Hello friends, I suppose you know about some coins of low denomination, most of them made of aluminium, belonging to countries such as North Korea, Somalia, Cook Islands, DR Congo... They are not expensive coins and some of them bear legends related to the FAO. I would like to get more information about them. I think these coins don't circulate in their countries and I suppoe they are issued for collectors. I also think that they all are coined in the same mint, as they are quite similar. I hope you can give me more details about them and also your opinion about if it is a good idea collecting them. Greetings from Spain
Hola y bienvenido! I don't think that there is a "general" reply - most of those FAO coins are issued for collectors and never show(ed) up in circulation. But others, such as some Indian FAO pieces, actually circulated. Many FAO coins are issued for fundraising purposes, and especially pieces made from precious metals will hardly ever be used in the country of "origin". I don't collect them myself, but if you like the designs, why not? As for which mint(s) have made such pieces, well, I don't think that they all come from the same place. But of course there are many countries that do not have a "national" mint and thus have their coinage made elsewhere. Some - particularly African and Pacific - countries also have coins with animal or other nature themes issued as parts of some (non-FAO) theme collection. In such cases it is often major coin dealers that have some kind of contract with the participating governments, have the coins made somewhere and then sell them. Hardly any of those coins will ever "see" the country that officially issued them ... Christian
Singapore also issued an aluminium coin - the 1971 F.A.O. commemorative 5c. coin,which occasionally turns up.I have got one of these. Aidan.
Hello again, I am not talking only about some FAO coins. I specially talking about some countries' aluminium coins (also other metals) whose coining is quite similar among them. Many of them bear animals. These countries are: Andorra, North Korea (coins of 1/2, 1 and 2 chon), Cook Islands (1 cent), DR Congo (25, 50 centimes and 1 Franc, and also those dedicated to pope John Paul II), Somalia (including those of the Chinese horoscope) and also single coins from Panama, Namibia, Liberia, Turkey... I think all these don't circulate as they have a very low denomination. The mint have to be the same in most of them as the designs are quite similar. I hope you can provide more information
As for Andorra, that will probably be a "centim(s)" piece, and no, those do not circulate there. They are primarily bought by tourists and collectors - I have a few myself. The Congo alu coins (dated 2002?) were issued for circulation as far as I know. (Aren't the ones with John Paul actually silver pieces?) And in Turkey there were quite a few aluminum coins in circulation, and some had "special" designs. Maybe you can post a link to some images? Christian
1960 Israeli Agora..... Here is my favorite. The One agora. Israel also issued many other denominations in aluminum as well as the first coin of the state of Israel.... the 1948 25 Mil. All Israeli coins may be viewed on the Bank of Israel website. LINK Diameter: 20 mm. Weight: 1.03 gr. Edge: Scalloped. Obverse: Three ears of barley; "Israel" in Hebrew and Arabic. Origin of motif: Coin of Agrippa I (37 - 44 C.E.). Reverse: The denomination "1 Agora" and the date in Hebrew. Alloy: Aluminium 97%, magnesium 3%. Design: Obverse: Rothschild and Lippman. Reverse: Shamir Brothers. Date of issue: May 12, 1960. Ceased to be legal tender: February 22, 1980. You can purchase it here inexpensively.... LINK
Just saw an article, in the current issue of MoneyTrend, about a company in Cameroon called "Africa Mint". http://www.africamint.com They make/sell quite a few coins which do have some common designs. Don't know if the company also has aluminum coins, though ... Christian
