My Experience with Commissioned Coins

Normal coin issues are those struck for circulation purposes in the country for which they were struck. However, the countries producing bullion-priced issues are looking to sell their output around the world.

Sometimes, the bureaucrats at government mints needed a little outside help in creating profitable new coin programs. Here are two stories involving the bullion issues.

The idea for China to strike a series of Panda precious metals coins came from a New York coin dealer/wholesaler. Since its inception in 1982, this program has grown substantially, especially since it is now legal (and even encouraged by the Chinese government) for Chinese citizens to own precious metals coins and bars.

After the U.S. government and some other nations banned the import of new supplies of South African Krugerrands in 1985, as a signal to oppose that nation’s apartheid policies, the marketing team behind the South African program conceived where else in the world they could apply their talents.

Britain had given up ownership of the Perth, Australia Royal Mint branch mint in 1970 to the government of Western Australia. The Krugerrand marketing team, almost intact, approached the governments of Australia and Western Australia with the idea to initiate an Australian bullion coin program. Although they would be struck at the Perth Mint, the team negotiated that the national government would grant their issues legal tender status in Australia. The Australian Nugget gold coin program debuted in 1986. The Western Australian government formed a wholly owned subsidiary, Gold Corporation, to operate the Perth Mint.

The public didn’t automatically associate gold nuggets with Australia. So, in 1989 the Perth Mint began issuing bullion gold coins featuring kangaroos, perhaps the best known of Australia’s indigenous animals. Although this series of gold coins continues to depict different kangaroos each year, and are commonly referred to as Kangaroos, the series is still technically called Australian Nuggets.

There are a number of small countries around the planet that are willing to earn extra cash flow by authorizing the production and sale of coins for their nations that are never circulated or marketed domestically. There are government and private mints around the world who will strike these coins. Among the nations that did or still will regularly “commission” such coins are Cook Islands, Isle of Man, Liberia, Marshall Islands, Niue and Palau.

I was deeply involved in the work of the Michigan Quarter Commission to seek public input on the possible designs for the 2004 Michigan Statehood quarter. I had the honor of being the primary author of the descriptions for each of the five design concepts sent to the designers and engravers at the U.S. Mint as candidate designs for the eventual coin (at the time, the U.S. Mint would not accept artistic renditions of the design concepts, so I call myself the “unofficial artist of the 2004 Michigan Statehood quarter”).

Once the design for the Michigan Statehood quarter was announced on Sept. 30, 2003, I was contacted by multiple individuals who represented themselves as agents for various mints that could produce a 1-ounce pure silver coin commissioned by a country as legal tender, where my company would have the exclusive control of the issue. In all, there were seven different countries I could have chosen as the “issuing” country. It seemed like everyone involved in the chain of contacts would get their royalty (the agent, the “mint,” the nation’s treasury, the nation’s government) plus there would be the cost of dies, fabrication and for the silver.

About the lowest final cost to produce 2,004 coins would have cost about $7 per coin above the metal value. For a time, I considered commissioning a coin from Liberia. I had lived in Liberia from 1965-1966 when my father was in the foreign aid program there, so knew the history. The government of Liberia was virtually bankrupt in the early 1900s when it signed a 99-year lease with Firestone Tire & Rubber Company for a rubber plantation. These lease payments saved the Liberian government.

I thought about how to use Firestone’s one-time exclusive supply agreement with Ford Motor Company to provide all that manufacturer’s car and truck tires as a way to tie-in a Michigan Statehood quarter look-alike Liberian coin that would be of interest to the Michigan public. Although I thought that might work, ultimately the cost of producing such a coin and the further markup for marketing costs and hoped-for profits meant we would have had to charge at least $17 per coin. With the spot price of silver in 2003 averaging below $5, my judgment was that even if we could sell such an expensive coin, it really wouldn’t represent good value to the buyers. Therefore, I never pursued commissioning such a coin.

Patrick A. Heller was honored as a 2019 FUN Numismatic Ambassador. He is also the recipient of the American Numismatic Association 2018 Glenn Smedley Memorial Service Award, 2017 Exemplary Service Award, 2012 Harry Forman National Dealer of the Year Award and 2008 Presidential Award. Over the years, he has also been honored by the Numismatic Literary Guild (including in 2021 for Best Investment Newsletter), Professional Numismatists Guild, Industry Council for Tangible Assets and the Michigan State Numismatic Society. He is the communications officer of Liberty Coin Service in Lansing, Mich., and writes Liberty’s Outlook, a monthly newsletter on rare coins and precious metals subjects. Past newsletter issues can be viewed at www.libertycoinservice.com. Some of his radio commentaries titled “Things You ‘Know’ That Just Aren’t So, And Important News You Need To Know” can be heard at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday and Friday mornings on 1320-AM WILS in Lansing (which streams live and becomes part of the audio archives posted at www.1320wils.com).