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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 964829, member: 19463&quot;]Thanks to all but there is a major difference between commemoratives and thngs made to be collected.&nbsp; Special money to be spent has been issued for centuries.&nbsp; Roman Emperors often released New Years asses which may be more like Maundy money than anything else.&nbsp; I really do not know if people who got them could sell them for more than the face value or if they were just cash worth the same as any other as.&nbsp; Roman medallions always struck me as something the emperor gave to certain people more or less like the US President awards a Presidential Medal of Freedom to heros.&nbsp; Whether they had a face value or not, I do not know but I doubt I would spend one if the Emperor gave it to me.&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Coin collecting has been around for a lot longer than there has been a market in coins available to just anyone.&nbsp; Many early collections changed hands as a full group rather than separately one at a time (Duke A bought the collection of the late Count B).&nbsp; Not long ago many of us collected things rather than buying collectables.&nbsp; I collected US coins for years before I ever understood the concept of paying more than one cent for a penny.&nbsp; There was a time that people collected matchbook (given free at places you visited) but now they buy limited edition collectables.&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>If there was one thing I would change about modern US coins it would be to stop producing things to be collected that are not also made for circulation.&nbsp; The mint started this when they put S on proofs so there was a difference people &#039;needed&#039; even if they didn&#039;t want the super high grade model.&nbsp; Some credit Louis Eliasberg with putting together a complete set of US coins but others are quick to point out that he did not distinguish between proofs and regular mintmarkless coins.&nbsp; There are coins out there that started life in a $2.10 (91 cent face) proof set but later got spent because they were removed from their package and considered defective when another coin is that set was determined to be better than (proofer?) they were and the set was broken up to allow a super set.&nbsp; I remember being told in the 50&#039;s that if you removed a proof from its package, you might as well spend it and considering there was a time that it was hard to get $2.10 for some of those sets, that may have been true.&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>NCLT, Presentation pieces and face value Commemoratives like the 1932 Washingtons and 2009 Lincolns are a different matter than things made to sell rather than to spend.&nbsp; Was the Columbian half the first coin type made to be sold over face by the government?&nbsp;&nbsp; How much did the US mint charge the Exposition for the halves they sold for $1?&nbsp; Did the mint profit (above seigniorage) from other old commemoratives or was that difference always profit to the organization sponsoring the event being commemorated?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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