Tuesday, 11 September 2012

Learning More About Commemorative Coins

By Andre Howell


The collecting coins passion has brought a lot the last few decades! It was once an activity wherein only some from the older generation appreciated. They gathered a number of coins, but with the arrival of commemorative coins within the 1960's, well, the collecting coins world has brought in newcomers which would never have began collecting coins if it are not for commemorative coins.

For instance, precisely what is so exciting about a coin you see everyday? You know, what's so unique about a George Washington quarter which you use in a pop machine? To a person who is not a passionate collector... Practically nothing. But that's before they become immersed in the coin world and discover that at some point those George Washington quarters was once 90% pure silver back into the 1930's to 1960's. In my opinion, that is certainly very interesting, and worth collecting!

Having said that, a lot of people wouldn't have become that involved with it into collection of coins if it hasn't been for the commemorative coin.

But what is a commemorative coin? Based to Wikipedia.org, commemorative coins are coins that are used to remember special occasions or concerns. An instance would be the Benjamin Franklin commemorative coin.

The Benjamin Franklin commemorative coin is a coin minted by the US Mint in the year 2006. The Benjamin Franklin commemorative coin was minted to celebrate the tercentenary birthday of Benjamin Franklin, one of many great founders of our country. There were two versions minted, and they're both silver coin dollars. Actually, both are one troy ounce of 99.9% silver along with a one dollar face value.

Not just is the Benjamin Franklin commemorative coin one troy ounce of silver, numerous commemorative coins are of precious metals. Such as silver, gold, palladium, platinum and so on.

It means that commemorative coin rates can request premium rates. Normally more expensive than the spot price of their metal for that given day. So, not only are they collectable, but most commemorative coins are ventures which could increase in value.

Additionally, most commemorative coins are uncirculated coins. Most can't be used in authorized tender transactions. On the other hand, there are several commemorative coins which fails this rule... One being the Bicentennial quarter.

The Bicentennial quarter is a commemorative coin minted in 1976 to honour the United States 200th anniversary of announcing it's freedom. Still, these quarters (as well as other coins of the Bicentennial program) were distributed legal tender, and could be used in legal tender transactions.

Since the 1960's we come across all sorts of commemorative coins. If there may be an occasion worth celebrating, then, there would be a coin minted. Why? Because people like to collect these coins! These are "gateway" coins to the coin world, and when you begin collecting commemorative coins it's merely a matter of time before your collection of coins grows to include other types of coins: bullion, error coins, proof coins, Morgan dollars, Peace dollars, and so on.

To conclude, as long as there's something worth to commemorate, there will be a commemorative coin.




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