Fantasies for French overseas territories

[Bimat]

It's not over yet!

Next one is from Tromelin Island.

Aditya

[Bimat]

Europa Island.

Aditya

[Bimat]

Amsterdam and Saint Paul Islands. (Both are different locations, Île Saint-Paul and Île Amsterdam).

Aditya

[Bimat]

Crozet Islands.

Aditya

[Bimat]

Adélie Land.

Aditya

[Bimat]

French Antarctic.

Aditya

[Bimat]

I wonder why the French government tolerates them, though? It must know about them, and they are surely not official issues.

Is there any authority in France where you can register a complaint against those who are producing these cheap fantasies? I think these are not made in China (or US) but locally made..

Aditya

[chrisild]

Have no idea, but my guess is that all those are just fantasy issues. Some dealer has them made, some collectors will buy them. Who cares? The TAAF (Terres australes et antarctiques françaises) use the euro and not some fantasy currency.

Christian

[Bimat]

Some dealer has them made, some collectors will buy them. Who cares?

It would be OK if these sets are available for a dollar or two..but why would someone pay over $50 for a set, which is clearly described as 'Fantasy', 'Not an official issue' by seller himself in the description of the set being offered? The buyer has to be a fool to do a mistake like this..

Aditya

[chrisild]

These things are obviously not made for the "locals" but for collectors. And as long as potential buyers know that these are fantasy issues, I don't really see a problem. It gets problematic if/when a seller claims that these are somehow official issues. But I don't quite see what the French government could do in these cases. They may make it illegal to import such pieces, but that would not affect sales and purchases elsewhere, I assume.

Christian

[Figleaf]

And as long as potential buyers know that these are fantasy issues, I don't really see a problem. It gets problematic if/when a seller claims that these are somehow official issues.

That's the core of the matter and it's not a small thing. If it doesn't contain enough cacao, the wrapper has to say something like "chocolate fantasy" and - at least in the EU - you can't just call it chocolate, but if it's a made up "coin" you have to trust the seller to point out it's a fantasy. Sure, if you like your chocolate with little or no cacao, why not, but that's not the point. The problem is not with the fantasy (let there be fantasy, the more the better) but with the seller. The problem is that calling something that isn't a coin, will inevitable fool some people. Caveat emptor or consumer protection? At some point deceitful conduct becomes fraud. Choosing that point is a political matter. I just note that all deceit and fraud is economically costly and inefficient as well as harmful to the real thing.

Peter

[andyg]

That's the core of the matter and it's not a small thing. If it doesn't contain enough cacao, the wrapper has to say something like "chocolate fantasy" and - at least in the EU - you can't just call it chocolate, but if it's a made up "coin" you have to trust the seller to point out it's a fantasy. Sure, if you like your chocolate with little or no cacao, why not, but that's not the point. The problem is not with the fantasy (let there be fantasy, the more the better) but with the seller. The problem is that calling something that isn't a coin, will inevitable fool some people. Caveat emptor or consumer protection? At some point deceitful conduct becomes fraud. Choosing that point is a political matter. I just note that all deceit and fraud is economically costly and inefficient as well as harmful to the real thing.

Peter

The analogy falls down just a little,  as we would only have to put on the wrapper if the chocolate has no cacao - if someone were to sell on some lumps of unwrapped chocolate (ignoring the food safety laws) how would we know what sort of chocolate it was?  Similarly, as long as the original packaging states what these are how are we to stop dealers selling them on unwrapped (as it were) ?

[<k>]

Obverse of the Comoros 10 francs coin of 1964.  Real coin.  Notice the ships. This is how France indicates that this is (or was, in this case) an overseas territory.


Now we have a fantasy for the Iles Marquises (Marquesas Islands), image from Joel Anderson's site. Notice the crude copy of the obverse design used by France. The legend even reads "Institut d'emission d'outre-mer". This is meant to look official, but even Joel describes it as unofficial (an "unofficial pattern" - a contradiction in terms, because a pattern is an official product of an official national or authorised mint).