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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;sakata, post: 2669032, member: 23778&quot;]So let&#039;s play devil&#039;s advocate.</p><p><br /></p><p>It seems like these days every time I read the latest copy of World Coin News there is some &quot;coin&quot; shown which, too put it politely, stretches my imagination as to what a coin should be.&nbsp; In the last few months there was one shaped like a ukelele, another was in the shape of an alligator eye with the eye staring out from the middle of a blue oval.&nbsp; Both, I think, came from somewhere in the Pacific.&nbsp; Others may disagree but to me these are not coins.&nbsp; At best, they are medals with a value stamped on them to give them validity.&nbsp; At worst they are chunks of overpriced metal.</p><p><br /></p><p>So what is a coin to you?&nbsp; To me it should be something which has the potential, if not actuality, of being used in circulation to make a purchase.&nbsp; Is anyone ever going to walk down to the market and pay for their groceries with a ukelele shaped junk of metal?&nbsp; This also exludes all bullion coins.&nbsp; Would anyone ever use a silver eagle to pay for a cup of coffee?&nbsp; Of course not, it is worth more as a lump of silver than its face value of $1.&nbsp; It is simply a piece of silver bullion which has been legitimized by giving it a nominal value.</p><p><br /></p><p>Proof coins?&nbsp; Probably not if the premium is large unless I think they will maintain a premium value.&nbsp; Reverse proofs?&nbsp; A waste of money.&nbsp; Commemorative coins from the various world mints?&nbsp; Many of them have never seen the country they were minted for and certainly would not be used in a purchase?&nbsp; Would any of you ever walk to the supermarket and pay with a commemorative US dollar which you paid $50 for?&nbsp; While I suppose it is technically possible so this makes it borderline as a coin.&nbsp; Many commemoratives worldwide as not even legal tender.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, again, what is a coin to you?&nbsp; If it is in the Standard Catalog of Circulating Coins then it can be considered a coin.&nbsp; Most coins from earlier years are legitimately coins.&nbsp; It is really only in the last couple of generations that we have had this plethora of pseudo-coins.&nbsp; I will have some interest in any coin which may have been used for a purchase.&nbsp; I will buy bullion coins for their metal content but not because they are coins.&nbsp; I will not have a lot of interest in anything else.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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