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Message:: [QUOTE="mlov43, post: 26103361, member: 16729"]I believe this coin set was made by either Paramount International or Italcambio. Probably Italcambio.  They created world-coin commemorative sets for many countries in Africa in the 1960s and 1970s. In fact, some in numismatics looked down on these third-party manufacturers.  This created  a small controversy in the early 1970s.  The controversial coins were called "Supercrowns."  Some coin catalogs would not list these coins along with the country for which the coins were made, but instead relegated coins made by Italcambio to a section at the back of the catalog titled, "Controversial Recent Issues." The problem that some people had with these coins was that since the issuing authority itself did not make the coins but subcontracted their minting, marketing and distribution to outside parties, the view was that these coins were not "real" commemorative issues.  But really, the objection was that the coins themselves looked like "medals" and were often numbered like medals, as it seems the coins in the OP are.  People didn't like that they were large-diameter pieces at 100% or .900 in precious-metal purity.  Some of the sets were made for areas that were not even countries, like Biafra.  That also made people disregard them. I wonder if the coins in this Chad set have "1 AR" or "Gori & Zucchi" on them as a mint mark? "1 AR" is Unoaerre ("One 'a'-'r' in Italian), an Italian jewler who minted many of these coins back then.  "Gori and Zucchi" is the name of Unoaerre's jewlery factory.  Its location in Italy was in the town of Arezzo.[/QUOTE]

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