Non-circulating legal tender

Non-circulating legal tender (NCLT) is a coin-like object that cannot be used or is not used for payments, so they are not money. They are minted for sale to collectors only. They are also called pseudo coin or medal-coin. Advanced collectors typically try to avoid buying NCLT, so that buyers are often beginning or superficial collectors. For this reason, there is only a shallow secondary market for NCLT, so that it can often be sold only at melt value. Therefore, issuers normally try to hide the status of NCLT by intensive marketing, with terms like "legal tender", "limited mintage", "demanded by collectors" or even "investment", stressing precious metal content and luxury execution.

The issuers sell NCLT well above its nominal value, so that it cannot circulate. NCLT may be issued for non-existing countries, non-sovereign entities or uninhabited islands (fantasy pieces). They may have impractical or anachronistic denominations, they may be issued only as proofs, they may be colourized or in an anachronistic coin metal, such as silver or gold.

Issuers of NCLT may be private coiners, such as Franklin Mint, Italcambio, New Zealand Mint, The London Mint Office, The Commonwealth Mint and Pobjoy Mint, or they may be government or privatized national mints, such as those of Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Cuba and France.