Tasteless and a Scam: The 2008 9/11 Commemorative Coin

You late night owls out there may have seen this commercial advertising this 9/11 Commemorative Coin. If you haven’t seen it, well, here it is:

Tasteless, isn’t it?

The “meaningful commemorative” is a scam and it prays on the public’s lack of knowledge regarding money. As mentioned, in the commercial, the coin is Government Authorized: Liberian Legal Tender. Is Liberian Legal Tender a fancy name for a type of commemorative coin? No. It is literally legal tender in the country of Liberia. Again, the country that authorized the printing of the coin as legal tender was the country of Liberia! The exchange rate results in this coin to be a mere 30 cents in the good ol’ US of A.

Another buzzword in the commercial that raises a flag is the phrase “never to be circulated”. Like mentioned, this coin will “never be in circulation”. Quite simply, this is true in the states since it isn’t being printed by the US.

What about the face value? The face value is what the value of the coin is based upon what is written on the coin. In this case, $20. Does it mean it is worth $20? No. In the country of Liberia, it is worth $20 Liberian. Which again, amounts to 30 cents here in the states.

What about the silver foil that it is printed on? $3.70. And to get it out of the way, I can apply a certificate of authenticity on my shit, it doesn’t mean it’s worth anything. It just means, I shat it out.

Perhaps the biggest crime here, is the exploitation of the events of 9/11 to sell this “collectible”. The imagery used to tie the artist rendition of the towers to the ones of that “fateful” day seems the biggest straw, but in reality it is the fact that this money does not go to charity at all. The National Collectors Mint sells these things and they have been ordered to stop advertising similar products before by the courts in 2004. At that time, they were selling an even tackier coin “commermorating” 9/11 again with this classy piece:

National Collectors Mint previous try at exploitation

Class and taste apparently is not a virtue to be found over that company.