Saturday, November 17, 2007

Canyonero-o-o? No, it's Amero-o-o

I found Daniel Carr's coins on eBay when I was looking for Tesla collectible coins. (The guy who invented AC current, not the metal band) Daniel submits designs on a regular basis to the mint. He has designed a couple of circulation state quarters, and now he is the "first to mint the Amero"

I just purchased a couple of Amero's for my next trip to New York. The Amero had better include only US, Mexico, & Puerto Rico... no way I'm giving up my loonies & toonies for something with an American bird & American lady liberty.

Once in a blue moon, the line between “fantasy” coins and “real-world” coins becomes blurred. These Ameros truly reflect a realistic modern-day geo-political scenario, and I think they are definitely “crossover” pieces that will have major implications in our community that go far beyond the usual impact made by a typical privately minted coin. Just days after the first pieces had been produced, members of at least one online numismatic forum were already suggesting, with some very hostile words, that Mr. Carr may be part of a conspiracy to replace the dollar under a global dictatorship. Mr. Carr, a member of that forum, replied: “Wow, I really stirred up a hornet's nest here…I guess the nest was just waiting all along and I just happened to be the one to stir it up. The coins pictured are private-issue fantasy patterns that I've designed and minted as collector's items. Maybe someday there will be government-issue ‘Amero’ currency. There is currently no law that says I can't mint and distribute Amero coins. But in the future, there may come a time when it will be illegal to make private-issue ‘Amero’ coins. But regardless of what happens, my Amero coins are the first!”

http://www.geocities.com/erik_mccrea/linksUV.html

Next time perhaps he'll consider his neighbours up to the north & incorporate a beaver, or maybe a tar sands well design, eh?

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

US Mint to release Jefferson dollar coin - Yahoo! News

 

Mint Director Edmund Moy believes the new dollar coin series will be an antidote for that. And he can cite a good precedent. The Mint's 50-state quarter program, the most popular coin series in history, has gotten 150 million Americans involved in collecting the quarters that are honoring the states in the order they were admitted to the Union.

"My nieces and nephews know a lot more about geography than I did at their age and the state quarters are playing an instrumental role in that," Moy said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Source: US Mint to release Jefferson dollar coin - Yahoo! News

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Coin dealer carries $1.9M dime in pocket - Yahoo! News

 

Shortly after boarding the plane, Feigenbaum transferred the dime from his pants pocket to his briefcase.

"I was worried that the dime might fall out of my pocket while I was sitting down," he said.

All across the country, Feigenbaum kept checking to make sure the dime was safe by reaching into his briefcase to feel for it.

"It's the Holy Grail of coins," he said.

Source: Coin dealer carries $1.9M dime in pocket - Yahoo! News

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Bushie, Bushie

 Brownie, you're doin' a helluva job, though not as good as those crazy Albanians.

"Bushie, Bushie," people shouted. Some of the business people have received small loans under U.S. government programs.

Source: Bush receives hero's welcome in Albania - Yahoo! News

Albania has eagerly embraced democracy and idolizes the United States. Three stamps have been issued featuring Bush's picture and the Statue of Liberty, and the street in front of parliament has been renamed in his honor.

The article goes on...

In saluting Albania's democracy, Bush praised it as a country that has "cast off the shackles of a very oppressive society and is now showing the world what's possible."

Searching Google for Albania What's Possible brings up some more collecting links.

Were I to take my three leks to my bank and ask for it to be exchanged for American "money," I would probably only succeed in amusing the staff of that institution, which would regard my leks as so much scrap paper. It would do me little good to explain that in Albania, people scramble to get those pieces of paper, although, quite obviously, they do. The lek, although desirable in Albania, is a joke in the rest of the world. Why should that be? Is my piece of paper "three leks" redeemable in anything from the Albanian authority which created it? Of course not. Does it represent some wealth placed upon deposit to justify its issuance? No. Exactly the same, however, can be said for my Federal Reserve Notes. Yet the American currency is "strong;" the Albanian, weak. Obviously, the lek lacks something.

Actually, it lacks a couple of things, at least. For one thing, there isn't much you can buy with it. Albanians, sad for them, don't produce anything that the rest of the world wants. I bought the leks to obtain some Albanian goods to bring home as a souvenir; in the whole town we couldn't find anything worth buying. So if you have a currency only good in Albania, and there's nothing worth buying in that country, what good is it, except to an Albanian, who has nothing else to use, and has to buy food and clothes with something. So one characteristic of a "soft" currency is that it is the currency of a country that doesn't produce much in the way of desirable goods or services. You can be sure that if the Albanians were to announce that they had discovered, and were offering for sale, a cure for cancer, that the lek would suddenly become very desirable.

Maybe putting Bush's picture on their stamps will inflate the lek?  Perhaps that is what is causing the USD to lose it's value...

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

"He Tames the Thundering Bolt of Jove and Annihilates Time and Space".

 Only 74 coins minted.

Detailed Description

Nikola Tesla 1856-2006 Sesquicentennial Medal.

The obverse shows Nikola Tesla manipulating time and space, with a quote he wrote about man in 1906:
"He Tames the Thundering Bolt of Jove and Annihilates Time and Space".

The reverse shows a symbolic representation of Tesla's 3-phase AC power system electrifying the Earth, along with the dates 1856 - 2006.

Conceived, designed, sculpted, and engraved by Daniel Carr.

Source: 2006 Nikola Tesla Sesquicentennial Medal, 38mm, 1.5", 1 Troy Oz 999 Silver. - 0014SS1

Friday, May 18, 2007

Shipwreck yields estimated $500M haul - Yahoo! News

Coins at the bottom of the sea... 

We have treated this site with kid gloves and the archaeological work done by our team out there is unsurpassed," Odyssey CEO John Morris said. "We are thoroughly documenting and recording the site, which we believe will have immense historical significance."

Odyssey stock shot up 80.9 percent Friday, closing at $8.32.

Source: Shipwreck yields estimated $500M haul - Yahoo! News

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Nation's second president on dollar coin - Yahoo! News

The US has gone Loonie... 

The Mint's new formula has borrowed from the 50-state quarter program, the most popular coin program in history, which has lured millions of Americans into becoming coin collectors.

Like the quarters, the dollar coins will feature constantly changing designs — four new presidents each year in the order they served in office.

Source: Nation's second president on dollar coin - Yahoo! News