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Millionaires Collection Folder Cover
Millionaires Collection Folder Cover
Obverse of 'The Charles I Oxford Crown'
Obverse of "The Charles I Oxford Crown"
Reverse of 'The Charles I Oxford Crown'
Reverse of "The Charles I Oxford Crown"
The Millionaires Collection by The London Mint Office
The misleadingly named London Mint Office are offering replica coins, euphemistically described as 'new strikes'.

Wannabees Collection?
We think "The Wannabees Collection" might be a better name for this series.
Although we could not recommend anybody buying one from the LMO, it's almost worth owning one for the entertainment value.
We have to admire the marketing skills of The London Mint Office, even if we do not admire the accuracy or honesty of their descriptions. It would probably be more accurate to describe these issues as a collection for aspiring millionaires, although we doubt any of them will make it, so we should stick to wannabee millionaires. Still, it's a smooth bit of punter* flattery which will presumably get LMO everywhere.
It may not be totally unreasonable to link the word "millionaire" with this "collection", as the stated issue limit is 5,000 sets. If The London Mint Office make £20 profit on each item, that's £100,000 per issue, and so they only need to sell 10 different issues to have made £1 million profit!

First Issue - The Charles I Oxford Crown
The first replica to be issued as part of this "collection" is a copy of the 1644 Charles I Declaration crown by Rawlins. It's not a very faithful reproduction, as it is only in relatively low relief, and is perfectly circular having been machine made, rather than the attractive irregular outline which would have been such an obvious feature of the original hand-hammered coin. Still, it's quite attractive in its own way. It's also slightly smaller in diameter than an original which would be about 41 mms.
The folder which accompanies the "coin" is folded on the right, rather like a joke greetings card, but is clearly made this way so that it can be opened when placed in a ring binder. The text in the folder starts amusingly with "For the serious numismatist", another sop to flatter and boost the ego of the punter*.
A few paragraphs further and we find "The back side..."; of course serious numismatists would refer to "the reverse", at least if they had a normal command of the English language. It does amuse us when we hear German or other foreign speakers referring to the backside of a coin. In describing this replica, perhaps this was a Freudian slip, and in any case was more likely to have been written by somebody with a degree in Marketing rather than one in Numismatics.

Weight Discrepancy
We weighed the sample coin we purchased at 25.26 grams. Curiously, the certificate which forms part of the folder states its weight to be 20 grams. While we salute this conservatism, we suspect that it is an error rather than an over-generous tolerance, and that either the certificate was supposed to have stated 25 grams, or that the coin was supposed to weight 20 grams. We shall probably never discover which, but it is another interesting example of inaccurate certificates from modern coin marketing companies.

Value
The certificate also states "Value of original coin circa. £40,000". True, the most recent Spink catalogue does show a value of £45,000 in VF condition, but only £13,500 in Fine condition.

Weasel Words from Salesmen - New Strike
While we have long thought it a good idea for reproductions of rare coins to be marketed and available for collectors, we believe this should be done in an honest manner. Sadly, many marketing people seem to think they have to use "kidology" to fool their customers into buying (perhaps they are right). The words "new strike" seem to imply that this is a real and genuine coin, along the lines of a restrike, but one which has been re-issued recently.
Why can't marketing people be forthright and direct, instead of trying to bamboozle people all the time? What guilty secrets are they hiding?

Specifications
DescriptionDiameterWeightFinenessSilver Content
Charles I Oxford Crown, Actual sample38.825.26925.7512
Charles I Oxford Crown, According to Certificate38.6120925.5948

Notes to Table
Denomination = Face Value.
Weight = Weight in grams.
Fineness = Silver purity in parts per thousand. Silver Content = Fine silver content in troy ounces.
Diameter = Diameter in millimetres.

More to Follow
We intend to return to, and add to this page later.

A Rash of Modern Reproduction Coins

Coin Replicas And Patterns (C.R.A.P.)

*Punter
Not a word we would usually use to describe one of our customers, but probably quite fitting in the case of LMO victims.



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