Has anyone ever seen the commemorative medal-coins that were issued by the Hutt River Province Principality to commemorate the inauguration of Ronald Reagan as President of America in 1981,& to commemorate the inauguration of Bill Clinton as President of America in 1993? I have got the 1994 5 Rand coin from South Africa that commemorates the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as the first President of South Africa's 3rd Republic. I have got the 2 Presidential inauguration 1 Rupee coins from Sri Lanka, which are dated 1978 & 1992.
I got the Clinton set. I'd rather have the Reagan set, but the Clinton one was on ebay and I got it for about $16 - coppernickerl, silver, and gold cons included. To top it off, it was set #16 out of the limited mintage.
JBK,is that the one from the Hutt River Province Principality? If so,then it has the portrait of former President Bill Clinton on the obverse,& the American Coat-of-Arms on the reverse.Nice purchase.The Hutt River Province Principality is a very unusual British Commonwealth country.
Thats the one. I also saw the same portrait used in an anti-Clinton silver round. I believe HRP is not recogbized by anyone - it is a tax-dodge as I recall. But, they eem to leave the guy alone.
JBK,the Hutt River Province is a real country.It became independent in 1970.Prince Leonard is regarded as being a very unusual character,but he is an interesting personality, nonetheless.
MODERATOR'S NOTE: Discussion of what constitutes a "real" country is political argument, which is not appropriate for this forum. Further postings on the subject will result in closing of this thread.
Let me just say that if you are told that I am a "self-proclaimed" expert on ancient gold coins, in reality you had better not ask me any advice since I don't know Caesar from Caligula. I know that HRP issues "coins", but they presumably have no monetary value beyond the "borders". The same could be said of some countries such as Cuba or North, Korea, I suppose, whose currencies are not hard currencies actively traded on the currency markets (at least not for any where near their "value" inside the country of issuance). It becomes a gray area, for sure. While HRP coins do not circulate, neither do the silver or gold commems the US issues. Bottom line: understand what you are collecting, but beyond that, collect what you like. I wish I had the Reagan coins, but all I have is the Clinton ones. Still kind of neat, though. Another intertestng note on HRP: I have a small collection of postal oddities, and one I wanted was an HRP stamnp that was actually used to mail a letter. I did get a reply from HRP, but in addition to the HRP stamp the envelope also had an Australian surcharge stamp, so old Prince Leo had to pay a "postage due" fee before the Aussie Post Office would send the letter along.
Well,the Hutt River Province Principality banknotes (10c. to $2),plus the coins from 5c. to 50c. do circulate.The 1978's are an exception,as 1978 is a proof only year.
