Controversial coins and medals

Just curious what everyone thinks about the topic. Is anything “out of bounds” for you? Nazi Germany, KKK tokens, leper colony tokens, etc. Is it history to be preserved as a negative reminder or something to be shunned and relegated to museums? What are everyone’s thoughts about genres without discussing politics?

 

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I own a few nazi coins and have no issues collecting such items, in coin form.

 

I'm pretty open minded. I have a few items that are pretty terrible when viewed in todays light. The history is why I purchased them though. You can appreciate something without agreeing with the message portrayed.

 

Not a problem for me.

 

I don't own any of these, but I have thought about gettting a nazi coin or two. I don't have any idea how many coins I would be talking about, but I have thought a time or two of checking coinage of european countries minted while under nazi rule. Maybe they didn't produce any, but someday maybe I will check this out.

 

All of the above. Would not waste my money on hate.

 

Have one Nazi coin my maternal grandfather brought back from WWII. The darn thing just sits in my collection. I won’t get rid of it because it was my grandfather’s and because I won’t take even the smallest chance of it ending up in the hands of someone who would agree with it.

I am also one who will not collect confederate coins/currency and will not add a Stone Mountain commemorative to my collection. They just aren’t for me.

 

Eh, I've got some Nazi coins, not sure if I have any currency, but I do have some Japanese occupation notes. No Confederate coins, but a few notes. If we try and separate the bad guys and the good guys in coins and currency, many ancient Roman and Greek coins would not be collectible.

 

@Kentucky I don’t actually disagree with that all that much. We each have to draw that line where we will. We can definitely agree to disagree on where that line ends up for each of us, but in the end we get to draw it for ourselves. I think it follows the lines of collect what you enjoy.

 

Everyone can decide for themselves what to collect or not to collect. Certain areas don't interest me, so I skip them. There should be no rule or law that prohibits others from collecting something just because one person or even a large group of people don't like the history or subject matter.

Another point to consider: banning or even stigmatizing certain coins often stimulates more to collect it (the exact opposite of whatever the intention was).

 

My father served in the Navy during WWII in the South Pacific. He didn't talk much, but he did have some WWII era Japanese coins. I don't know their history, but they belonged to my father. After WW II, he was discharged and after a few months decided to join the Army. He was in the Medical Corps at Landstuhl, Germany from 1953 to 1957. I was 6 when we lived in Germany. We had a maid that was German. She wouldn't or couldn't talk about what was happening in Germany during WW II. She taught my brother and 2 sisters how to speak in German. We didn't really know that we were speaking German. That was me in the white T-shirt up front. As you can see, it was during Christmas 1954. My parents are in the back. My two sisters are behind me and my brother is in the far right. I enjoyed this Christmas more than any other Christmas that I had with my family.
Dad would not let me collect NAZI coins or anything else related to the NAZI period.
I built models when I was about 14. I used to build model airplanes. NAZI or WWII era Japanese were forbidden in our home. I had built a Japanese airplane while in German and stored it in my closet. When I came home from school close to Christmas, I was shown how serious my father was. I had a smashed Zero on the floor. There was a note on my bed, reminding me how serious he was about no Japanese or Germany models. I modelled airplanes from the time I was 15 until I was 66, but I lost the dexterity of my hands. I sold about 100 models that I had a stash to for $2,500 just to get ride of them. I still have models that I built in a curio in our living room. When we have guests, their children and some adults go to the curio for oooh's and ahhh's. I still wanted to have a hobby to enjoy. I was fortunate that my father left his coin collection to my brother and I. There was over 300 coins to split. We took inventory of his collection and worked hard at deciding how to divide the coins. He left it up to me. He lives in Southern California and I live in Eastern North Carolina. I took the coins to a good friend of mine that is a model builder and asked him to help me divide the coin equitably. I then took it to another dealer. Each dealer came up with almost the same division. I paid each $100. It was well worth it.

 

When I went through the remains of two Florida coin shops, I obtained all of these items. Still have most of them

 

Coincidence that this topic should come up as I just purchased a coin of the Third Reich. I enjoy reading about WWII and wanted a piece from that period. Having a lot of US pieces already, I wanted something from the other side. I see nothing taboo about it. We should all strive to learn from the history of this world.

 

This is how I feel too. Just because something is interesting and historic doesn’t mean you agree with it, love it or admire it. I own some of everything mentioned as well as early Bolshevik Russian and East German. Probably the most heinous person on any of my coins would be Caligula. While I don’t feel bad about anything I own, I’m wary of posting the more controversial pieces because I don’t want to get blowback for them.

 

Nazi memorabilia and the like has historical value just like anything else, and excluding these things as legitimate collectables because of moral hang-ups is a bit simple and closed-minded.

The nature of the collectables should not be the determining factor in evaluating the character of collectors. It's the mindset and motivation of the collectors that are more important. If a person collects Nazi memorabilia because they appreciate WW2 and/or European history, then how can we take issue with that? Of course, if the person collects these things because they idolize Hitler and celebrate the Nazi mindset, then the collectables are the least of the problem.

 

Ignorance is an action that people preform that deprives themselves of understanding and knowledge. I have yet to find any "Nazi Coins", I do have some
Third Reich coins, Belgium Congo coins and some South African coins and some.....

 

I am a firm believer that we need to keep history alive and in our memories, lest we forget the evil that has happened in the past and repeat it. "Cancelling" or ignoring history is the worst thing to do. I have several coins from the Third Reich, and dozens of books on WW2. This is still fairly recent history, and we cannot forget the horrendous things that were done in the name of "science." Coins and memorabilia make history come alive for me. I do not collect Nazi memorabilia because of any fascination, but rather have these coins as a concrete reminder. I say this being under thirty years old. I love talking to old soldiers and hearing the stories straight from their lips. I have been to Dachau three times and lived in Stuttgart before my dad retired in 2010. Panzer Barracks had an old building with the Nazi eagle still above the entry (swastika removed). Walking in that building and thinking about who had been there in the past was sobering. At Robinson Barracks, you could still see parts of the old Nazi base in the area.
Pass the stories on! With abortion, euthanization, eugenics, and far/extreme anything-ism, we could very well be headed back to 1933.......

 

I agree with @JoshuaP completely. It might be ugly, but burying the truth does not erase the truth. Here are two examples.

I remember that Rick on "Pawn Stars" get bent out of shape over this 1936 Olympics pin. Yea, the Nazis celebrated, but the main thing most people remember is Jesse Owens ticking off Hitler with his super performances.



The KKK was another blot on American history. It rose up in the South just after the Civil War. Another version of it appeared in the early 20th century. They were even allowed to have a march and rally in Washington, DC.

If you read the message on this KKK token, you see what foolish bigots they were. Don't think that their like couldn't rise again. It's quite possible.

 

I refuse to collect coins of Mongolia until their government apologizes for the war crimes committed by Genghis Khan.

 

Agreed. I'd love to show off my new coin, but have a feeling that the thread would take a nasty spin and go POOF.