€2 precious metal sets; who, where & why?

€2 precious metal sets; who, where & why?
 

I have been wondering for a while now who makes these sets, where they are produced and for heavens sake why?

The main points I want to makes are as follows;

 - Who is minting/producing these sets, I have never been able to find them in any of the Euro mint shops to purchase. Only seen at coin handlers/eBay etc. Also no one wants to take credit for producing them.

 - The info that comes with the set leaves the buyer wondering if they really are 8.5g of gold, etc (they are obviously not), but I have never seen an explanation of just a coating only anywhere. Are they legal currency? €2 collectors might start going crazy if they found these in their change!

 - The number of the sets are always 9,999 no matter which coin it is, German, San Marino etc, meaning no set is rarer than any other, but at under 10,000 is sometimes rarer than Proofs or BU Sets, coin cards, etc.

 - They are not in the Numista catalog anywhere that I can find. Does anyone want them added?

 - The cost must realistically be about €10 for a set; €8 for the 4 coins and some cost for the case, plus gold etc for the coating, plus overheads and profit. However because I can’t find the original producer it’s hard to find an accurate value, and I have seen then anywhere from €13 on eBay up to €200 on other sites.

My opinion - I quite like them, well I like mint fresh €2 coins, so what is not to like when one of these is covered in gold, platinum or bromiethium or what ever the other one is coated in! And before anyone screams JUNK, I see worse crap coming out of every national mint these days to satisfy the collector market, with these at least they are the actual €2 coins.

Before I leave you with a random picture grabbed from eBay to illustrate these sets, does anyone have anymore info or opinion on these coins?

Happy Holidays 🙂🎅

PMD coins are not in the scope of the Numista catalog. 

rsirian1

PMD coins are not in the scope of the Numista catalog. 

Please explain further? PMD? Why not?

Plated by private company after release by the mint. 

rsirian1

PMD coins are not in the scope of the Numista catalog. 

🤣

rsirian1

Plated by private company after release by the mint. 

Not much information there, why not, further explanation please? 

Who? and Where? I can not say (but from your example probably someone in Germany or someone who wants to sell there). Anyone with access to an electrical outlet, a bit of knowledge about the Galvanic series and a small amount of precious metal can do it.

I can only answer Why? : to make money. There are tons of naive collectors who read precious, limited etc. and equate it with valuable. But all you get are a few cents of gold and/or other metals and an irreversibly damaged coin. 

PMD = post mint damage

These coins are not plated by the mint. Some company takes normal 2 euro coins, plate them with various precious metals then sells them in sets. This is considered post mint damage just like if I took a copper penny and plated it with silver. 

Ohh Post Mint Damage, thanks.  So in which case any adding to a collector’s collection would be done under the normal mintage figures with a note of plated with …. Etc.

It makes me wonder then if they are still legal currency and why a half decent company (judging by packaging) would find it worthwhile to do, and yes I know the answer is money, but the profit margin couldn’t have been that big unless they were selling them for €20 plus.

Also, I still don’t understand why no one is claiming production of the sets, not the best advertising leaving them blank of information. I might do some more searching to find which years and countries are available, this might give a clue as to when they were produced. Ironically if they had coated / plated €79,992 of Monaco or San Marino €2s for these sets for a small profit it was the wrong decision as non PMDed €2 from these countries would have sold for a significantly higher amount 😂

Here is another example of a private company (here, Italian glass maker) using Canadian silver bullion coins.

It would be interesting to know what the EU law has to say about coin alteration.

Some time in the 1980s or 1990s some people started to apply advertising stickers on Canadian 25 cent coins. It was then argued that the coins were not modified since something was applied on the surface, without altering it. If I'm not mistaken, the law was then changed — or else the public objected and  it came to be seen as bad for the advertiser.

Interesting story to read.

I just want to add this to the conversation.

In the early 90s, the PM of Australia autographed two $5 QEII polymer notes for a collector. Media cameraman was there showing the PM signing on the two notes. It was then reported on the 6pm news. The next day, cops went to the collector's home to search for the two notes but without any success. According to the law here, the PM had broken the law by autographing the notes. Without the evidence, the cop was unable to charge the PM in court.

I am just wondering how much the two notes are worth now, if sold privately?

Interesting. If the notes are illegal, then it would be hard to sell them, even privately, as the potential buyer would probably not be willing to pay much for a “hot” item that he won't be able to display or put up again for sale.

Tourist tatt and like some of you had said - irreversible damage to a circulating coin.

Gold is around $160 NZD a gram, so 8.5 grams would $1360 or around 750 euros melt value. Red gold is gold mixed with copper, ruthenium is not that valuable and platinum is around $70 a gram, so all must be very thinly coated.

If its being sold above face value, its a scam and such sets should also advise that the coins are plated and not genuine gold or whatever else coins.

Type of flea market rubbish I would stay away from.

Camerinvs

Interesting. If the notes are illegal, then it would be hard to sell them, even privately, as the potential buyer would probably not be willing to pay much for a “hot” item that he won't be able to display or put up again for sale.

You will be surprised as I am sure many collectors would like to have the two autographed notes. The cops cannot charge the ex PM unless they have the evidence in hand, and the ex PM is still around today. I believe the punishment would be just a monetary fine and the confiscation of the two $5 notes. The autograph was done in front of a media camera. Anyone buying the notes would be naive enough to brag about it.

This is what I can find on Google search.

Paul Keating was also notorious for his anti monarchist views and riled a few people with the suggestion Australia becomes an independent republic.

So the desecration of the $5 banknote which released in 1992 showed the Queen of England, was likely deliberate.

I did some more internet snooping and found that whoever was producing these probably stopped around 2016. 

I found almost every country and microstate who uses the Euro as currency was represented at least once with coins dating between 2009-2015. The overwhelming majority were German Euros at about 15 sets to 1 of a different nation, I think it might be a German company.

I also found some boxes on offer with 12 slots designed to hold the exact size of the sets and a booklet, most of the boxes had only 9 sets in. Maybe the booklet has the company name in It?

I think the individual sets have been sold separately removed from the box.

Now as for the legality of changing the Euro coins and possible punishment, I think this only applies to coins and notes of the UK and former countries who still use the Queens and now Kings image. The crime being defacing the monarchs portrait. However, I do think that the European Central Bank (who are responsible for the Euro currency) did put a stop to this production, because now I can only find similar sets - which are not actual Euro coins, so obviously they stopped coating real €2 for the sets ca. 2016.

These new sets are even worse, they are now only German coins with 5 different coatings (Silver has been added) and they claim to be Probe coins with one side looking very similar to a circulating commemorative €2 and the other looking nothing like the €2 coins!

One final thing, as mentioned by another member, it is not clear that they are coated - and it should be labelled as such, well it is, kind of! I have to admit I missed it also, the German „Veredelung“ means the finish of something, so the final layer or change - however the company sneakily translated this to „refinement“ in English, which is easily read as the refinement of the whole coin not just the coating. If someone didn’t know the value of the base metals, they may believe the coins to be genuine Gold, Platinum and Coninuim 😉