You may have seen the television ad
promoting the President Ronald Reagan silver coin and been tempted to buy one,
but don't. It's a scam to sell you worthless junk for a lot of money, and there
are plenty more coin scams just like it. Here's the scoop:
This particular coin is Liberian currency, a country
which has a flag and national seal which are similar in appearance to that of
the US yet with striking differences and that is what makes the coin appealing
- looks like actual US currency to most people, but it's not. The coins contain
the words "Tribute to the United States of America" and bear the US
Presidential Seal, but it is not US currency.
The ad
implies each coin is worth $39.95, but is being offered for only $19.95 each
with a limit of five per order, no doubt to make the coin appear to be valuable
and a bargain.
Boycott Watch spoke to a coin dealer,
and we learned there are three values of coins, currency, metal weight and
numismatic value. Boycott Watch is examining all three.
From a currency standpoint, one Liberian Dollar is
worth less than two US cents. The silver content is advertised as 71mg, which
works out to 0.0025 ounces. The ad says the coins are "silver clad" which
another way of saying silver plated. Considering an approximate silver price of
$13 an ounce, the coin has 3.25 cents worth of silver, thus the recovery cost
of the silver is far greater than the value of the silver itself. From a
numismatic standpoint, these are new coins which have no base value and are
bring stamped out in mass quantity for general sale, not circulation, thus it
has no intrinsic numismatic value. In other words, the coins are essentially
worthless. The company is trying to sell you something worth less than four
cents for about twenty dollars plus shipping and handling charges.
If you want to stop television advertising scams,
call or write the television or cable outlet where you saw the ads and
complain. |
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