The first 2014 coin of the Canadian $20 for $20 issue is almost sold out! Get your Goose before it is too late ! Mintage 225,000 RCM >>> http://www.mint.ca/store/coin/20-for-20-fine-silver-coin-canada-goose-2014-prod1840075
I think they don't know when to quit at the RCM. This is turning into the never-ending series. I lost interest. I can get a real coin for $20.
I don't get this series, 20 for 20? Why bother to sell all these, what's the profit? Just release them into circulation and you get 20 for them.
Why bother? Mints offering such coin programs profit hugely from volume sales of coins bearing minimal amounts of pure precious metals content for which they levy large premiums per unit. Silver coins become like fractional gold bullion coins. Minting them makes such coins accessible to and appeals to those with smaller budgets who want to have coins with precious metals content but maybe cant' or don't care to buy larger coins which offer a better cost to spot per ounce as investment. If it's not the customers investment urges that are tickled, then it's the idea they are collecting something limited due to controls placed on mintage, or some hybrid reasoning justifying their consumption of such coins they hold therein. Such coins appeals to people who like to buy fractional silver coins, like older circulated dimes and quarters, especially if they are of the mindset which thinks having around small coins will be good in the future as trade units in place of fiat currencies for smaller purchases. The price tag set by RCM also zeroes in on all the people out there who say they are waiting for silver to drop to ($X) but haven't bought into metals (much/yet). In effect, they and other world mints have been creating a line of products to lock in profits from a wider group of customers willing to spend money on such coins and appeals to their ideas for buying. You see with various gold products too, like half gram unit bars or Valcombi bars meant to be divided into single gram units for trade and other coins measured under 1/10th ounce denominated by Mints. Lastly, when you have people in forums instructing others to buy something because the supply is limited or selling out quickly, then you save a lot on advertising them yourself and bank that money as profit as well. Almost any angle you look at this from the perspective of the minting institutions for producing these, it's marketing gold pandering to a captive audience convinced of a bull market in coins and precious metals.
I don't know, $20 for 8 grams of silver seems profitable to me. You can't even spend them in circulation. It's a gimmick. Coin collector learns the difference between legal tender and spending money the hard way http://www.thestar.com/business/201...l_tender_and_spending_money_the_hard_way.html UK just started their version... http://www.royalmint.com/shop/UK_2013_20_pound_for_20_pound_Fine_Silver_Coin_George_and_the_Dragon
You buy the silver, use your minting facility, pay people to produce and market the coins for 20 dollars. Why not go to the national bank and exchange them directly for 20 and save all that trouble? Let me try answer this myself. I think because they won't accept them, and no one is going to try spend these at the store, so it's like minting a silver coin and sell for a huge premium? I get it, that's the point. To me it's no different than printing a 20 dollar note and selling it for 20, just that in the coin case, they spend 5 dollars worth of silver instead of few cents worth of paper. But hey, the note is going into circulation, the coin isn't. Oh, and with the coin not circulating, they make a profit, when with the note, they don't. Seen one lot of these 10 x 20 dollar coins selling for 115 dollars on ebay. That's like half face value.
Man, great article Toronto. What a two faced explanation that is, its legal tender, but not legal tender. I thought the Canadian mint was jumping the shark with their vast plethora of current offerings, but now knowing they are not even backing up their coins as true legal tender makes me that less interested in their uniface coins.
In the States, can you go to the store and pay using this... Can I redeem a collector coin at a bank or use it as currency to purchase goods or services? All coins manufactured by the Mint are legal tender. However, unlike Canadian circulation coins, collector coins are non-circulating legal tender (NCLT). As such, these coins are not intended for daily commercial transactions and accepting them as payment or for redemption is at the discretion of businesses and financial institutions. The Mint has a process in place to reimburse financial institutions the face value of redeemed NCLT coins, once they have accepted them from a customer and returned them to the Mint. In the event a bank branch is unaware of this procedure, customers are advised to contact the Mint with the coordinates of the bank branch, which will take steps to inform the branch of the redemption process. As collector coins can only be redeemed at face value by businesses and financial institutions willing to accept them, it is recommended that individuals wishing to sell a collector coin first consult with a coin dealer, who is more likely to offer a price above face value. http://www.mint.ca/store/mint/customer-service/faq-1100010#Q1a
I honestly do not know. I do know there have been commemorative halves in circulation in this country historically, and even modern commemorative halves have been spent. I simply do not have any personal experience with it, but do know they show up at times in bank trays. I think the bigger problem is producing a coin with such little silver for such high face value. The silver dollar you show has over 3/4 ounce of silver and only $1 face value. The Canadian issues have just a little silver and $20 face. I think the Canadian coins have a MUCH higher chance of being spent than our low face value pieces. I just think its bad form to promise that something is "legal tender", and then not have the government force acceptance of it in commerce. To play a lawyer's game like, "yes its legal tender, but not CIRCULATING legal tender" is a bunch of crud. Legal tender is legal tender, and should not be "spun" like a lawyer's sleazy defense.
In the euro area we have a similar differentiation: There are circulation coins, and commemorative €2 coins, and these two types are legal tender in the entire currency union. Then we have collector coins - those are, by law (PDF link), not intended for circulation: Article 5: Issuance of collector coins 1. Collector coins shall have the status of legal tender only in the issuing Member State. (...) 3. Collector coins may be put on the market at or above face value. (...) 5. Member States shall take all appropriate measures to discourage the use of collector coins as a means of payment. Besides, the "legal tender" concept applies to debt only anyway. Businesses are free to accept - or not accept - certain denominations, or cash in general, provided they notify their (potential) customers. Christian
I understand, but banks will follow the central bank's lead, and businesses generally follow what their bank does. So, if the central bank freely accepts them as deposits, then banks will accept them, and businesses usually freely accept whatever their bank will accept as deposits. So its not like the government has no power to influence circulation patterns. Sorry, I just think its a cheap copout. The countries are making money by selling COINS, not medals. If they offered the same thing as medals sales would be 1/10th, and they know that. So, to profit from coin collectors they make it a coin, but then turn around and say its NOT a coin because the denomination is not real. Sleazy tactics in my view.
Somewhat sleazy, yes, but at least we know what we are at. And as long as the mint or central bank takes the pieces back at face, well, we do not lose anything. If that was not the case, I would feel cheated. In 2008, for example, the French Mint launched a "silver and gold euros at face" program. Theoretically the pieces were/are legal tender, and you can pick them up at major post offices. Now spending them may be difficult ... Christian
Well, that is what I was referring to in the article sir. I do not have a huge problem with retailers being unwilling to take unusual coins, (we have this issue in the US with retailers sometimes refusing $2 bills or some dollar coins). That is their right. It was when the author in the paper said his bank would not convert or accept for deposit the $20 coins I got miffed. A bank will follow whatever regulations are promulgated by the central bank, and if the bank was refusing the deposit, the central bank must not require acceptance of these. For most people that effectively means they cannot be converted. Unlike most of Europe, most North Americans do not live very close to a mint to demand redemption in person. It would be a 16 drive or a 2 hours plane trip to the nearest mint for me. So, if my bank will not accept them, effectively no one will, and the coins are effectively valueless to me except if I can get another collector to buy them. That is all I am saying needs to be done, make the banks accept them.
