Would you consider coins from the British Indian Ocean Territory to be real coins or fantasy coins? I know they don't circulate and apparently they're from the Pobjoy Mint. I don't have a newer Krause for the 2000s so I don't know if they're listed. Are they more comparable to Isle of Man or Gibraltar coins or like the fantasy coins for little islands that are flooding eBay?
They are listed starting in 2009 as is British Antarctic Territories. Larger denominations both in silver and cupro nickel. I really don't know if they could be used for commerce though. Especially in the arctic regions. Nothing but science outposts there I would imagine. Most likely just meant for collectors.
I think that's something different. The Indian Ocean Territories I think is the island of Diego Garcia (near India) and perhaps others.
I'm sorry, I meant to say British Indian Ocean Territory, which start in the Krause catalog 2001 and up, which listings only start in 2009. Unlike most other listings they do not give any leading info on what these are, population numbers, etc. Very vague listings.
Thanks for the info. I feel like if there's a Krause entry then it's at least semi-respectable. There are so many fantasy coins for sale now for all these little islands no one has ever heard of.
Not clear on what you mean by "fantasy coins". They're certainly real, but NCLT. As a collector of British Empire coins, I wouldn't be interested, but your mileage may vary. And not like Gibraltar or Isle of Man, because their coins are circulating.
When I say "fantasy coins" what I mean is there are a lot of coins that are made by private companies and I assume are not under the auspices of any government. For example, there are Galapagos Islands coins, but they are not issued by Ecuador, which owns that territory. Here are some more examples: Ile Des Pins Alejandro Selkirk Island Robinson Crusoe Island San Andres The reason I ask is I collect coins with turtles on them and there are a lot of coins like these that are "fantasy coins" and I'm not interested in them, but I do want to collect real coins from real countries. It's OK if they don't circulate but I want coins that are listed in Krause and have that aura of legitimacy.
Got it. I went back and took a closer look. Hard to figure out where the BIOT offerings fall on your fantasy-versus-real spectrum.
BIOT coins are commemorative coins issued under the crown. I would consider them legeal tender as opposed to fantasy. There's a solid collectors market for them but like its been said, they're non circulating tender. Lots of the coins are sold to tourists to the islands they are issued under and to collectors worldwide.
