Thread: Cook Island Coins

Was looking at some coins on Ebay last night and came across this one 'COOK ISLANDS-HMS VICTORY CROWN w/ COPPER FROM SHIP-2005' well as I collect ships on coins and Nelson is one of my heros I was interested in it
I emailed the vendor to ask what mint had produced it and reseved the reply that he would not divulge his sorces!! Have to admit I found this strange so emailed him back saying that I was a seriouse buyer but would have liked to know what mint it came from and honestly would you buy a car without knowing the maker LOL and I was sorry I had wasted his time.
This morning I was suprised and rather annoyed to recieve the following reply from him

It took me over six months to find the source for these coins and that's not something I want to pass on to you or anyone else. Who minted the coin is irrelevant to any serious collector. The only thing that matters is whether the coin is genuine and legal tender. If knowing where we bought the coin is a pre-requesite to your purchase, then I welcome you to shop elsewhere. I may have been born at night, but it wasn't last night.

Needles to say I dislike having it insinuated that I am a crook and told him so LOL also that any seriouse collector realy does like to know everything about the coins they buy.

Now my interest is aroused so does anyone here happen to know where or who minted thesr coins??

De Orc

Ps if any one wishes to see my emails to him they are more than welcome to

Originally Posted by De Orc

Now my interest is aroused so does anyone here happen to know where or who minted thesr coins??

Sure I do, but would I want to disclose my secret sources?

Actually I am not sure; some Cook Islands coins were made by the Perth Mint in Australia for example. Yours, however ... have a look at this page http://koinpro.tripod.com/BarsMedals...itaryPages.htm and scroll down to where it says "2005 Cook Islands $10 - 200th Anniversary of The Battle of Trafalgar". Apparently the piece was, quote, struck by the London Mint, Ltd. And that company would be here http://www.londonmint.com/ provided the info is accurate.

Aidan may know more about this ...

Christian

I'm not interested in seeing your e-mails, but I would like to know the ID of the dealer so I can put him on my NDBW* list.

*Never Do Business With.

EDITED TO ADD:I looked up the auction on EBay, and I was utterly shocked. Dan is a frequent poster on another forum, and I have made purchases from him that I was very pleased with. The attitude expressed in the reply you received just isn't what I would expect from him.

Originally Posted by satootoko

I'm not interested in seeing your e-mails, but I would like to know the ID of the dealer so I can put him on my NDBW* list.

*Never Do Business With.

EDITED TO ADD:I looked up the auction on EBay, and I was utterly shocked. Dan is a frequent poster on another forum, and I have made purchases from him that I was very pleased with. The attitude expressed in the reply you received just isn't what I would expect from him.

what's the auction number Roy?

Ian

<clairvoyant_mode>
8375406306
</clairvoyant_mode>

Right?

Christian

I'm hearing voices! (Mental note to start putting some water in that whisky)

Sellers feedback shows only eight negs and a few neutrals out of over 7500 transactions. He must be doing something right in terms of customer satisfaction.

While his attitude over this Cook Island thing seems to be a bit off the wall let's face it, he doesn't have to say where he got the items from. He only has to vouch for their authenticity and its then up to anyone interested to bid or desist from bidding.

Personally, i'm not particularly smitten by the idea of a little bit of copper epoxied into a coin and I don't think the coin is any design masterpiece, but each to their own. I see from the bidding (at least to date) that i'm not alone in my opinion either. ;-)

Ian

Hi guy's sorry about the delay in responding but I was away for a few days and yep you have the right auction, I was astounded to say the least and if this guy is a coin person then suerly he can understand me wanting to know where it was minted?? As for his comments about me only needing to know that it is legal tender how do I know that if he wont tell me the mint how do I know it is a genuine piece of Nelsons ship without provinonce??

Roy if you know this guy please give him a link to these coments

De Orc

Here's the pertinent portions of our PM exchanges on another forum, after I contacted him about this situation. I guess I understand his motivation, but I'm not convinced that his response was appropriate.

After his first query I responded politely that we had a policy of not divulging the sources for our material. He then came back and told me that if I wasn't willing to give him that information he was wasting his time. That was when I responded like I did.

Interesting. I certainly didn't realize that the identity of mints producing NCLT was considered a trade secret, but then I'm not in the coin business. I would have thought it would be easily available information, given that a government has to be involved or it would just be bullion/tokens, not legal tender.

Although governments have to sign off on any production involving their country, most of these mints are thousands of miles away from the country for which they are producing coinage. In many cases NCLTs are developed by a mint, then they have to find a government who is willing to sponsor the production. As an example, the Titanium coin that have been produced by the Pobjoy Mint were issued first by Gibraltar and when that contract fell through a couple of years later, the same series was continued by the British Virgin Islands. The series of African elephants that ws being produced by Zambia now bears the emblem of the Somali Republic . I could go on and on, but you get the picture. There are some coins that I have been trying to track down a source for years, so it's not an easy thing to do.

Thank you Roy I have just been on Ebay checking the progress of some bids and here is a follow up from him

If you are as serious a collector as you say you are, then you would know that dealers value their sources and don't pass that information on to total strangers. For all I know, you could be a dealer who wants to sell these coins and doesn't want to take the time or the research required to find the source. I know, because I have dealers that buy these coins from me for resale. All I have to do is tell them where to buy the coin and there went that part of the business. So don't feel like you're being singled out, I would respond the same way to anyone asking the same question. I also believe that if you asked the same question from any NCLT dealer, if they even bothered to respond, it would be the same response you received from me.


And here is my 2nd email after he said the initial no

Item: COOK ISLANDS-HMS VICTORY CROWN w/ COPPER FROM SHIP-2005 (8375406306)
This message was sent while the listing was active.
steve-pushkin is a potential buyer.



Hi again Im sorry but Im not sure If I understand you, are you saying that whoever minted it is a secret? Im interested in buying it but not if you wont tell me which mint it originated in thats like buying a car without knowing the maker.
If you check my feedback you will see that I am a seriouse buyer and not a time waster.
But if you wont tell me then sorry for wasting both our time.

Steve

I dont see that I was in any way rude I apologised for wasting both our time whats the problem there?

De Orc

Ps I hapend to like ships on coins hence my interest LOL I agree it is not a wonderful coin but hey

Maybe youll have more luck with this Guy

Skylark many thanks I have bought one of those from this dealer just before I went away for the weekend also asked him where it was minted and sure enough there was a email in my undeliverd folder (aol is so good LOL0 saying it is from London Mint I will be contacting him shortly to see if he has any with the copper insert available if not I shall contact the mint direct.

Have to say many thanks to you all for the input it has been very much appreciated.

De Orc

There has been quite a few medal-coins struck for the Cook
Islands in recent years.I have seen the 1997 silver $1 which depicts Princess Diana.It is 1 Oz of .999 fine silver.
There is even a coloured medal-coin from the Cook Islands depicting Garfield.I do have a few smaller denominated coins such as the 50c. coin with the turtle that says '50 TENE', which is the Cook Islands Maori for '50 CENTS'.

Aidan.