Aluminum coins?

I have a couple of Aluminum coins from different places as there's a number of countries who have issued them. I have one that looks Polish and another Korean and I know there are others but my question doesn't relate to the countries who mint them, but to their popularity if any exist.

Is there any expensive or popular Aluminum coins from any country?

 

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Sure. As with other coins, the value or price of an aluminum coin depends on various factors, notably condition, supply and demand.

For example, while most alu coins from the German Empire are pretty inexpensive, you would have to pay about €80 for a 50 Pfennig coin 1919F (mintage 160,000) in unc. Or a 3 Mark piece 1922E (mintage 2,000) in unc ... about €750. The 10 Pfennig coin from the German Democratic Republic (East G.) 1952/53 is between €100 and €400 in unc, depending on year and mintmark. Now in VF it would be about €2 ...

Christian

 

Just can't get excited about them. Don't like them, don't like the way they look or the way they feel when I hold one. I've ordered world coins by the bag/pounds several times. Usually sort out the aluminum coins, drop them in empty beer cans and take them to the recycle center.

 

I was in Japan in 1965 and they had an aluminum 1 yen coin.
It was dime-sized and SO light that if you were careful you could float it on water.
The surface tension of water was strong enough to support the coin.

 

I think I have to Aluminum coins. Part of me thinks its cool because I dont come across aluminum coins but when looking at them, they do feel cheap and a little blah in looks.

 

Would certainly not want all or most circulation coins to be aluminum pieces; that would remind me too much of emergency money. But if a coin on one hand has a really low value (like 1 cent), and is on the other hand not simply taken out of circulation, "alu" may be an alternative ...

Christian

 

I read somewhere that the US decided not to go with aluminum coinage partly because it was very difficult to see in X-rays and we know children like to swallow coins. I never did get around to verifying if this was true or not.

 

Would love to see some pics!

 

Maybe if you place them on a bus bench on a windy day, they will fly off somewhere?

Does anyone know if the Korean aluminums are worth anything?

 

I love aluminum coins. I think they are very interesting, but in low grade they don't fare well...I have a Japanese yen (I don't know what year, I can't figure out how to read Japanese) that looks like it was caught between several saw blades. It's kind of cool, it's so bad.

My favorite aluminums that I've seen, so far anyway, are the French colonial pieces from the 1940s.

Sorry for the low quality scans.

 

I love the aluminum coins too. It's a great metal for coin collectors since it takes a near perfect strike and wears the dies so slowly that there are usually lots of good strikes from good dies. Also this metal doesn't stand up very well to circulation so nice ones quickly become condition rarities. The coins get bent in feats of strenght and marred by the least little event. They wear so rapidly that just a few years in circulation can wear them nearly smooth. They are typically employed for very low denominations like the US nickel so a few nice ones often survive in change jars.

Because they are low denomination there's a tendency for plenty to be saved but because they are considered junk this isn't always the case. Demand for these coins is very weak yet there are still plenty of very high priced aluminum coins and there are lots that are grossly undervalued. Try finding nice examples of those Japanes 1 Y coins for example or the Chinese aluminum from the '50's. They're priced like junk but you can't find them.

 

Very pretty pics. The obverse sort of made me think of my Mercurys.

 

It would be nice to find a 1974 aluminum cent...lol Only at the Smithsonian thought, right?

 

That's what I like about this forum, you get so many varying viewpoints on coins. I never even knew that France minted some aluminum coins. Very nice looking too!! Does anyone know if any country is currently using aluminum only as their coin metal of choice?

 

Here's one from Brazil that I have.

 

I think aluminum was a very expensive metal back in the 19th century when it was experimented with by the mint. I would rather that we go to aluminum cents rather than discontinue the cent, but if we did would the zincolns zoom in price, and disappear from circulation as silver did back in the 60s?

 

I imagine they would, Chip. I would love to see some US Aluminum regular issues.

And yes, Aluminum was more expensive then gold when it was "new".

The coin I posted is not from France, although I thought it was when I first got it. It's from French Central Africa, a country that no longer exists. Actually, it wasn't even a country. It was a group of countries that used a common currency!

 

Billy_Kingsley -> Beautiful coin!

That said, I'm with ChrisIld - aluminum reminds me too much of emergency money.

It's true that until late in the 19th century, aluminum was very difficult to extract and refine. It is rumored that Napoleon had dinnerware fabricated from aluminum; the Washington Monument is in fact capped with aluminum.

 

Here is some interesting facts about the Washington Monument aluminum cap. www.tms.org/pubs/journals/jom/9511/binczewski-9511.html