CoinPeople.com > Where is Niue & Why do they have an electric coin?

Art

Feb 12 2006, 03:12 PM

From an ad in Coinworld:

QUOTE

World's First Electric Coin
Offical relaese commemorates the 125th Anniversay of Thomas Edison's light bulb. Squeeze the coin between your thumb and index finger and the coin actually light up!
- Legal tender commemorative coin of Niue
...

So where and what is Niue?

QUOTE

From the CIA Factbook:

Niue's remoteness, as well as cultural and linguistic differences between its Polynesian inhabitants and those of the rest of the Cook Islands, have caused it to be separately administered. The population of the island continues to drop (from a peak of 5,200 in 1966 to about 2,150 in 2005), with substantial emigration to New Zealand, 2,400 km to the southwest

Location: Oceania, island in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Tonga

Geographic coordinates: 19 02 S, 169 52 W

Map references: Oceania

Area: total: 260 sq km
land: 260 sq km
water: 0 sq km

Area - comparative:
1.5 times the size of Washington, DC

An electric coin -- wow!!!!

Want more info ? --- click here.

Sir Sisu

Feb 12 2006, 04:24 PM

That definitely is unique! So fingerprints will come with the territory I guess.

cowhodan

Feb 12 2006, 05:38 PM

I thought I had seen it everything with the guitar shaped coins, acrilic, wood and watch coins, but this is definitely the strangest one..

I like it, but after all those squeezes, I dont think it will look that nice covered with fingerprints...

tabbs

Feb 12 2006, 06:09 PM

Neat gimmick that makes up for the poorly done Edison portrait on the other side. But judging from the images in the SCWC, I think that Niue does not issue such pieces for the domestic market. Beckenbauer and Snoopy? C'mon ...

Christian

Ætheling

Feb 13 2006, 06:06 PM

We've been here before Christian with these coins with batteries in. (I presume it has a battery). How long would such a coin be expected to last?

mmarotta

Feb 13 2006, 08:29 PM

You could get electrons to flow with just two different metals. You don't really need an "electrolyte" medium, though air itself is such.

It would be more interesting if it served a purpose.

gxseries

Feb 13 2006, 08:36 PM

If I remember right, there were other coins that featured completely useless products, that included timers in it. One of them was a countdown to the German world cup 2006, another was the countdown to the millienium. Of course, it was minted for some remote macronations.

cowhodan

Feb 13 2006, 09:43 PM

QUOTE(Ætheling @ Feb 13 2006, 12:01 PM)

How long would such a coin be expected to last?
[right][snapback]157832[/snapback][/right]

The website says:
"And thanks to its advanced, groundbreaking technology, the light bulb should keep working for a lifetime!"
So you dont have to worry..

tbirde56

Feb 13 2006, 11:59 PM

"the light bulb should keep working for a lifetime!"

Probably the lifetime of the light bulb, in case you were thinking of challenging the 'warranty'. ;-)

tomodachi

Feb 19 2006, 01:15 AM

Chances are its an LED (light emitting diode), which won't burn out, coupled with a non-battery dissimilar metal arrangement.

Its a real shame to see the technology wasted on an NCLT gimmick.

ageka

Feb 19 2006, 03:07 PM

I think the LED gives you 10 000 hrs lifetime and who is going to give his body heat to make it work for 10 000 hrs

I think it is a thermocouple like bimetal that needs heat to make the electricity

Stujoe

Feb 19 2006, 03:54 PM

It could develop an interesting wear pattern from the squeezing.

But, I think it would be one of those things that got shown maybe half a dozen times and then forgotten about.

tabbs

Feb 24 2006, 12:26 PM

Talking about "gimmick" coins ... here is another one. The Solomon Islands issued a piece for this year's World Cup, a color coin that features a movie, sort of, in the central part. http://www.honscha.de/bilder/sonstige/20580g.jpg I guess the technology is the same that the Australian mint used to make last year's "Dancing Man" (60th Anniversary of the End of WW2) coin.

The images show a scene from the 1974 World Cup (which was also in Germany). And if you hold and move the coin http://www.emuenzen.de/GerdMueller.mpg it looks like a "movie style" sequence.

Christian

Scottishmoney

Feb 24 2006, 12:47 PM

Gees with gimmicks like these, maybe new commemoratives with Claudia Schiffer are possible, they maybe called the new "bust Euros"

tabbs

Feb 24 2006, 05:42 PM

Good idea ... Niue, Solomon Islands, Congo and the like do not have the €, but bust without euro would be fine too.

Christian

Sir Sisu

Feb 24 2006, 11:01 PM

QUOTE(tabbs @ Feb 24 2006, 03:21 PM)

Talking about "gimmick" coins ... here is another one. The Solomon Islands issued a piece for this year's World Cup, a color coin that features a movie, sort of, in the central part. http://www.honscha.de/bilder/sonstige/20580g.jpg I guess the technology is the same that the Australian mint used to make last year's "Dancing Man" (60th Anniversary of the End of WW2) coin.

The images show a scene from the 1974 World Cup (which was also in Germany). And if you hold and move the coin http://www.emuenzen.de/GerdMueller.mpg it looks like a "movie style" sequence.

Christian
[right][snapback]161536[/snapback][/right]

The effect is neat, but on a coin? That just is not right. *I can already hear the marketers at the US mint revising the First Ladies series: now we will see them baking chocolate chip cookies!*