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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;mlov43, post: 1734053, member: 16729&quot;]Thanks for your response.&nbsp; The crux of my question, really, is about &quot;instrumentality&quot;:&nbsp; FOR WHAT PURPOSE was the coin made?&nbsp; Does that matter to you, or most numismatists you know?&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>I am juxtaposing: (A) a pattern made by an outside source for the purpose of &quot;getting business&quot; from another country&#039;s Treasury Department, and, (B) a pattern that is actually solicited by a Treasury Department to fulfill a need or an order.&nbsp;&nbsp; The country they were meant for (Guatemala) DID NOT solicit them.&nbsp; In other words, these &quot;patterns,&quot; IN MY VIEW, are really just <b>SALESMAN&#039;S SAMPLES</b> from the Mint of Romania.&nbsp; It&#039;s like some huckster comes to the Bank and says, &quot;Lookie here, I can make coins for you JUST LIKE THIS! (and here&#039;s my fee).&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>So, if these are considered &quot;patterns&quot;, that means that any Tom, Dick or Harry can carve matrix dies and master dies, press some blanks between them with his shop vice, and make a few &quot;patterns&quot; for any given country in the world.&nbsp; He can then go solicit the treasury people in those countries, and whether or not they are accepted, the Standard Catalog of World Coins will list them as &quot;patterns.&quot;&nbsp; (????)</p><p><br /></p><p>Really, what makes for an &quot;authentic&quot; pattern?&nbsp; If WHO made it doesn&#039;t matter, or THE PURPOSE behind its manufacture doesn&#039;t matter, then is it <u>quality</u> that matters?&nbsp; Is it down to the <u>professionalism</u> of the minting agency, (ie The Mint of Romania versus Joe Blow in his garage)?</p><p><br /></p><p>My poor brain...&nbsp; maybe I&#039;m overthinking this.&nbsp; Maybe it just depends on what the market accepts it as.&nbsp; But, then again, if it gets published in the Standard Catalog of World Coins, then THAT lends legitimacy...[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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