The Monnaie de Paris has been selling those New Hercules pieces for a while, in various compositions and denominations. What is interesting about them is that they can actually be had at face value in France. Fairly easy when it comes to the €10 silver coins; those €1,000 gold pieces are more difficult to get at face. Of course the intrinsic value at the time of issue is lower than the face value. But that may change ... Christian
Right, the idea is that your money is not actually "lost": If you were able to get it at face, you can always have it exchanged later, and get your €1,000 back. If the intrinsic value goes up, take it to a PM dealer and get €1,001 or more for it. Christian
Unfortunately the French mint only makes part of the issue volume available at face - and if you're not among the happy few (as I mentioned, it's easier with the silver coins), you pay more. Dealers around here charge about €1,200 for that gold thing ... But it still is a move in the right direction. For several years, the Monnaie de Paris would demand hefty surcharges; they still do that with most of their silver/gold collector coins. But there are exceptions, such as the "Sower in Motion" series or the Hercules pieces. A pretty clever thing is what they did with the "Euros of the Regions": Such a piece honoring a French region (say, Burgundy) can be had at face at post offices in that region. Now if you want to have them all (27, I think), you either need to travel or swap a lot ... or buy them and pay a little more. Christian
In a way this is a good way to invest in gold without any risk other than inflation. There would be no reason to hold cash when you can hold these coins. It is much like a convertible bond. It's value is based on the higher of the two options, the bond value and the conversion value.
Fortunately nobody is forced to buy any of these. If you're not interested, don't get them. Anyway, attached are two images (taken from www.euros-en-argent.fr) which show parts of the "Sower in Motion" and "Regions" series that I mentioned before. Collectors who want all of those, including the Hercules and the Sower in gold, should have deep pockets. Christian
Didn't I mention that in #5? Yes, at the time when the coin is issued, the face value has to be higher than the gold or silver value. What happens later (regarding that intrinsic value) is not really the mint's business ... Christian
Yes you did. i just wanted to be certain i understood because, it is frankly incredible. I've never heard of any modern country putting out a prescious metal coin with a face value greater than the metal value. That guarantees a floor on the value of the coin.
