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Tower Art Gallery - Our First Hammered Coin


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Ces53, in collaboration with the Tower Art Gallery, are pleased to finally unveil a project several years in the making; the first ever currency, minted by a Graffiti King. Using ancient techniques that originate from the beginning of the monetary system, we have minted our own coinage using solid silver and gold.

In this time of financial turmoil and uncertainty, we offer the perfect opportunity for a safe investment by combining gold and silver with unique and collectable art. With the inevitable collapse of the Fiat Currency looming, there has never been a more appropriate time to question the stock market's precious metal price manipulation…

 

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For more info please go to... http://www.100artworks.com/2013/05/ces53-clown-back-from-hell-press-release.html

 

Or our gallery website... http://www.towerartgallery.com

 

Looking forward to hearing all of your feedback...

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Hello rsraghead,

I'm a silver stacker. I like heavy coins and as many as possible :-)

 

In this process of learning how to make medieval hammered coins, I have grown a real love for all hammered coins. We spent alot of time in our two local coin shops over the past month.

 

It is a real shame we could not offer the silver coin closer to spot price. But I think the gold bags are close enough.

 

The silver coins are re stamped Silver three pence coins!

The gold coins are half sovereign that have been re stamped!

 

T

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Even though this really is an advertisement, I'm not going to delete it because I think it will have enough general interest and perhaps raise some interesting discussions.

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Hello,

yes sorry to be spamming our products in your community like this. To be honest we would most like some feedback from the coin collecting world.

 

We have sold around 50 silver coins and 3 gold. As far as I know only one (gold) coin has gone to a coin collector. The rest of them have gone to graffiti and gallery fans. We have had a post on coinweek.com and a few other art blogs. Do any of you have any tips on how to push our coins?

 

ps: I stack 1oz coins. I have around 400 so far (2 years collecting) all different.

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I do to.

It seems a shame.to destroy old coins to make new hammered ones, I to own and collect hammered coins, howwever, it is for the historical significance

All these coins being hammered each have their own story behind the time of their mintage and is unique in itself.

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All of the coins we have used have been from the scrap pile. If we had not got our hands on them the coin shop would have sent them down to London to be melted down for bars by the bullion dealers. Using the old coins means they are all the same weight and quality of metal.

 

I hope the fiat system changes soon. I have read they normally last around 25 years. A lot of my friends would like to get good jobs with there degrees and get onto the property ladder one day.

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I hope your friends get good jobs etc but I do not think fiat money is the problem. Not sure where the 25 year cycle info comes from? I do not think that is correct but am open to any evidence.

 

I think fiat money has just been blown up into the bogeyman for the worlds economic woes, without any sound arguments or real evidence.

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Ripped this off google...

 

The Life Span of Fiat Currencies

Here are some interesting points from a study of over 775 fiat currencies.

  • Shortest life span: 1 month
  • Average life span: 27 years
  • Longest life span: 317 years (pound sterling). However, the pound sterling has lost 99.5% of its original value.

So, what happened to these currencies?

  • 20% failed through hyperinflation
  • 21% were destroyed by war
  • 12% destroyed by independence
  • 24% were monetarily reformed
  • 23% are still in circulation
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24% were monetarily reformed = Deutchmarks to euro, lira to euros, francs to euro etc so just a change, not a failure of the fiat currency
12% destroyed by independence = A newly independent country just introduces its own currency, so not a failure of the fiat currency
21% destroyed by war = So not a failure of the fiat currency
23% still in circulation.

So 80% of the fiat currencies were not failures.

The 20% that failed due to hyperinflation might have been caused by other reasons than a fundemental problem with fiat money, the only real problem with fiat money is the over printing of currency, which is also a political & economic problem.

In the same way that "words" are very useful, they can also be used for evil purposes, so it goes with fiat money, used wisely it can offer flexibility, used badly it creates problems. By using a gold or any other "standard" that flexibility is lost.

Not that I would recommend to hold cash as it loses its value, is far better to invest in property, land, stocks, shares, bonds etc.

 

For some points against the inflexibility of the Gold Standard http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/politics/whynotthegoldstandard.html and the countries that suffered more from recessions & depressions because of it.

 

If there is any merit in a global economy of having a gold based currency why is it there no country in the world that uses it?

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While I applaud your efforts to promote them in coin communities, this type of item is intrinsically something that art collectors would be much more interested in.

 

As a technicality, I must note that the gold pieces appear to be in violation of the Hallmarking Act. (Any object sold in Britain as gold, weighing > 1 gram, needs to be hallmarked. Coins are exempt, but these are no longer coins, but rather a coin-like piece of medallic art)

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I'm glad I am not alone in not liking these for coins.

I do beleive them to be an art coin, but not anything as fa as currency.

Do not misunderstand me, they are nice, but I would rather have a cull coin anyday over just a piece of silver.

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Glad we've got so many bright members willing to correct people!

 

Robert brings up a good point - where exactly do we draw the line between art and currency in numismatics? When would you spend a commemorative or a proof? When would you cash in your coins for their melt value? A topic for another thread!

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These coins a.k.a coin-like piece of medallic art are pretty indeed. It’s interesting to turn a worn-out old coin into one with modern graffiti. Now that the coins have been hammered or modified, technically it’s no longer a coin an investor would look for. Though, the creative designs make it a collectible for art lovers. Good luck!!!

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I'm glad I am not alone in not liking these for coins.

 

You're definitely not the only one. As a collector and researcher of English medieval hammered coins this seems like a cheap gimmick to me. A shame, really.

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I have to agree. Not a coin and not very interesting except as an example of performance art. I would not call it an investment and I think it will be illegal to sell them in Minnesota after August 1 (refering to Minnesota's new bullion coin dealer act).

 

Thank you Art. Good decision to at least have the discussion here.

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24% were monetarily reformed = Deutchmarks to euro, lira to euros, francs to euro etc so just a change, not a failure of the fiat currency

12% destroyed by independence = A newly independent country just introduces its own currency, so not a failure of the fiat currency

21% destroyed by war = So not a failure of the fiat currency

23% still in circulation.

 

So 80% of the fiat currencies were not failures.

 

The 20% that failed due to hyperinflation might have been caused by other reasons than a fundemental problem with fiat money, the only real problem with fiat money is the over printing of currency, which is also a political & economic problem.

 

In the same way that "words" are very useful, they can also be used for evil purposes, so it goes with fiat money, used wisely it can offer flexibility, used badly it creates problems. By using a gold or any other "standard" that flexibility is lost.

 

Not that I would recommend to hold cash as it loses its value, is far better to invest in property, land, stocks, shares, bonds etc.

 

For some points against the inflexibility of the Gold Standard http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/politics/whynotthegoldstandard.html and the countries that suffered more from recessions & depressions because of it.

 

If there is any merit in a global economy of having a gold based currency why is it there no country in the world that uses it?

 

Many of those currencies didn't fail due to a hyperinflation to be sure, but they almost invariably are a poor long term store of value because of a slow loss of value. The US, for instance, seems to find a 1-3 percent inflation, year upon year, to be acceptable; at least people don't bitch too much about inflation when it's kept this low. (On the other hand, it's gone as high as 12 percent a year, even 18% for a period of a month or two.) It's a hidden tax on any form of savings, and it happens primarily because governments and central banks create more money (through a convoluted process sometimes) to cover government spending more than it actually took in in revenue. So even a non-failed fiat currency allows for dishonesty by the issuing authorities. The very inflexibility of gold prevents this sort of thing. And since governments benefit by being able to fire up the printing press to cover deficit spending, they like fiat money on the whole, and that's why no one continues to use gold as a base for their currency. It supplies too much discipline for governments that buy votes with your tax money.

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All points that I covered in my post;

 

the only real problem with fiat money is the over printing of currency, which is also a political & economic problem.

 

Not that I would recommend to hold cash as it loses its value, is far better to invest in property, land, stocks, shares, bonds etc.

 

For some points against the inflexibility of the Gold Standard http://www.j-bradfor...ldstandard.html and the countries that suffered more from recessions & depressions because of it. The inflexibility being the cause.

 

If there is any merit in a global economy of having a gold based currency why is it there no country in the world that uses it?

 

Without inflation there would be no interest paid on deposits, most economists fear deflation more than inflation.

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Look at all the European countries that use the Euro instead of their old currencies and the horrendous problems it created because they had no flexibility to revalue their currency against stronger economies. Tying your currency to another or to a standard almost guarantees that during a depression or recession that inflexibility will cause greater harm to you than the countries that have fiat money. Why worry about inflation, devaluation of the money in your pocket or bank account when it should be invested in something as soon as possible. So fiat money loses value, well over time wages increase, are we generally any worse off now than when people were living under the gold standard? I don't think so.

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