<Surely, as a coin collector, you have heard of the privately minted Moffat gold coin>
Good example of my earlier point. They started minting in July 1849, by Janaury 1851 they were a subcontractor for Humbert (US Assay Office authorized by Treasury) and by December 1853 they were gone (acquired by new SF branch mint when Assay Office closed) - not very sucessful, eh ? Minor problems like weight, purity, and dies ;)
The current definitions I use:
medal - piece of metal with a design token - medal used as a currency substitute coin - medal, authorized by a government for use as money
We coin collectors like to think of all current US Mint products as coins to distinguish them from medals, tokens, and other questionable private crap sold as "collectible" on the Home Shopping Network at ridiculous prices. |