Are coins produced by the Franklin Mint actually used for legal tender?

Scavenger

Most of these coins are .925 silver, so the melt value would be more than the face value. But could these actually be used to purchase goods if someone wanted to?

OKbustchaser

Yes, as long as one did not misrepresent them as government issued. For that matter, you can spend anything you wish as long as you have a willing seller.

ziggy29

Sure, if someone wants to accept them as barter and "valve them as they please," just like the Liberty Dollars. Trying to pass them off as legal tender is fraudulent, though.

flaminio

<< <i>Yes, as long as one did not misrepresent them as government issued. For that matter, you can spend anything you wish as long as you have a willing seller. >>

Which is essentially barter, and entirely legal.

Doesn't the Franklin Mint also mint legal currency coins for other countries? Or maybe they used to?

Zoins

<< <i>Doesn't the Franklin Mint also mint legal currency coins for other countries? Or maybe they used to? >>

Yes. The Franklin Mint used to mint coins legally authorized by other countries. For the most part, these sets looked pretty professional and presentable. They got out of numismatics in the 80s but have recently started up again. They issued coins for countries like the Barbados, Marshall Islands etc. This is similar to how the US and British Royal Mint issues coins for other countries. Today, the National Collectors Mint also issues coins for other countries but theirs are a bit cheesier than then ones the Franklin Mint used to do.

CaptHenway

<< <i>Most of these coins are .925 silver, so the melt value would be more than the face value. But could these actually be used to purchase goods if someone wanted to? >>



Are you talking about coins from a foreign country? If so, what country? They may or may not still be legal tender. Some countries demonetize legal tender coinage after a while.

If you are talking about privately issued medals, they are not coins, and do not have a legal tender value. They probably have a barter value, depending on the weight and composition. Bring them into our coin shop, and we can negotiate a barter value that you can use to buy things with. Take them into a Seven-Eleven store, and the kid behind the counter will say "Huh?"

That is the difference between barter value and legal tender value. Legal tender is negotiable anywheres within the jurisdiction of the issuing authority. Barter value differs from person to person, and may be zero if the person does not want the item being offered.

TD

cladking

A lot of the silver and gold coins made by the FM for foreign countries
have a higher face value than their metallic value so are still being re-
deemed and melted by the issuing authority. More of them have eith-
er been demonetized or have a far higher metallic value than face so
are traded primarily as collector coins. None of the silver or gold coins
made by the Franklin Mint actually circulated as money. Certainly a few
trades may have occurred and may still, but none were really intended
nor have truly circulated.

The base metal coinage was mostly proofs and other NCLT but they al-
so issued many millions of coins for several countries that actively circu-
lated and some of these still do. Not all have mint marks.

Of course, they made many medals and tokens as well as bars and oth-
er quasi-numismatic items. These were made in a wide variety of metals
and for an incredible number of applications. Don't forget they even made
the many millions of the Shell Oil Mr President tokens.

The one hallmark of almost everything they made was very high quality.
Many people forget this because many of their newspaper offers turned
out to be very poor "investments".