- Freedom Tower Silver Dollar
The
Freedom Tower Silver Dollar is a "one dollar" coin minted under license of theCommonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) in2004 . Despite vague statements in advertisements, it is not issued by theUnited States Mint and is not consideredlegal tender . The CNMI receives royalty fees from proceeds of the sale of the coin. The coin is actually minted by SoftSky, aWyoming commemorative coin maker.Description
The obverse of the coin features a poorly rendered image of the original design proposal for the Freedom Tower by
Daniel Libeskind that was to be built on the former site of theWorld Trade Center in New York (that design has since been replaced). Also on theobverse are theUnited States national motto "InGod We Trust" and the words "Freedom Tower,July 4 ,2004 ." The reverse features an image of the former World Trade Center and the words "We Will Never Forget", along with a small symbol of a star on a stone pillar within a circle. This latter unidentified icon is in fact thecoat of arms of the Northern Mariana Islands.Legality
The distributor of the coin,
National Collector's Mint , advertises the item as "legally authorized government issue" and marks the coin with the valuation of "OneDollar ". This is seen as being a deliberate attempt to mislead American consumers into believing it is a legal tender coin produced by theUnited States Mint and is worth one U.S. dollar.In reaction to advertising for this product, the U.S. Mint, as well as the attorneys general of various U.S. states, released a statement that the coin is not U.S. government issue. Furthermore, since the Northern Mariana Islands is a United States Commonwealth, it cannot mint its own
legal tender currency (it uses regular American money).The distributors also purport that the coins have been struck using
silver recovered from a vault in the rubble of the World Trade Center. The validity of this claim has not been confirmed. Distributors warn that theminting of the coin will cease once the quantity of recovered silver has been exhausted, and have therefore placed a limit on the number of coins that can be ordered per person. The coins are not solid silver, but are silverclad (0.0001inch (2.5micrometre ) layer).The territorial government of the CNMI has made money from commissioning commemorative, non-tender coins through SoftSky and National Collector's Mint in the past, but does not claim the right to commission legal tender coinage. Some past coins issued by SoftSky, such as the 1933 Gold Double Eagle coin, have also incurred marketing controversy.
In
October 2004 theattorney general ofNew York ,Eliot Spitzer , obtained a court order against National Collectors Mint (aPort Chester, New York company) to halt sales of the "Freedom Tower Silver Dollar" coin, citing it as fraudulently advertised. Spitzer also alleged that the company's sales contacts had asserted that the coin is legal tender. OnOctober 13 ,2004 , Spitzer obtained a temporary order halting the company from advertising or selling the coin. OnNovember 9 , State Supreme Court JusticeJoseph R. Cannizzaro ruled that the company had engaged in deceptive and fraudulent marketing practices, and ordered the company to terminate its misleading advertising of the coin.An investigation as to the silver content and the origin of the silver in the coins was started. The attorney general's office easily determined that the coin was only silver clad, but as of 2005 the veracity of the claim that this silver came from a World Trade Center bank vault had not been determined.
As a result of the controversy and legal action over the Freedom Tower coin, CNMI governor
Juan N. Babauta suspended the SoftSky contract onNovember 13 ,2004 . OnDecember 2 , Babauta ended the contract. Before this course of events, the CNMI government made over $150,000 off the deal.Other groups have also released silver Freedom Tower coins, but not with a denominational value or advertised as government issue.
The CNMI coin was named "Stupid Investment of the Week" by "
CBS MarketWatch" onSeptember 24 ,2004 .2005 Freedom Tower Dollar
In 2005, a similar coin to the CNMI Freedom Tower coin was sold, with similar design and the same claim of being made from silver "reclaimed" from the World Trade Center, but bearing the name of the
Cook Islands instead of the CNMI. The Cook Islands are a self-governing democracy, and do mint their own currency (at par with theNew Zealand dollar ), though this coin is sold as "non-circulating".2001-2006 World Trade Center Gold and Silver Clad Commemorative
As of 2006, the National Collectors Mint was offering what is variously described as "2001-2006 World Trade Center Gold and Silver Clad Commemorative", "2001-2006 World Trade Center Commemorative", and "5th Anniversary World Trade Center Commemorative". It is advertised as a "non-monetary issue" that "will never be released for circulation."
This coin is a two piece set of a gold coin with a detachable silver inset of the World Trade Center complex and claims to contain "15 mg. of 24 KT gold and 15 mg. of .999 Pure silver clad," and also continued to claim that the silver was found in a bank vault buried under the rubble of Ground Zero. For comparison, a
U.S. dollar coin is 8.1 g and a dime is 2.268 g, meaning that the precious metal content of the commemorative coin is likely between 0.4% and 1.3% of the total mass.It was discovered that the silver analyzed was, indeed, not silver, and was only worth about 32 cents.
The company claims that "$5 of every 2001-2006 World Trade Center Commemorative order is donated to official 9/11 family charities and memorials."
External links
* [http://www.nationalcollectorsmint.com/category_landing.jsp?path=-1&id=4688&promotion=web-wtc&ext=y 2001-2006 World Trade Center Gold and Silver Clad Commemorative] "(commercial)"
* [http://www.nationalcollectorsmint.com/uploaded/CNMI_Freedom_Tower.htm National Collectors Mint - Freedom Tower Silver Dollar] "(commercial)"
* [http://www.usmint.gov/pressroom/index.cfm?action=press_release&ID=535 U.S. Mint press release on the Freedom Tower Silver Dollar]
* [http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?cat=1&newsID=42413 Saipan Tribune story on the end of the Softkey deal]
* [http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2004/oct/oct13a_04.html Court Order Halts Sales of 'Freedom Tower Silver Dollars'] , New York State Attorney General's Office, October 13 2004
* [http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2004/nov/nov9a_04.html Court Finds World Trade Center 'Freedom Tower Silver Dollar' Ads Deceptive] , New York State Attorney General's Office, November 9, 2004
* [http://www.designscomputed.com/coins/resume.html Daniel Carr resume]
* [http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7BE675E806-DDDD-4BAF-A120-EEDE1B890325%7D&siteid=google&dist=google MarketWatch: When a dollar's not worth a buck]
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