Distant Lands Battle to Create Coins

SMALL COUNTRIES ARE PAID BIG MONEY TO MINT COINS

- BY MIKE GAROFALO

There is a new challenger in the battle to create coins. This is a battle between numerous sovereign nations. Are these nations amassing their troops and readying their navies and air forces? Not quite. This is truly an economic battle.

Most people have never heard of Niue, a tiny South Pacific Island nation. It measures about 100 square miles in total area and it is located about 1,500 miles northeast of New Zealand. During the 2022 census, its population totaled 1,689 residents.

Since the 1970s, this tiny island nation has been monetizing or minting coins. But it has made not just any coins and not for its own use. Many of these are gorgeous gold or silver coins with high denominations, and they are beautiful Mint State proof coins.

Further, the overwhelming majority of these coins have subjects that have absolutely no connection to the island nation of Niue. So why is Niue minting these coins?

Coin collectors prefer actual coins to rounds or medals. Private mints, manufacturers, marketers and coin dealers know that not only do coins sell faster than do rounds or medals, but they also sell for more money. Sometimes they sell for a lot more money due to the content of precious metals, the purity, the weight and the scarcity of the coin itself.

To change a round into a coin, all it takes is for a sovereign nation to approve the design and for the mint, or manufacturer, to place the image of its monarch, the sovereign seal, emblem or coat of arms on the coin as well. By doing so, the country is “monetizing” the round into a coin. The new denomination is also added to the coin.