With metal prices going up, Canadian penny no longer made, US cent cost more than face to make, are plastic coins the future? "Transnistria is located on the Dniester River, between Moldova and Ukraine. Formerly part of the Soviet Union, it is not recognized by any United Nations member state, but it has a government, national anthem, flag, postal system ... and currency. And that's where the plastic comes in. According to News of Pridnestrovia, the country's official information agency, the Republican Bank of Pridnestrovie introduced composite coins with face values of 1, 3, 5 and 10 Transnistrian rubles on Aug. 22. The coins were minted in Russia, and the designs have some unique features: various geometric patterns; special tactual properties; luminescence when exposed to infrared and ultraviolet rays; and elements with selective infrared absorption, according to the report: "New monetary units in circulation."" Source: http://www.plasticsnews.com/article...9996/small-country-introducing-plastic-coins#
Can you still say "coins were minted"? Or should it be "coins were printed" now? I`d get them for my collection for $1-2 each, sounds like an interesting novelty.
It's not really much of a step down from aluminum, is it? And there are billions of aluminum coins around. At any rate, plastic is almost all I use. Very little cash passes through my hands.
The US Mint manufactured some plastic cents. I understand that many of the remaining coins are found in two pieces. Apparently, the plastic cent was an attractive nuisance. When placed in human hands, the tendency was to test the coin's strength. A great number apparently didn't bend & promptly snapped into two pieces. I'd be happy if I had one of the pieces in my collection.
A poster (JPEG, about 2 MB) that shows all the "Trans"nistrian coins, with infos in Russian, can be viewed or downloaded here by the way. The people depicted are: 1 ruble: Alexander Suvorov 3 rubles: Franz de Volan / François Sainte de Wollant 5 rubles: Pyotr Rumyantsev 10 rubles: Catherine II (the Great) Christian
Well, they combine features of coins (round shape rather than rectangular, size, cannot be bent or folded) and of paper money (colors, security features, etc.). Don't know how well such pieces would work with vending machines - that would be an important criterion here in Germany for example - but they may well last longer than "paper" notes ... Christian
They do have vending machines, but mostly for stuff like coffee, tea and hot chocolate and not usually food items. The ones I saw always were really small and just took just paper money though. Transdnestr is an interesting place, sort of a throwback to the 1950s era USSR. I travelled there rather "unofficially" in 2008.
It might be interesting to travel there, as I like Soviet history too, but I refuse to buy coins from such a repressive regime. They make quite a bit of money from selling "coins" to world collectors. They aren't really coins, since they are not a nation, so are more like medals. To me, its like North Korea, (the country not our fine member). I also refuse to ever buy a coin from them, (or a current coin from a dealer), since in my mind doing so would help support their government. Just my opinion though. I do think plastic coins are an interesting idea.
We have lots of members who either love coins from dictatorial regimes, or hate them. And the concept of a "nation" is ... so 19th and early 20th century in my opinion. Guess it is up to every collector to buy or not buy such pieces. Me, if I can get them cheap, I may well be interested, mostly because of their "in between" character ... Christian
First off, I never heard of the place, which is probably understandable. I think they look interesting and are a good idea. The US and all countries (Mexico?) already have cheap, base metal fiat coins so why not plastic? We might as we'll save more money while we're at it. I think the next step though might be the end of the use of coins and paper money, kind of like what I heard about might/is taking place in Israel.
Rumors about the imminent demise of cash are greatly exaggerated. (Apologies to Mark Twain.) Sure, less and less cash is used these days, but the advanced places in that regard are countries like Sweden, not Pridnestrovia/Transnistria. Those plastic chips are supposed to work like coins, not like credit or debit cards ... Christian
One thing that I thought was interesting was that they remind me of a 1723 Massachusetts-Bay issue of small change notes in similar shapes, with then similar assertions in the media of the time of the imminent demise of coinage. The Mass-Bay notes were issued as a response to the unpopular "Rosa Americana" and "Hibernia" coinages authorised by the British Crown and shipped over to the colonies - underweight coins!
After thinking about this, I think they are going to have a problem. While the more I think about it I think the idea of plastic coins with different colors has some nice advantages, (not for collectors, though, they look horrid), I think the shapes are a major error. Anything other than round will catch inside pockets and wallets, and be a hindrance. I thin they should have went with all round coins, with sizes and colors being more than enough to differentiate denominations. There is a reason coins are round. Yes, in the West I know a major factor is metal flow patterns, but even in the East where they cast coins they recognized round coins are the easiest shape to carry, sort, and use in everyday life. There is a reason all of the other shapes in Chinese coins went away, and they standardized on round. I believe the history of plastic coinage will play out identically.
