Has anyone ever redeemed those "Commemorative Coins" in their own "legal tender" countries?

[Jackmannii]

@psychonaut

As I understand it, a lot of these stamps are fakes, produced by companies with no connection to the countries. I’ve got a rather nice “Abkhazian” stamp set showing Groucho Marx and John Lennon (get it?), but have since learned that the Republic of Abkhazia had nothing to do with its production and that the stamps are not valid postage in Abkhazia.

Or could it be that the government contracted with a private company to produce stamps for the collector trade, not expecting that they’d ever be used in the country?*

Fakes/forgeries of postage stamps typically seem to fall into two categories: reproductions of rare and valuable stamps, and large-scale counterfeiting to defraud governments of postage revenue.

*I’m not sure exactly who manufactured these stamps, which appear to be legitimate although I highly doubt Madagascar has a space program.

[psychonaut]

@Jackmannii

Or could it be that the government contracted with a private company to produce stamps for the collector trade, not expecting that they’d ever be used in the country?

Possibly, though a New York Times article speculates that the stamps were produced by “opportunistic companies acting like Abkhazians”, implying that this was done without the Republic’s knowledge or consent. They’re listed as fakes on Wikipedia, which cites the NYT article and also notes that they don’t appear in any Abkhazian stamp catalogues.

[Freddy_the_Pig]

For us non-coin people, can someone provide an example of what the OP is talking about? That is to say, a link to an advertisement for a commemorative coin, produced by a private mint, that is declared to be legal tender in some small or obscure country.

[DrDeth]

@Freddy_the_Pig

For us non-coin people, can someone provide an example of what the OP is talking about? That is to say, a link to an advertisement for a commemorative coin, produced by a private mint, that is declared to be legal tender in some small or obscure country.

https://www.franklinmint.com/product/Z1AMFKM1129/2018-mickey-mouse-90th-anniversary-1oz-silver-country-of-niue-2-coin?cp=67914_83406

[kopek]

Other examples would be things like the
Franklin Mint 1972 Trinidad & Tobago 10th Anniversary 8-coin Proof Set
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Franklin-Mint-1972-Trinidad-Tobago-10th-Anniversary-8-coin-Proof-Set/283659096527?hash=item420b6651cf:g:tooAAOSwkNRdub~A

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-6-Franklin-Mint-Silver-Proof-Sets-Bahamas-Cayman-Guyana-BVI-Trinidad/273391279679?hash=item3fa763de3f&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&enc=AQAEAAADMKvsXIZtBqdkfsZsMtzFbFsbX3WcW5fmB%2Fx7ZbaZTyexikM%2FzxQSANsYDL9KOkq9lxFszTUKYy1FyVd6tPtaoq0KGSbhACjE6IVTBlvnS7nxVhwaZ3e45paJrSJc86zv4aoX6%2B7yNDtGu4yQL9vuGxRbNBUZ4YLrz0CnhxgtdwnaF8R9IwMgIntA3T1qdsYLRjFqGoznIiPPDSu4s0CRQ7tRRyxEz1XnEI9cYzONk5QhbW4uC5rneKKO0TKcB4ompiAWiM0KjwSO%2FCJTDZQvTuoTrzPWwJodf5UsuncS4fQpfmgoz%2BqlAqUlARFx%2FfUaDKB1IaE6ecj9%2BjCOsUbvHyttIHkJqG7jzYoOQ%2BnOtfN3a7tR96QORNqxxaM2689FP9SFZUZoSSIM78I4Sa%2BAh4Jv4RS03MTMKheJtwdKwAQ8aKyY2ozlEFe7%2Btfovyi5IgUlnbZD89q%2BGzneWZi5TbdRYPfhsEe86ZBRXBIFPWfY6DmYXCcP9DEDGF18WaBWlsZgCSl70lKucySmlM44lRmCDmZVN%2Bn9dmBDEx%2FvOi2%2BUwHB%2FBeUIzV6hMneML6qaERtpQ0mcDy1xGcTh%2BYy6zlLoLgHJRaz%2BnWf%2B8KiWbKUTQjB6WCbrp0AyTjpcWhBkrbGdNpukcYlFkYx8Lnyt%2B25dXcUf3INvgY1XNy7HAt9nihe9QcyFc3rMJssrPUyJVC3OSWxWQuDJsNOFUir%2FMvVFcw04pw1qitnnHtC2HAFmq0GHskX9CVVmtsU99jflSQuWPdro1DupNCia6wUtJD3d2SVP0oQmkYgMVjxahdGDVW83%2BU%2Bakjgz34O0fYflVXfaylk7NW4sFtW%2FTVenYDbjWdJhajgnVOUu0GqeGCQBNj3d6h65GpUfQKo8Q%2B4iwlwGAwfEOJHT3uFzzxGQeofWj5SIT6okn7gfuxo9GZxiX3AE8H7IyDS37CklVneQin5EE5196fo9iTVstC7M%2Bk1z9IuqIlGqj8cWXZVrMa0Am0DJidjLpT8w3NurfI3kG%2FJmODB%2Fef5KfRg5nkOAR1Kan29c48Us%2BdvEeCxKe1PZP%2Bgkb6HV5JrQjDCc7ITgw%3D%3D&checksum=2733912796796644e66c94bb4e528e79129b9b724122
Barbados, Bahamas and lots of other places from the 70s and 80s. And not all are what you could call among the smallest nations. I couldn’t find an exact copy of their marketing from the time but that these were actual coins and that they made regular coins for all those various nations was part of it. My links are for proofs but IIRC all were offered in “mint set” versions as well.

(on a side note – so many were broken and the silver issues smelted during the last “high” in silver that I am told a few are actually pretty hard to find. They still don’t get much of a premium but 50 years from now -------- just saying. )

[Freddy_the_Pig]

@DrDeth

https://www.franklinmint.com/product/Z1AMFKM1129/2018-mickey-mouse-90th-anniversary-1oz-silver-country-of-niue-2-coin?cp=67914_83406

Thank you, this is all very interesting to me.

I guess I share the OP’s question: Does anybody actually . . . spend . . . these Mickey Mouse coins on the semi-autonomous island of Niue? Ever?

[dtilque]

That coin is 1 oz silver bullion. Google says the spot price of silver is $17.86/oz. The value of a Niue dollar is probably set to be on par with the NZ dollar, since they use that currency domestically. So that $2 coin has a face value of $1.32 US, also according to Google. Anyone who spends such a coin is going to lose over $16 in the transaction and lots more if you consider the price ($59.99) at the Franklin Mint. (Anyone who buys that coin must really like Mickey Mouse, since you can buy 1 oz of silver for far less elsewhere.)

So I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that it’s never happened, at least not with bullion coins. Maybe someone’s done it with base metal commemoratives.