Here's a topic that I've been thinking about for a while. NCLTs, or, Non-Circulating Legal Tender. For some reason, I just can't get all that interested in them. I don't really know why...they are perfectly viable options for collecting. It's not like I dislike the designs. When I think about coins, which is often, as I have a lot of time on my hands it's not NCLT's. I'm thinking about the coins that actually circulated and it is those I want to add to my collection! I am, and have always been, a proponent of more is better. I fully supported the State quarters, I support the parks quarters, and any other series they come up with. Even the Presidential dollars, although they have been uniformly all boring and dissapointing. So "There are too many of them" is not why I can't get into them. I just can't! I do have a few. I have three of the Silver Eagles. Two are 2001s and one is a 1999, that was colorized. I got holders for them, and that is it, I look at them from time to time and then it's like, OK, now what? I think part of the problem with them is that they are treated as just bullion. I, personally, don't care what a coin is made out. You want to make it out of the cheapest metal around, what would that be, tin? Aluminum? I don't know, and I really don't care. Metal content means less then nothing to me. I think the NCLTs that have the metal weight and content put right on the coin is tacky, ugly and ruins the design, at best. That is a big issue I have with them. I think another thing is that there is no real chance you will ever get them in circulation. I know it has rarely happened where one comes up in circulation, but it's rare. Part of the fun for me is the thrill of the hunt. I've done very well completing sets from circulation, that is just not possible with NCLTs. I was looking through my Krause Standard Catalog of World Coins 20th Century edition. Dang, there are a lot of NCLTs! Some are very cool designs, I like the issues where they are doing something historic with them, like showing the lineage of past Kings and Queens or the history of something. I happened to randomly open to a page with a whole series of NCLT's for pokeman. Yuch! I have always said that I have never seen a coin that I would not welcome into my collection. Well, I can't say that any more. I am wondering what the first NCLT was. I suppose some could say that the Morgan Dollar was the first NCLT, as I have heard that it was not meant for circulation, although it wasn't made specifically to sell to collectors either. So, I would not categorize it as an NCLT, neither would I put the post 2002 half dollars as NCLT either. Despite the fact they are not released to circulation, they are still a circulating coin, at least, the design and series are anyway. Proofs fall into what I call a gray area. They don't circulate, they aren't meant to ever circulate, yet they are legal tender and could circulate if you wanted to...I view them however like the best possible examples of the circulating coinage...even though they are made differently. It's the same designs as the circulating coinage, and you just can't argue with how cool they are! Well, that's my thoughts...maybe I have just not seen the right NCLT's. I have seen a few that I thought to myself, WOW, that is cool, I need me one of those! But...it hasn't happened yet. There are enough actual circulating coins that I still want for my collection that I am not going to get an NCLT instead. I know that is a tough call to make, as most of these are limited and will probably cost more to get in the long run. Perhaps I am making a mistake.
