Can someone tell me the name of a site that has the top 100 rare modern world coins

For me an important criterion is, can a piece (issued by/for some government, with a denomination ...) actually be used for payments? If yes, I'd say coin. Even a surcharged proof variety of a common coin would, for me, be in that category. If in general it is not accepted for payments, are or were people able to get it exchanged? In case a redemption is/was not possible, I don't think of a piece as a coin.

Now a pattern may be issued by a government. But even if we leave the numerous third party "pattern" pieces aside, do/did such patterns have the function of means of payment? Most likely not. They may very well be relevant for numismatists, and thus be in many collections ...

In the sense of "pieces with a face value issued in the name of some government" they certainly are. However, they are not made for circulation but in order to be purchased and collected by people like us. The euro collector coins for example have to be different from circulation and commemorative coins in various regards, and EU law specifically says that "Member States shall take all appropriate measures to discourage the use of collector coins as a means of payment."

So yes, they are coins. But regardless of where such legislation applies or does not apply, collectors who focus on the "means of payment" aspect may find NCLT pieces to be second class coins. I'm in that boat too - on the other hand I realize and appreciate the fact that such pieces allow the mints to experiment with different designs, materials, etc. That is why in quite a few cases I say, heck, this is not really money, but it's a coin, and I love it.

Christian

 

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There's an argument here about what a "coin" is?

Wow.

 

What you are doing is using one definition to suit your own opinion. More people have chimed in agreed with my definition than your limited one. You proved my point by saying there are different definitions. I was simply stating a more general definition, and I think it rings more true.

 

If we really want to be precise in our analyzation the OP's question, we should also include the possibility that he could have meant coined phrases.

 

I think the OP gave up on this thread.

 

... right after posting the initial message, it seems.

 

More like, ... right after seeing the first response, along with the complication and difficulties it introduced into the topic.

 

Well, Doug, given that the US Government/Mint considers everything they create that is denominated as a "coin" then I think I'm going to go with their definition, instead of the cherry-picked and over-emphasized "used as money" one you provided . Thanks for your opinion though.

Proofs are coins. Bullion (even NCLT) are coins. Denominated commemoratives are coins. Heck, even the gigantic ATB silver pucks are theoretically coins. I suppose you can use whatever definition you'd like to, but the one @Numismat presented is by far the most accepted in the numismatic world.

 

Looked at your link but could not find their definition of a coin. Perhaps you could help.

 

They have an entire drop down menu of what they call "COINS" -- it's not rocket science man!

 

I'll look again.

 

Apparently they must consider their products coins except for "medals" for which they have a separate drop-down menu. Now I just have to decide how much I REALLY trust a government that defines ketchup as a vegetable.

 

If you go to ebay and search for rare coins, there are thousands. Even rare coined phrases of rare coins.

 

what about these modern comems they are not for use as money.