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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kaparthy, post: 1013733, member: 57463&quot;]Even if they were only dealing in bullion -- as all coins historically were -- coins, as weighed, measured, uniform and trusted bullion have utility over raw metal. At one time before coins, all metal was weighed and even into the 19th and 20th centuries, there were places (Thailand, among many) where it was customary for everyone to carry little scales with them to the marketplace.&nbsp; So, you can see where even as mere bullion it is profitable to mint coins.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>However, if you read the history of the 1800s and now our times, you learn that as the price of silver fell and collapsed, governments turned to it as cheap inflationary money, nominally &quot;backed in gold&quot; but an expansion of the money supply, i.e., credit to the state.&nbsp; Now, of course, will all coins being base metal, it costs like 3 cents to make a 25-cent quarter dollar and maybe 6 cents to make a Presidential or Sacagawea dollar.&nbsp; Paper is even cheaper.&nbsp; And in the electronic age, they do not even need paper. From the Treasury to Federal Reserve and back is what? a couple of menu item clicks?</p><p><br /></p><p>More to the point, the Chinese counterfeits -- all such fake collectibles, from paintings to car parts -- are sold into markets that support the price of manufacturing, from raw materials to shipping. </p><p><br /></p><p>And the cost of living in China is way less than here.&nbsp; The average American worker makes about $100 a day, about $35,000 per year.&nbsp; In the PRC, it is between $6500 and $7000 -- average: half make less.&nbsp;&nbsp; (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita" rel="nofollow">See Wikipedia table here.</a>)&nbsp; It is why these coins do not come from Luxembourg and Liechtenstein.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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