Anyone saw this before?

Um, Yea...WTF?

http://www.nationalcollectorsmint.com/images/cnmi_obverse.gif

http://www.nationalcollectorsmint.com/uploaded/CNMI_Freedom_Tower.htm

At least they made a WTC one:

http://www.nationalcollectorsmint.com/images/cnmi_%20reverse.gif

I've seen it and it makes me sick. The Twins and Freedom Tower are on the same coin... The Twins are on one side and the FT is on the other.

It amazes me that the people who made that coin actually expect that someone would BUY it!!

:runaway:

o_O ..Yea, whatever..

Not the nicest looking coin, either.

I see these stupid commercials all the time...who would want to buy such a waste of silver? (it its really even made of it)

I'll urinate on the front and polish the back.

^:lol:
well what would the US be without selfish advertisement and heartless sale managements? They're trying to get a buck out of everything, but it will certainly not be mine!

Is the disgust here with the actual coin (and the prospect of making a buck off of a horrible event), or the Freedom Tower itself?

Is the disgust here with the actual coin (and the prospect of making a buck off of a horrible event), or the Freedom Tower itself?
I hate people profiting off of 9/11 in this way and I equally hate the Freedom Tower.
"Hate" is a strong word, but I really hate both of those things.

:down:

for me it's both.
I hate people using 9/11 in politics or anything at all, especially the Olympics trying to get them out of pity :rant:
and the tower sucks, too ugly to be the successor of the WTC.

Foster, foster, foster, foster.

We need to protest infront of Pataki's house.

do you really want to go to Albany?
I can go to Gracie Mansion anytime though, I'm already thinking of making some pics to introduce it to the world as NYC's white house

do you really want to go to Albany?
I can go to Gracie Mansion anytime though, I'm already thinking of making some pics to introduce it to the world as NYC's white house
I don't know about Albany. Maybe I'll just mail him an envelope filled with sugar and a picture of Foster's plan.

totally sad coin dood. the only thing i can do with it is mount it to a wall or something with the wtc twins side facing me. or if there's a machine that can mold coin metal i'd scratch an x through the freedom tower.

people who try to use 9/11 for profit really ticks me off too, like bush and the republicans airing post-9/11 clips in their ads to back their claim that he's a strong leader. and pataki and silverstein also used 9/11 to make the world trade center buildings submit to their own interests and their own tastes, which just pisses me off...

we gotta jam pataki and silverstein with anti-freedom tower emails, snail mails, and phone calls until they are sick to death of the word "freedom tower"...lol

whoever made this coin is definitely biased against the twins. they didn't make the antenna of the north tower glisten like freedom tower's spire...grr...

lol - Just came across this article, who in their right mind would think it's genuine?

AP

Mint Warns Consumers on Trade Center Coin

Fri, Sep. 10, 2004

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Mint advised consumers Friday that a widely advertised coin commemorating the World Trade Center is not a genuine U.S. coin.

National Collectors Mint Inc. has been marketing the "2004 'Freedom Tower' Silver Dollar," which it claims has been created using silver from Ground Zero, the site where the World Trade Center towers fell Sept. 11, 2001.

One side of the coin shows the Freedom Tower planned for the site and bears the phrase "In God We Trust." The other side shows the old Manhattan skyline, with the World Trade Center still standing, and the phrase "One dollar." The company marketing the coin says it is the first "legally authorized government issue silver dollar ... to commemorate the World Trade Center and the new Freedom Tower."

The company is not connected to the U.S. government, the U.S. Mint said Friday. The U.S. Mint is the only government entity in the United States with the authority to coin money.

National Collectors Mint is advertising the coins as products of the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The U.S. Mint said the commonwealth, as a U.S. insular possession, does not have the authority to coin its own money.

ON THE NET

U.S. Mint: http://www.usmint.gov/

LOL... What else would you expect from something connected with the Freedom Tower??

:lol:

Anyone see the commercial for this thing? I just saw it today.

It's like at the end for 2 seconds they decide to show the back and the Towers. Kind of like saying, "Oh yea, we added those two in too."

I saw this on the Daily Show the other day, it's hard to believe it's true. Just the fact that they advertise and actually use PARTS from that tragedy is beyond comprehension from me. Anyone who would buy this coin is a sick person.

http://www.nationalcollectorsmint.com/images/freedon_tower_obv_260.gif http://www.nationalcollectorsmint.com/images/freedon_tower_rev_260.gif

Here's another article on the coin:

http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/opinion/9733159.htm


All that shines isn't silver


Using my remote to click through TV channels one recent night, I came across an advertisement that was more than a little disturbing.

I didn't catch the entire ad, but basically it appeared to be for a government issue dollar coin made from silver recovered from a vault buried at Ground Zero in New York, where Islamic terrorists flew two hijacked jetliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

There were several things that bothered me about this ad. First, as someone who has been a coin collector for many years, I'm fairly familiar with the U.S. Mint's commemorative coin program, and I knew that the U.S. government was not sponsoring such a sale.

Second, call me old fashioned, but the idea of selling something manufactured from the ruins of a truly horrendous recent national disaster seems to have elements of sleaze written all over it.

It wasn't long, however, before I saw the ad again - it runs fairly frequently on cable channels - this time from the beginning. Sure enough, the promoters appeared to be offering a "Freedom Tower" commemorative silver dollar for a "special" introductory price of $19.95 plus $3.50 postage and handling.

I say "appeared" to be because unless one reads the fine print very carefully, the casual viewer will think he or she can buy a .999 fine (solid silver) U.S. government issue dollar coin commemorating the World Trade Center and the proposed 2004 Freedom Tower which is to be erected at Ground Zero.

The silver for the coins is said to come from a vault that was buried under thousands of tons of rubble.

That isn't exactly what the customer gets, however, should he or she decide to purchase one or more of these "historic" Freedom Tower Silver Dollars.

Reading the ad carefully as it appears on the television screen, one may notice points that the announcer glosses over. (Or, you can do as I did; go on the Internet site for the private National Collector's Mint of Port Chester, N.Y., and read in more detail what the company has to say about its product.)

Is it a government silver dollar, as the ad says? And is it made from silver?

Sorry, no cigar. Despite the ads' glitzy sales approach, the government "silver dollar" is actually what is more accurately described as a "relic piece," as explained in the Sept. 20 issue of Coin World. This is a magazine for numismatists that published an article on the so-called Freedom Tower silver dollar.

The issuing government is not the United States but that of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean near Guam. This is a protectorate of the United States, and as such has no legal authority to issue coinage. That's reserved for the U.S. Mint.

Well, what about the .999 fine silver used to make these "dollars"? That's misleading, too. What the National Collector's Mint actually means, according to Coin World, is that a "mil" is that company's way of describing silver layering 1/1,000,000 of an inch thick. The relic piece is layered with "100 mil" thick silver. In other words very, very little actual silver.

The advertisement boasts the "individually numbered" Freedom Dollars, which "may well be among the most historically meaningful coins you will ever own," come with a Certificate of Authenticity.

Wow. Aren't you impressed? In reality, these "dollars" have about as much chance of becoming historically meaningful as my cat - possibly less so.

It's amazing to what lengths some people will go to separate gullible customers from their money. Personally, I think making money through slick, deceptive advertising of a product that is linked to a national disaster in which thousands of Americans died is disgusting.

But it's perfectly legal. They've broken no law, except possibly labeling their product as money, which it isn't, but the government historically hasn't usually concerned itself over such minor infractions.


Phil Dodson can be reached at 744-4239 or by e-mail at pdodson@macontel.com.


I just had a look at the coin's site, and it's pretty laughable... There were FIVE exclamation points in their description of the coin, and lines like "Avoid disappointment and future regret" as a reason to buy it.

I SERIOUSLY doubt that the silver used was from Ground Zero... Doesn't that silver belong to somebody?! They probably just got it from some place named "Ground Zero" or "World Trade Center."

"Avoid disappointment and future regret"

Interesting how "disappointment", and "regret" often follow the F Tower, no matter what the context.

Interesting how "disappointment", and "regret" often follow the F Tower, no matter what the context.

That's cause the Freedom tower itself is a dissappointment they will regret. Let's just hope it turns out half decent..

I know it was just one sentence, but can you read between the lines? I was obviously inferring that FT will be a disapointment, and no it will not turn out half-decent. It will never look as good as the renderings. It will look worse, it will be short, it will be surrounded by chunky, stumpy, pieces of broken glass and dreams.

From http://www.usatoday.com/money/2004-10-13-wtc-coin_x.htm

--------------------------------

Spitzer halts sale of Sept. 11 coins he calls fraud

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer on Wednesday obtained a court order to temporarily suspend the sale of commemorative Sept. 11 coins heavily advertised as being minted from silver recovered from ground zero.
Spitzer said the sale of the silver dollars emblazoned with the World Trade Center towers on one side and the planned Freedom Tower on the flip side is a fraud and he's investigating the claim the silver came from the ruins of the twin towers.

"It is a shameless attempt to profit from a national tragedy," Spitzer said. "This product has been promoted with claims that are false, misleading or unsubstantiated." (Related: WTC medallion looks like money but isn't)

Spitzer said the National Collector's Mint says the coins, engraved with "In God We Trust," are legally authorized silver dollars, when they aren't.

He said the coin advertised as nearly pure silver is only silver plated, produced by a Wyoming company called SoftSky.

The TV and print ads include one fashioned after a news story that reads: "Today, history is being made. For the first time ever, a legally authorized government issue silver dollar has been struck to commemorate the World Trade Center and the new Freedom Tower being erected in its place ... Most importantly, each coin has been created using .999 pure silver recovered from ground zero!"

The dollar pieces are priced at $39 each, but sold at $19.95 with a limit of five per customer.

A company spokesman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. On Sept. 10, the U.S. Mint issued a notice on its Web site that the coin "is not a legally authorized government issued" product.

The temporary halt on sales is pending a civil suit filed by Spitzer in state Supreme Court. Spitzer seeks civil penalties, restitution to those who bought the coins, greater consumer disclosure and full disclosure that the coins aren't endorsed by the federal government.

The company sells a variety of novelty coins, including those with characters from the Harry Potter books and movies.

--------------------------------

Now, if only Spitzer would do the same to the FT itself...

They changed the look of the FT on the front of the coin. While obviously a legal maneuver, I actually like the coin version over the official one. Though compared to the Twins, they both suck.

http://www.nationalcollectorsmint.com/images/NEW-CNMI-FT-obv.gif

This coin has certainly become a true icon of the rebuilding process.

lol - The new version of the coin looks like a twisted wack version of an overgrown Chrysler building.

Damn, Spitzer is THE man, I hope he runs for Governor in '06.

^I thought it looked more like a partially-melted Two Prudential Center. Which, IMHO, is better than a pointy windmill with a birdcage on top. It's like comparing whether or not you'd rather be shot in the leg, or in the shoulder.

More coin news:

http://www.courierpostonline.com/news/southjersey/m101704k.htm

Burlco man sues manufacturer of Freedom Coin

Sunday, October 17, 2004

Lawsuit calls the 9/11 commemorative `shameless' effort to profit from tragedy
By TOM LOUNSBERRY
Courier-Post Staff
MOUNT HOLLY


You might have seen the one-minute commercial.

You can buy a $1 Freedom Coin engraved with the phrase, "We Will Never Forget." One side of the coin shows the Freedom Tower planned for ground zero and bears the phrase "In God We Trust." The other shows the old Manhattan skyline, with the World Trade Center still standing, and the phrase "One dollar." It's made of .999 pure silver recovered from a vault at ground zero.

The company marketing the coin says it is the first "legally authorized government issue silver dollar . . . to commemorate the World Trade Center and the new Freedom Tower.

A Burlington County resident doesn't believe a word of that.

Adam DeMarco has filed a civil suit against National Collector's Mint Inc., which is manufacturing the coin, and two of its officers, Sidney Nachman and Avram C. Freedberg.

DeMarco is seeking class-action status for the suit, which was filed Friday in Superior Court in Burlington County.

The coin, which costs $23.45, including shipping and handling, is a "shameless attempt to profit from a national tragedy though an advertising campaign," the suit states.

The suit seeks a jury trial and unspecified damages to the more than 10,000 people who are known to have purchased the coin and others who might have purchased the coin.

Attempts to reach National Collector's Mint, a Delaware corporation, with its principal business located in Port Chester, N.Y., were unsuccessful.

The lawsuit claims the mint and the two officers engaged in a "pattern of unconscionable business practices, including knowing omissions and affirmation misstatements of fact in connection with the advertising, marketing, and sale" of the coin.

The suit was filed by attorney Stephen P. DeNittis of Marlton in behalf of his client.

National Collector's Mint is advertising the coins as products of the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

The suit claims the coin is not legal tender and the coin was not issued by the U.S. Mint, that it is not pure silver, but silver-plated and manufactured in Wyoming and that it is not the equivalent of $1 in U.S. currency and was never authorized by the U.S. government.

The suit also claims that the mint has failed its "guarantee" that if the customer is not satisfied, the coin can be returned for a full refund "no questions asked."