Question about Platinum and Coinage.

ccr

I was talking with my brother alittle bit ago about this and decided to ask you guys about it. Was Platinum ever used for the minting and general use of commerce ( Like silver was used for Franklins and Morgans or Gold for $20 ST Gaudens) as opposed to Ingots/Bullion ( Like Silver Eagles/Maple Leafs or Platinum Eagles/Maple Leafs ) ? So I`m asking if It was ever specifically coined and used for commerence by any country.

FC57Coins

Jim:

To my knowledge, the only coin to use Platinum in it's coinage is Russia during the empire days. I'm aware of a Bust half (I believe 1814) that was minted in Platinum as a trial piece and as a matter of fact was in one of the major auctions not too long ago.

Frank

Conder101

Frank is right Russia is the only country that has used platinum as a material for their circulating coins.

richbeat

Just thought I'd throw this out for anyone who's interested, since the subject concerns platinum. In the latest issue of COINage, David Ganz remarks that the U.S. mint is trying to get out of the platinum bullion business because, in his words: "the mintage figures are down, the cost to lease metal is high and the profits thin."

relayer

I found this article...

Anybody know about the 1814 experiment?



PLATINUM'S COINAGE HISTORY Date: 11/13/99

By Charles Surasky
Say platinum to the average person on the street and jewelry comes to
mind, but say platinum to American coin collectors and they will think of
the Mint's modern platinum bullion coins. But few people know that platinum
has been struck into coins for over 235 years.

Today we'll look at some platinum coins struck around the world.

Researcher and author Willy Fuchs lists the earliest platinum coins as
emanating from South America, mostly as patterns or mint experiments. His
earliest listing is for an eight escudo coin minted by Colombia in 1763 as
part of a series that was struck until 1819. Additional platinum coins of
that era were minted by Bolivia, Brazil Chile and Peru.

Platinum from Russia's Ural mountains was struck into a unique
coronation half ruble in 1826, as well as 3-, 6- and 12-rouble coins
featuring the portrait of Czar Nicholas the first between 1828 and 1845.
These are the only coins made of platinum to be issued for, and used in
general circulation.

In the second half of the twentieth century platinum commemorative
coins have been struck and sold to collectors by Monaco, the Isle of Man,
the Soviet Union and Panama among many others.

Nearly pure platinum bullion coins have been struck for investors by
four of the world's leading nations. Australia has issued the Koala coins
starting in 1988, the same year Canada began issuing its platinum Maple
Leaf coins. Mexico, in 1989, issued the platinum quarter Onza.

Collectors and investors have embraced the United States Mint's
Platinum Eagle coins in both Proof and Business strikes. These collector
coins are minted in one ounce, half ounce, quarter ounce and tenth ounce
weights.

And of course, let's not forget the three 1814-dated experimental
platinum half dollars struck by the United States Mint. But that's a story
for another program.

This has been "Money Talks." Today's program was written by Charles
Surasky. "Money Talks" is a copyrighted production of the American
Numismatic Association, 818 N. Cascade Ave., Colorado Springs, CO 80903,
719/632-2646, ana@money.org, http://www.money.org.

Conder101

In 1814 the US mint conducted some tests to see if platinum was a suitable metal for coinage. They produced three test pieces by creating half dollar sized planchets and striking them with Bust half dies. The test pieces were then counterstamped with the letter P many times. Eventually the mint decided not to use platinum probably because there was no real advantage to its use. It as heavy as gold, as valuable as silver (at the time) but had to be heated much much higher in order to get it to melt, and it the planchets weren't properly annealed they are incredibly hard and damage the dies badly.

Forgot to mention, one of the three platinum patterns was sold recently in the Russell Logan collection in Baltimore.