What's the scoop on the 1964 Morgans being sold on TV?

Private mints located where? On the Cook Islands or here in the USA or..?

 

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Poland, UK

 

I still ask my question:

Has anyone here actually been to the Cook Islands?

 

Captain Cook of His Majesty's Navy for sure.

 

I don't believe that the good Captain posts here.

 

The only thing I have bought from Littleton Coin Co. has been for face value. Like the Presidential Dollars for $1 each. Then I cancel. I haven't bought anything else from them in over 45 years! And I think I'll keep it like that for another 45 years.

 

I just looked at one, on the reverse, bout 3/4 way up on right, it has a 2019 mark, on obverse, 1964, not cool to me

 

On the COA it says 39 mm diameter. And the"clad" ones aren't clad they are plated with 71 mg of silver, that is .07 grams or .002 troy oz. That's right 2 THOUSANDTHS of an oz.

That's because it is a 2019 Cook Islands coin.

They are a very small country and really have no need for their own coins as the use New Zealand's, but the government licenses companies to strike coins in their name and collects royalties on every one sold. Their only risk comes if someone comes to the Cook Islands with a bunch and tries to spend them or redeem them at the bank. If you do you will probably find that they are legal tender, but LIMITED legal tender. Marshall Islands had that problem once and now you will find that you are limited to redeeming no more than one coin per day, and their is a redemption fee of $5 per coin. Considering the majority of Marshall Islands coins issued were $5 coins you can redeem one $5 coin per day at a cost of $5 per coin. Needless to say they don't get many people trying to redeem them.

 

As for myself, I wanted one of the 1964 Morgans simply for the novelty of it. I am striving for a complete Morgan collection, and for a mere $10.00 I THOUGHT this would be a nice addition for the artwork factor.

However, I am extremely disappointed by the word "COPY" being stamped on the reverse of both versions of this coin...(Both the .999 silver half ounce and the 71mg clad version).

My question is "why"? The coin is clearly not a US issue as the reverse shows a picture of the queen and has Cook islands clearly stamped on it.

Perhaps its like the NORFED coins. Without the word copy, the private mint responsible for pressing these may have been covering their own respective butts, by conforming to the United States countefeiting laws that require reproductions to include the specific word "COPY" on the coin. In the NORFED case, the Federal government said the NORFED coins were too similar to legal tender coins issued by the US Mint, and therefore were a violation of counterfeiting laws....at least as far as I have been told.

Seems silly to me though, unless if they omitted the word "copy", perhaps sales of these items would not be allowed in the USA.

As an example, there have been commemerative issues produced by the Perth mint, that they will not ship to the US. I can only presume its due to our laws in the States regarding counterfeiting or copyrights. Let me know if I am off base with that notion, as I really do not know why the Cook Island Morgans would fall into that catagory.

Anyway, let me know your input on this. It seems very odd to me to have a legal tender coin that has the word "copy" stamped on it. It makes it seem like its not legal tender, even though my research has shown that it is.....well, in the Cook Islands anyway.

I did get one of the $10.00 silver clad Morgans, and it does look nice excepting that nasty "copy" stamp on the reverse.

BTW....as for the National Collectors mint, I would have to agree that their coins are substandard, disappointing, and not worth the money you have to pay for them. I will avoid purchasing from them in the future. Their catalog is very nice, but when my order was received I was left with the thought....."Is this what I bought?".

Good luck folks....happy hunting.

 

.....Oh, as for the 1964-D Peace dollar Carr overstrike, I guess I was one of the fortunate ones who purchased one of these when they first came out.

I just hate those "holes" in my collection, and wanted one to fill mine. As it will be impossible to ever obtain an actual 1964-D Peace dollar, I forked out the cash to purchase an overstrike.

Besides, I think its pretty clever of the private mint that issued these, to get around the counterfeiting laws by simply using an actual Peace dollar, and striking a 1964 date on top of whatever date the coin was.

Yes, it is legal to do this. The law states that anyone who fraudulenty alters a legal tender coin is subject to fine or imprisonment. The key word there is fraudulent. In this case, the private mint fully disclosed this was an overstrike. No fraud, no foul.

This coin looks wonderful in my Peace dollar collection!

Take care.

 

I thought it looked good but the price plus the shipping turned me away.

 

Don’t waste your money on stuff churned out by private mints, the Franklin Mint included.