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Tristan da Cunha: Collector pieces

Started by <k>, March 01, 2016, 09:27:31 PM

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eurocoin

Although TDC coins (the circulation-like series and the collectors coins) are for collectors only and so non-circulating legal tender, they will be accepted on TDC when you try to pay with them. The islanders are also aware of the existence of the circulation-like TDC coins.

Figleaf

That may be, but can you get TDC coins at face value or are these coins just used by a handful of "collectors" trying to make a point?

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

eurocoin

Quote from: Figleaf on March 03, 2016, 07:29:47 AM
That may be, but can you get TDC coins at face value or are these coins just used by a handful of "collectors" trying to make a point?

Peter

On the islands it is not possible to get TDC coins. I am not sure if it is somewhere else possible to acquire TDC coins for face value. I also don't care about it really. For me the most important part is that these coins in one way or the other ended up on the island and that they are being accepted by the islanders and circulate on the island. That's the only thing that matters.

Figleaf

I look at it differently. It seems that the TDC coins can only be introduced on TDC by tourists, presumably coming from a cruise ship, meaning that they will be predominantly Americans, which explains why the natives accept USD. Among US collectors, it is not uncommon to put things in circulation for the fun of putting them into circulation. At home, they'll go to the bank and want round dollars, just for the heck of spending them. If they go on a cruise, they may even be watching for TDC coins and they may be able to buy them below par from a junk box (been there, done that). They get accepted on TDC, because there will be someone on the next boat who'll want them as a souvenir.

That's all fine, but does that make it money in circulation? As you know, there are a good number of Thai coins around in the euro area, because they look like 2 euro coins. Does that mean eurolanders accept the Thai baht as payment? Before the introduction of the euro, Italian coins (50 LIT if I remember correctly) would be accepted by Dutch vending machines for a 1 gulden coin. Does that mean the lire circulated in the Netherlands?

Coming out of the Eurotunnel on the UK side, take the secondary road along the coast towards Hastings. Stop at the first Tesco on the left. They accept euros. Does that mean the euro circulates in the UK or is it a service for the borderers? The same shop accepted FFR in the past. Still, I wouldn't argue that french francs circulated in the UK. To me, the TDC coins are all gimmicks without historical value, but I am not asking anyone to agree.

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

<k>

Quote from: Figleaf on March 03, 2016, 06:02:33 PM
As you know, there are a good number of Thai coins around in the euro area, because they look like 2 euro coins. Does that mean eurolanders accept the Thai baht as payment? Before the introduction of the euro, Italian coins (50 LIT if I remember correctly) would be accepted by Dutch vending machines for a 1 gulden coin. Does that mean the lire circulated in the Netherlands?

Those are coins from outside the area in question that are introduced fraudulently. For us to claim that a coin circulates, it must be accepted universally within its zone: whether that zone be a country, a territory or the eurozone. If someone is offered in change a coin that was introduced fraudulently, and they notice is not a local/national/zonal coin, they will reject it. Therefore that coin is not universally accepted. We cannot then say that it circulates with the consent of the local population.

Quote
Coming out of the Eurotunnel on the UK side, take the secondary road along the coast towards Hastings. Stop at the first Tesco on the left. They accept euros. Does that mean the euro circulates in the UK or is it a service for the borderers? The same shop accepted FFR in the past. Still, I wouldn't argue that french francs circulated in the UK.

Tesco is/was offering a concession to tourists. It is clear that English people in Hastings will not normally accept euros in change, unless they have special reasons for doing so: they are collectors or they are planning to visit the eurozone. So, the euros are restricted in their circulation and are not universally acceptable in Hastings or Britain.

Quote
To me, the TDC coins are all gimmicks without historical value, but I am not asking anyone to agree.

The test will be whether the official TDC collector pieces, which are not officially intended to circulate, come to be universally accepted on TDC - by both tourists and Tristanians. If that becomes the case, then they are money. But you will still be free to despise them. I would then regard them as money, but an anomalous case of money, that does not fit into the normal categories. I would still not regard the coins as being on a par with coins that are officially issued as standard circulation coins. However, if the TDC collector pieces do end up being universally accepted on TDC, then they will be just as much money as were the tokens (dated 1929) that circulated on Lundy Island. But that remains to be seen. There are very few people on TDC, however, and I doubt they will have the time to keep us updated on this matter.
Visit the website of The Royal Mint Museum.

See: The Royal Mint Museum.

eurocoin

Quote from: <k> on March 01, 2016, 11:02:14 PM
Tristan da Cunha issued an official collector set, dated 2011, in honour of its uninhabited island, Nightingale Island.

Although I understand there are no people living permanently on Nightingale Island, a rapidly increasing amount of the inhabitants of TDC each have their own cabin there where they go to during the holidays to get the vacation feeling, even although there is only some 20 kms between the islands.  :)

Alan71

Does anyone know anything about this coin?  Tristan da Cunha isn't uninhabited - it apparently has a population of 250 - but this is a non-circulating coin.  Its official currency, despite being part of the British Overseas Territory of St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, uses the pound sterling rather than the St Helena pound.




<k>

See: Tristan da Cunha: Collector pieces.

TDC uses UK coinage. That coin is from an official collector set. However, some such coins do now circulate on TDC itself, as a result of tourists spending them, and this is tolerated.
Visit the website of The Royal Mint Museum.

See: The Royal Mint Museum.

Alan71

There appears to be a full set.  Although in the name of Nightingale Island, the coins themselves are Tristan da Cunha.  The 10p matches the weight of the UK version but none of the other denominations do.


<k>

Visit the website of The Royal Mint Museum.

See: The Royal Mint Museum.

Alan71

It passed me by.  Why do they do such sets if they bear no resemblance to the specifications actually being used?  It would make far more sense if these were made to the correct specifications.  The 10p is the correct weight, but is it the right diameter?

<k>

Collectors like "interesting" variations. Gimmicks.
Visit the website of The Royal Mint Museum.

See: The Royal Mint Museum.

Alan71

It's a ridiculous gimmick.  A 1/2p?  A 25p?  Guessing they can't use the correct specifications if they aren't proper circulating coins, but to me this is akin to the UK Euro coin sets from 2002/03.  It reminds me a bit of those, even down to the style of portrait of the Queen.

<k>

This is an official "circulation-like" set.  I believe "The Commonwealth Mint" produced it. The set was NOT meant for serious collectors but to earn a little money for TDC and that little mint. Don't waste any more time wondering about it.
Visit the website of The Royal Mint Museum.

See: The Royal Mint Museum.