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.They also implied that the coins were made ofpure silver from silver bars recovered at Ground Zero.This prompted an immediate response from the U.S.Mint: The Freedom Tower Silver Dollar is not a genuine UnitedStates Mint coin or medal.Under the Constitution, Congresshas the exclusive power to coin money of the United States.Clearly, the Common-wealth of the Northern MarianaIslands, a U.S.insular possession, does not have theauthority to coin its own money.Congress did notauthorize the National Collector s Mint product, and theUnited States Government does not endorse it.The New York attorney general once again rode to the rescue,obtaining a court order to halt sales of the Freedom Tower SilverDollar, and filed suit against National Collector s Mint for makingfraudulent and misleading claims.In the suit, it was shown that the coins were not made of pure orsolid silver, but rather an inexpensive metal alloy plated withapproximately one ten-thousandth of an inch of silver valued atapproximately 1.4 cents.The attorney general also went on toshow that the coins were not legal tender, and that far from being aU.S.territorial minting in the Commonwealth of the NorthernMariana Islands, the coins had actually been minted in Wyoming.National Collector s Mint had to pay $369,510 in civil penalties,and offer a refund to anyone who purchased the coins.Thecompany ended up paying out $2.2 million in refunds.But all that publicity did not go to waste.Not missing theopportunity, the coin is now being offered as  the world s mosttalked about commemo-rative, and the brand-new 2005 FreedomTower Dollar is being promoted as  non-circulating Cook Islandslegal tender. You ve got to admire their tenacity, I guess.COUNTERFEITSThis is another shady scam that revolves almost exclusivelyaround numismatics.Almost 99 percent of all counterfeit coins are counterfeitnumismatics, not bullion coins.This makes perfect sense becausea bullion coin s value is derived solely from its metal content, and acounterfeiter must therefore counterfeit the metal (substitute a farless expensive metal for the precious metal) to make a profit onthe coin.This makes the counterfeiter s job incredibly difficult, ifnot nearly impossible, because he must duplicate the color,density (weight per volume), and sound (ring) of the specific metalhe is trying to duplicate in order to pass it off as authentic to theunsuspecting buyer.Numismatic coins, on the other hand, derive their value fromqualities that are far easier to replicate, like the specific design,rarity, age, and condition.Therefore they can be made of thesame metal as the original coin, making if far easer to duplicatethe original look, sound, and feel.A very large number of counterfeit numismatic coins don t startout as counterfeits.They start out as legally minted reproductioncoins, which are first sold as replicas.Sometimes, however, theoriginal purchaser of the coin resells it, claiming it to be anoriginal, and then the coin becomes counterfeit.Other coins are manufactured with the express purpose ofbeing passed off as the genuine article.There is currently a floodof these counterfeits coming out of Asia.Another scam is counterfeit certified coins.Recently I readabout people buying certified and slabbed coins online only to findthey ve been scammed.There are a few ways to do this.Thescammer will take some real, high-quality, collectible coins, andsend them into a grading service.When he gets them back, thescammer removes the coins from their supposedly tamper-proofslab, and replaces the coins with either real coins of a far lowergrade or counterfeits; or the scammer buys his own slabs directfrom the manufacturer and then inserts anything he wants.This hasbeen made quite easy as slabs are now available online for lessthan $2 each.There is a tremendous advantage for the scammer in sellingyou a slabbed counterfeit, because you can t hold the coin in yourhand, feel the weight and density, and hear the ring of the metal.DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE!So now I m going to say it one more time: If you re going to buycollector coins, please, please, please do your due diligence anddevelop a relationship with a dealer you ve researched.If you buyfrom a reputable dealer there should be nothing to worry aboutother than the buy/sell spread (aka bid/ask spread).ConfiscationRemember when we talked about how the U.S.government madeprivate ownership of gold illegal in 1933? Well, if you think thatcan t happen again, think again.It all comes down to this: The government makes the rules,changes the rules, and enforces the rules.Though it lacks themoral right, it can create the legal authority.Though it lacks theconstitutional empowerment, it can turn a blind eye to theConstitution.The Constitution says that only gold and silver coincan be money in the United States, yet they outlawed money andstuck us with currency.The Constitution did not stop thegovernment from taking people s gold in 1933.If the governmentchooses to outlaw private gold ownership again, there isunfortunately nothing you or I will be able to do about it.Many times, shady coin dealers will tell you that they sell certaincoins that are exempt from confiscation.The whole concept isperpetuated by un-scrupulous dealers trying to instill fear in yourheart so that they can line their own pockets.If you fall for it, you regoing to buy the wrong coins at the wrong price.If the dealer evenmentions  nonconfiscatable, then walk out the door, hang up, ormove on to the next Web site.This topic comes up time after timeand basically the whole thing is a bunch of baloney.there is nosuch thing as something the government can t confiscate.The veryfact that a dealer would use the term  nonconfiscatable is a goodtip-off as to what he or she is up to.In my discussion of FDR spolicies, I gave you a synopsis of the  nationalization and outlawing of privately held gold, but I never used the word confiscate, because that isn t what happened.As proof of my allegations against these unscrupulous dealers, Ioffer you this one simple fact.The pre-1933 gold coins that theyare claiming are nonconfiscatable are the very same coins that thegovernment nationalized.These coins are just the 77 percent ofthe coins that escaped nationalization because the public retainedthem, illegally [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]