rigmarole. Next time
we’ll explore what it takes to issue your own “coins” for a place that might
not be found on the map.