GOLD STANDARD CORPORATION: This entity was founded in Kansas City, Missouri by Conrad J. Braun in 1976. According to fellow numismatist Mr. Phil Barnhart, Braun “promoted his company to investors and hard-money proponents.” These clients “would mail in monthly payments to be used in buying gold, silver or platinum. Once an investor's account totaled $2,500,” Braun “would mail the metals to the investor or store them in his vault in Kansas City. In 1980, Gold Standard had enough money to buy millions of dollars in gold bullion from the U.S. Treasury”. Braun then used the gold to mint his own coins, which he sold to investors and/or the public “as an inflation hedge.”
GRACELAND: This 13.8 acre estate sits atop a hill of trees in the suburb of Whitehaven (once an unincorporated part of Memphis, but later annexed by that Tenneseean city). The Graceland property was originally established as a 500-acre cattle farm during the American Civil War. Its owner was a publisher named S.C. Toof, of The Memphis Daily Appeal. The site was named after one of his daughter, Grace, who inherited the land. Grace had no children, so she eventually willed the farm to her two nephews and to her niece, Ruth Brown. Ruth married Dr. Thomas D. Moore, who acquired the entire share of the land during the Depression (much of it was later sold to build a subdivision and a shopping center). Then, in 1939, her husband built the Southern colonial home that is now known as Graceland. Its rooms, especially the living room and the attached parlor, were designed with superior acoustics; this was a high priority because the wealthy couple wanted to encourage their daughter, Ruth Marie, to mature as a musician. “Our entire home is centered around music,” Mrs. Moore had told The Commercial Appeal in 1940. In the Spring 2005 edition of The Caduceus of Kappa Sigma, Chuck Moffat wrote an article entitled Icons Abound...Kappa Sig's Elvis Connection, in which he interviews Dr. Joy Brown Wiener — a cousin of Ruth Marie (S.C. Toof was Joy's great-grandfather, and her father was one of the nephews to whom Grace, the mansion's musically gifted namesake, had willed her farm). “In her earlier years,” the author states, “she would join her family for music recitals which were hosted by her Aunt and Uncle” there at Graceland. “On more formal occasions,” Joy said, “we went particularly on Sundays and special holidays and ate on a dining room table large enough to seat 24. After those wonderful meals, we adjourned into the living room,” where the musicians amongst them would entertain the members of both clans. “Because of music being such an important part of life to the Browns and the Moores,” many members of those two families played instruments. “My Mother was a concert pianist, and my Grandfather Brown was the harmonica player. The rest of the family listened and then they would sing hymns and familiar songs until late in the afternoon, accompanied by us.” Ruth Marie would later become a celebrated, principal harpist for the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. Joy, an accomplished violinist, went on to play for them as well. “Joy and her Family continued to enjoy visiting Graceland well into the 1940s.” But the divorce of the Moores prompted Ruth Marie's mother to put the house up for sale. The parents of Elvis Aaron Presley, Gladys and Vernon, were scouting the area for a larger home for their family while their son was in Hollywood shooting the movie Loving You. Vernon wanted the family to relocate to Los Angeles, but Elvis wanted to stay grounded in Memphis. “The story goes that when Elvis was first shown the house, he gave no outward hint at how immediately attached be became to it. He was pleased that music played a major role in the lives of the Family that put it on the market. When he came to the parlor, he sat down and began playing Mrs. Moore's piano which was said was out of tune at the time. Something clicked, however, because shortly after the tour, he made a $102,500 offer for it — outbidding the Memphis YMCA by more than $65,000.” Thus, in March of 1957, the 22 year-old Elvis purchased the grand, two-story country home with earnings from his chart-topping song Heartbreak Hotel. “As part of the deal, Ruth took over ownership of the Presley's old house in the Audubon section of Memphis.” The mansion's famous wrought-iron Music Gates (a significant, symbollic part of Elvis lore) were added later that year; he also erected a pink Alabama fieldstone wall around the property. Graceland remained his primary residence until his death in 1977. He, and members of his family (mother, father, grandmother) are buried on the grounds, in the Meditation Garden. Graceland opened to the public as a museum in 1982, and it is now second only to the White House as the most visited home in the United States. Although the estate had been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1991, it was finally designated as a National Historic Landmark in 2006.
GREAT UNDERGROUND EMPIRE (KINGDOM OF QUENDOR): The immense fictitious Kingdom of Quendor was founded by its first king, Entharion the Wise, who united the rival city-states of Galepath and Mareilon as well as many other warring tribes. This zany realm reached its height under Duncanthrax. Some historians insist that he had previously been either a “general of the Royal Militia” or “a demon who assumed human form. Another legend describes him as a former rope salesman.” Whatever his origins, his ascension took place in the 31st year of the reign of Zilbo III, on the final day of 659 AE (After Entharion). Thus, the Entharion Dynasty, which now dated back more than six centuries, came to an end. “Duncanthrax quickly developed a reputation for cruelty, bloodthirstiness and aggressiveness,” thereby earning himself the appellation “The Bellicose King”. Up until then, the kingdom was still a relatively small, agrarian land “encompassing seven-and-a-half provinces on the western shore of the Great Sea”. But Duncanthrax “raised a tremendous army and began a systematic conquest of the neighboring kingdoms.” In 665 AE, their victory over the island-nation of Antharia (“the world's premier sea power” at the time) meant that its superb ship-building facilities were now at Duncanthrax's complete disposal, giving him undisputed control of the Great Sea. “Within months, Quendor's navy was returning from voyages with tales of a magical land on the distant eastern shore of the Great Sea.” It distressed Duncanthrax greatly that this vast, unexplored region existed outside his dominion. Unable to quell his rapacious appetite, Duncanthrax commanded his forces to assemble a huge fleet in order to acquire the irresistible territory. As his invasion swept across the Eastlands and he absorbed this newly vanquished domain into his kingdom, Duncanthrax made a startling discovery: huge caverns and tunnels, populated by a civilization of subterranean gnomes, trolls and other magical races. Duncanthrax's “imagination was inspired by this natural underground formation. If these caverns and tunnels were possible in nature, so might they be formed by humans! Duncanthrax realized that by burrowing into the ground he could increase the size of his empire fivefold or even tenfold! The Frobozz Magic Construction Company (the forerunner of the modern industrial giant FrobozzCo International) was formed to undertake this project in 668. For the remaining 20 years of Duncanthrax's reign, cavern-building continued at a breakneck pace. The natural caverns in the eastern lands were expanded tremendously, and new caverns and passages were dug in the western lands, chiefly in the vicinity of Duncanthrax's castle, Egreth. By the time of his death in 688, Duncanthrax ruled virtually all territory in the known world, above and below ground.” After the demise of Duncanthrax, “the throne was occupied by a long series of his descendants. These were unspectacular rulers, who took on the surname Flathead, for obscure reasons not necessarily related to the planar shape of their pates. During this period, there was very little change in the Empire, as the conquered kingdoms were assimilated into Quendor and the frantic pace of tunneling gradually abated.” Quendor continued to enjoy a long and proud history until the year 770 AE, when Lord Dimwit Flathead the Excessive assumed the throne. He, the great-great-grandson of Duncanthrax, became the 7th king of the Flathead Dynasty. His reign marked the beginning of the end for the large kingdom, which began declining because this colorful character “was also the single worst ruler the Empire ever produced. His vanity was surpassed only by his outrageous sense of proportion. For example, his coronation took 13 years to plan (and therefore took place two-thirds of the way through his reign), lasted an additional year and a half, and cost 12 times the Empire's GNP.” In keeping with his sobriquet, Dimwit made a number of exorbitant changes. His first official act was rechristening Quendor as “‘The Great Underground Empire,’ and within a few years the new name had completely displaced the older one.” He then decreed that the Great Sea be called “the Flathead Ocean”. He “seemed to prefer the newer lands on the eastern shore”, which is probably why in 771 AE he built a grand castle atop the small village of Aragain. He renamed it Flatheadia and transferred the capital to this location, from its previous location in Egreth (in the Westlands). Whereas Duncanthrax used his “ambition and ingratiating personality” in a productive fashion, “Dimwit was motivated to realize his bizarre whims. Raising the kingdom's tax rate to just over 98%, Dimwit began a series of grandiose projects” which soon earned him his extravagant title. As an example of his unrestrained outrageousness, Dimwit ordered “the defoliation of four hundred thousand acres of lush forest (to erect a nine-bloit-high statue of himself in the Fublio Valley)”. He did this “to lend credence to the Royal motto, ‘A truly great ruler is larger than life.’” This was an act that ultimately angered the powerful mage Megaboz the Magnificent, and eventually led to the collapse of his Empire. “Just before his death in 789,” Dimwit “was rumored to be planning his greatest dream: the creation of a new continent in the center of the Flathead Ocean. The outline and contours of the new continent would have been a gigantic reproduction of his own visage.” Though “Dimwit was certainly the most flagrantly indulgent ruler” in the annals of the G.U.E., “most of the Flatheads who followed him did their best to uphold the tradition of excessiveness.” During the feeble-minded reign of Wurb Flathead (the 12th and final king), “after countless years of decadence and over-taxation,” the Great Underground Empire finally fell in 883 AE, destroyed by the great Curse of Megaboz. In the end, “the Royal Treasury was sacked and everyone moved somewhere else.” The area is now called the Land of Frobozz, after its largest province.
GREENPEACE: This international environmental organization was founded in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1971. According to their official Web-site (http://www.greenpeace.org/international/), Greenpeace can actually be traced back to 1970, the year in which the “Don't Make A Wave Committee” was established. Its founders — Dorothy and Irving Stowe, Marie and Jim Bohlen, Ben and Dorothy Metcalfe, and Bob Hunter — were a handful of thoughtful, committed citizens who believed that a few individuals could make a difference. The Committee’s “sole objective was to stop a second nuclear weapons test at Amchitka Island in the Aleutians.” This tiny island, located off the west coast of Alaska (one of the world's most earthquake-prone regions), was the last refuge for about three thousand endangered sea otters, and home to bald eagles, peregrine falcons and other wildlife. It was Canadian ecologist Bill Darnell who “came up with the dynamic combination of words to bind together the group's concern for the planet and opposition to nuclear arms.” According to Bob Hunter, “Somebody flashed two fingers as we were leaving the church basement and said ‘Peace!’ Bill said ‘Let's make it a Green Peace.’” Everyone responded positively to this novel term. “Jim Bohlen's son Paul, having trouble making the two words fit on a button, linked them together into the committee's new name: Greenpeace. Marie Bohlen was the first to suggest taking a ship up to Amchtka to oppose the US plans.” Motivated by their vision of a green and peaceful world, the small team of determined activists leased an old fishing vessel called the Phyllis Cormack “and set sail to Amchitka to ‘bear witness’ (a Quaker tradition of silent protest) to the nuclear test.” Placing themselves in harm’s way would’ve been a brave act of defiance, but their boat was intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard before it got to Amchitka. Nevertheless, their journey sparked a flurry of public interest, and the daring group sailed into history by bringing much-needed attention to the dangers of underground nuclear testing (though the United States still detonated the bomb, the voice of reason had been heard; nuclear testing on Amchitka ended that same year, and the island was later declared a bird sanctuary). “The Amchitka voyage established the group's name in Canada. Greenpeace's next journey spread their reputation across the world. In 1972, David McTaggart answered an ad placed in a New Zealand newspaper by Ben Metcalfe, calling for a ship to go to Morouroa Atoll to protest nuclear weapons testing there…Their ship was rammed, and on his return the next year McTaggart was beaten by French commandos to the point where he lost vision in one eye. An epic battle played out in media around the world as a tiny ship challenged one of the greatest military forces on Earth. For the next two decades, McTaggart would vie with the French government over nuclear weapons testing at sea and in the courts, and rise to the leadership of Greenpeace worldwide. At a point when separatist Greenpeace national and regional entities were taking legal action against one another, the successful businessman and athlete stepped in and settled the arguments by founding Greenpeace International.” Today, Greenpeace is an institution “that prioritises global environmental campaigns.” Based in Amsterdam, they have 2.8 million supporters worldwide, with national as well as regional offices in 41 countries.
GRAND DUCHY OF GREIFENBERG: According to their official Web-site (http://www.gdgreifenberg.org/), the Großherzogtum “is presently defined as an ‘emerging micronation’” (a micronation being “a nation-state which claims citizens and a distinct culture but which has not been recognized as legitimate by the established states [macronations] of the world”). They describe themselves thusly because “at present, we do not possess the requisite physical territory upon which to officially establish our nation. Rest assured, however, that ours is a serious micronational project. We possess not only the determination, but also the resources to acquire the necessary territory upon which to establish our beloved nation.” Based on my personal correspondence with Mr. Joseph Hilger (Greifenberg's Deputy Head of Government and Foreign Minister), “our nation will, within the next few years, leave our ‘emerging micronation’ status behind when the Grand Duchy takes on physical form.” More specifically, “We are currently searching for land upon which to establish our nation as well as construction plans for the Grand Ducal residence (Schloss Greifenberg).” The Grand Duchy was founded on October 27th, 2004. This auspicious date is now referred to as National Day, “the principal national holiday in the Grand Duchy of Greifenberg. Originally known as Proclamation Day, National Day festivities celebrate the anniversary of the date when Greifenberg was first declared a sovereign nation.” Their type of government is a “Constitutional Monarchy” and the current head of state is “His Royal Highness (HRH) Grand Duke Paul”.
The first numismatic items produced by the Gold Standard Corporation belonged to the “fractional” series. These pieces feature, on one side, the phrase “For Integrity There is No Substitute”, which sums up Braun’s philosophy regarding gold. Also present is the symbol — a letter G with two parallel lines going down the center, similar to the U.S. dollar sign ($) — for the denomination of these coins, the Gold Standard Unit. On the opposite side, each coin bears the image of a different free-market economic theorist. The 0.05 Gold Standard Unit features Nicholas L. Deak, along with the slogan “Denationalization of Money” (the coin is referred to as the Deak FIVEPIECE). The 0.10 ounce gold piece features Adam Smith and “Trust in God” (the coin is referred to as the Adam Smith TENPIECE). The 0.25 oz. gold piece features Henry Hazlitt and “Free Choice of Currencies” (the coin is referred to as the Hazlitt Quarter). The 0.50 oz. gold piece features Friedrich A. Hayek and “Denationalization of Money” (the coin is referred to as the Hayek Half). The 1.00 oz. gold piece features Edward C. Harwood and “Sound Commercial Banking” (the coin is referred to as the Harwood Ounce; it should be noted that some or all of the pieces dated 1979 and ’80 differ design-wise from the other versions: they honor the unnamed “Director Emeritus” of the “American Institute for Economic Research” — this happens to be Harwood, of course, who was the organization’s founder). The V oz. gold piece (this Five Ounce Gold Piece is “The Largest GOLD Piece Minted in the United States for over 100 Years!”) features Ludwig von Mises and “Sound Money Means Gold”. There are also three silver pieces: a Harwood Ounce, a Hayek Half, and a Hazlitt Quarter. There is also a platinum piece: a Harwood Ounce (purportedly, the Hayek, Hazlitt, and Smith pieces were also minted in platinum).
In August of 2008, I was fortunate to receive a veritable treasure trove of printed information from Mr. Doug Thorburn. When I first asked him for photocopies of all this material, I mentioned that I hoped they would contain at least a small bit of information about the coins themselves (their purpose, the philosophy behind them, etc...) — this interested me a great deal — rather than being predominantly filled with biographical sketches about each of the free-market economists that are featured on the coins. He responded eloquently to my comment: “They are one and the same: the purpose and philosophy were to support the ideas of the great people represented, as well as to create a free market monetary system — which most of the economists portrayed would have supported.” In one of the leaflets (addressed to “Depositors, Subscribers, Coin Purchasers and Inquirers”) from circa 1980 (just prior to the production of the company’s initial silver coin), Braun states that “Today Gold Standard Corporation is considered to be the pioneer in the new industry of private money. We have evolved to become the largest private gold mint in the United States.” After describing his organization “as innovators in this new industry”, he goes on to provide a bit of background: “[GSC] was quietly organized to provide the average American a convenient and economical way in which to purchase, store and transfer gold bullion. Within two years Citi-Bank followed our lead and made headlines throughout the financial press. In the fall of 1978 [GSC] began the minting of the Harwood Gold Piece. We elected to use the expensive process of alloying our gold coins with silver and copper. The copper gives gold better wearing qualities for coins intended for circulation but makes the gold distinctively reddish in cast. The addition of a small amount of silver preserves the true color of natural gold. This alloy was used in earlier U.S. mintages and we are the only modern coinage (private or official) that presently uses this alloy. The Harwood Gold Piece was followed by other denominations including the Hayek Half, Hazlitt Quarter, Adam Smith TENPIECE and Deak FIVEPIECE. We were the first modern gold mint to provide a convenient way to ‘make change’. Within one year after seeing our success we had several competitors issuing the cheaper-to-make and impractical, soft pure gold coins. Few of these competitors are still in the business. And more recently the South African government announced its plan to follow our lead to market one-half, one-quarter, and one-tenth ounce gold coins.” For the upcoming silver piece, “We have elected to use the coin melt alloy of 90% silver and 10% copper. While pure silver costs considerably less to fabricate, our studies once again reveal that a pure silver coin is not a practical circulating medium. The addition of a small amount of copper adds durability.” Mr. Thorburn also sent me copies of numerous brochures. It looks like each “edition” of each coin had an official brochure of its own; in other words, every year a particular coin was minted, an updated brochure was printed for that very coin. At most, these annual brochures contain only minor differences/changes (in technical data, layout, etc…) from one to another. Each brochure provides information about the coinage of GSC, as well as a brief bio of the specific economist/theorist honored on the coin for which that publication was printed. These brochures also repeat and expand upon the descriptions of the coins’ metal content: “Gold Standard mintages are made with the same alloy as those of previous U.S. gold coins, 90% gold, 7.5% copper, and 2.5% silver. The copper alloy gives gold coins better wearing qualities and the addition of a small percentage of silver preserves the true color of natural gold. Silver mintages are made with the coin melt alloy of 90% silver and 10% copper. While pure gold and pure silver coins cost less to fabricate such coins are not practical as a circulating medium. Gold Standard mintages are specifically designed to be used as a circulating medium. Gold Standard platinum pieces are pure platinum and contain no alloy. Since platinum is a more durable metal no alloy is added.”
Prior to receiving the documents from Mr. Thorburn, I knew that all of the coins in this series — their dates range from 1979 to (purportedly) 1985 — were produced by the Roger Williams Mint and the American Pacific Mint (their respective mintmarks are clearly visible on each coin). For this information, I am indebted to a fellow member of the Unrecognised States Numismatic Society (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UnrecognisedStatesNumismaticSociety/ and http://www.usns.info/) named Mr. Greg MacLean and later to the founder of the USNS, Mr. Oded Paz, who obtained precise mintage figures specifically regarding the Corporation’s proof-type medallions (many of which were offered by GSC from 1983-85 in specially packaged sets) from a Mr. William Melvin (who “was somehow connected with the making of these coins.”). Mr. Melvin reports that besides the proof coins (which “were double struck and the dies were polished every 15 to 20 coins so there would be a bright polished background for the frosted areas”), he is sure that GSC also struck many more “common coins” (without the frosted areas). Therefore, “I have been reluctant to conclude that all coins of a particular type were minted at those same mints. It is possible that two mints produced the same coins or that one produced common coins and the other proofs.”
Another major series produced by GSC was their “Interchangeable Gold Coinage”. The ones depicted in the brochure are all dated 1982. One side closely resembles the “For Integrity There is no Substitute” side of the original (“fractional”) series. The opposite sides are all unique. The 0.05 Gold Standard Unit features Adam Smith, along with the slogan “Wealth of Nations” (this is the FIVEPIECE). The 0.10 ounce gold piece features Elizabeth Currier and “Ex Pecunia Sana Libertas [Sound Money Means Liberty]” (this is the TENPIECE). The 0.25 oz. gold piece features James U. Blanchard and “Gold Means Sound Money” (this is the Quarter Ounce). The 0.50 oz. gold piece features Jerome F. Smith and “Separation of Money and State” (this is the Half Ounce). The 1.00 oz. gold piece features Milton Friedman and “Free to Choose” (this is the Gold Ounce). Proof sets (“Mint Proof Editions” were sold in a “display case” (a Capital plastic custom coin holder); the brochure provides a precise explanation of how a proof coin is manufactured (it uses language extremely similar to that of Mr. Melvin). The brochure also explains why there was a need for this new suite of coins: “There are two basic problems with modern gold coinage. The first problem is that until now gold coinage has been purchased at one price and sold at another. On any given transaction there is a spread of 2% to 10% between where you buy and where you sell. The Interchangeable Gold Coinage eliminates this spread. The Interchangeable Gold Coinage is both bought and sold at its face value. The second problem with modern gold coinage is that until now it has not been interchangeable. Since labor costs are fixed regardless of coin size and tolerance levels increase on smaller denominations of coins, the premiums likewise increase and buy/sell spreads widen. For example, one Harwood Ounce cannot be exchanged for ten Adam Smith TENPIECES because the intrinsic gold content and production costs of ten Adam Smith TENPIECES is greater than one Harwood Ounce. The Interchangeable Gold Coinage eliminates this problem. The risk to Gold Standard customers is the difference between the intrinsic gold content of the coins and the face value. This closely parallels the premiums already being paid for similar sized coins, therefore the market should clearly prefer such a concept since it entails little (if any) additional risks.” In a leaflet announcing the Interchangeable Gold Coinage (“a revolutionary concept”), Braun writes: “For the first time, you can buy and sell gold coins at their face value — no premiums or add-ons — thus eliminating the current buy/sell differential and permitting the evolution of an Interchangeable gold coin system. The re-emergence of gold as money in the coming years will largely depend on the freedom of entrepreneurs to meet the needs of the marketplace. Interchangeable Gold Coinage is yet another stride made by GSC towards attaining the creditability and merit a gold standard must achieve to allow such freedom…In 1979, [GSC] announced the concept of the fractional troy ounce unit of weight along with published buy/sell premiums for the different sized coins. The concept was so successful that the South African government dropped its Baby-Rand program and adopted the decimalized ounce format subsidizing domestic dealers to the tune of over $100 million to launch the idea. More recently the Mexican government dropped its gold peso program in favor of a decimalized ounce system. While the decimalized ounce has certainly been a step in the right direction and has introduced the idea of gold as a store of value to millions of individuals, Interchangeable Gold Coinage goes a step further. It presents gold as a medium of exchange and a means of trade, as well as an investment opportunity. Gold Standard is now offering five Interchangeable gold coins in a free market money experiment. The face value and gross weight of the coins are one ounce, one-half ounce, one-quarter ounce, one-tenth ounce and one-twentieth ounce. However, the intrinsic gold content of each coin is one American ounce, 14 grams, 7 grams, 2.5 grams and 1.25 grams respectively…Like the current U.S. monetary system where one dollar equals two one-half dollars; Interchangeable Gold Coinage allows, for the first time, one gold ounce to equal two gold one-half ounce coins, and so on. This concept is very elementary yet revolutionary for the precious metals industry. The only risk to Gold Standard customers is the difference between the intrinsic gold content and the face value of the coins. This difference closely parallels the premiums already being charged for similar sized coins…The coins produced by Gold Standard are the only means to acquire true American coinage because the United States has no official gold or silver coinage today. GSC is literally the lone pioneer in the field. Such innovations as Interchangeable and Fractional coinage have been initiated by us and later imitated by foreign governments.”
Gold Standard Corporation also produced several medallions unrelated to the “Interchangeable” or “Fractional” series. First, there is a “United States Prototype Silver Dollar Proof Set/Free Market Silver Dollar Act” set (housed in a Capital plastic custom coin holder), consisting of a “ONE DOLLAR” (one ounce, featuring Lady Liberty) piece and a “ONE HALF DOLLAR” (half ounce, featuring George Washington) piece. Both pieces are dated 1982. Text-wise, their obverse has “Liberty” and “In God We Trust”; their reverse has “Gold Standard Corporation” and “E Pluribus Unum”. Mr. Barnhart provides fascinating background information about these coins: “In 1981, the U.S. had a large reserve of silver in its stockpiles. Silver prices were rising. And a few hard-money advocates suggested the US should do something with this silver. Enter our old friend Conrad J. Braun — riding high on the early success of Gold Standard Corporation. Conrad was pushing for hard money and seigniorage-free silver. Idaho, as a major producer of silver, could be expected to be fully behind this concept. So this set was produced to promote the idea before influential politicians — and which actually came to fruition a few years later as the Silver Eagle bullion coin. But in 1981, a young Representative from Idaho named Larry E. Craig was the only politician to voice this support. On 11/13/1981 Craig proposed H.R. 4965 the Free Market Silver Dollar Act. No one else thought it was a good idea and Braun and Craig's lovely little idea was shuffled off to the Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs and Coinage.” The purpose of the bill was “to provide for the minting of United States silver coins.” It declared “that it shall be the policy of the United States to promote the free coinage of silver at a free market price.” The bill directed “the Secretary of the Treasury to offer the silver bullion reserves of the United States for sale to the public, except that such sales shall only be in the form of silver coins that are minted in accordance with the provisions of this Act.” It declared “that, in addition to any other legal tender of the United States, the following shall be legal tender in payment of debts, public and private: (1) silver coins minted by the Secretary under this Act; (2) silver coins minted by any person; and (3) silver bullion.” It directed “the Secretary to accept silver bullion or silver coin offered from any source in exchange for its equivalent fine weight in silver coins minted under this Act.” It also prohibited “any seigniorage from being charged by the Secretary for any silver coin minted under this Act.” Mr. Barnhart states that even though they are dated 1982, the GSC coins pertaining to the Free Market Silver Dollar Act were actually struck in 1981. “Anecdotal Evidence indicates these sets were handed out by Braun to politicians and leaders to support Craig's efforts.” The brochure that I later received from Mr. Thorburn contains more information: “The Free Market Silver Dollar Act offers great hope for unprecedented reformation of our money and banking system. First, it creates a new official coinage. The following coins are to be minted by the U.S. government under this Act: Liberty One Dollar and Washington Half Dollar. The price of these coins are to reflect the prevailing free market price of silver plus all production and marketing costs. No set number of coins are specified, but rather this is to be determined by market demand. Individuals, organizations, and companies can also mint the silver coins under this Act. The free market is the best way to determine how many coins should be in circulation. If the U.S. Treasury had a monopoly over the silver coins, then there might be too many or too few coins in circulation. By permitting anyone to mint honest weight coins, there will not be problems with the supply of coins. In effect the Free Market Silver Dollar Act will take away the monopoly of the Federal Reserve System. A monopoly is defined as a ‘single seller’ of a product. The product in this case is money, and all current U.S. money is Federal Reserve Notes. If anybody can manufacture silver coins, then there is no longer a monopoly.” Mr. Thorburn also sent me a 4-page propaganda letter written by Joe Cobb, the Executive Director of the U.S. Choice in Currency Commission (James U. Blanchard III was the Chairman). This is the group that actually commissioned “[GSC] of Kansas City, the largest private mint in the United States…to manufacture and offer as a one-time fund raising promotion these prototype proof sets of the Free Market Silver Dollar and Free Market Half Dollar coinage.” The letter begins by telling the prospective “Investor” that “On April 2, 1792, the United States Congress created the original Silver Dollar coin that became the basic unit of money for the American Republic. The Silver Dollar replaced the various ‘shillings’ issued by the individual States. Because it was a metallic currency, it put an end to paper money inflation in America. On November 13, 1981, a Congressman from Idaho took the first step toward ending the paper money inflation in America today the same way…You now have an opportunity for a very limited time to buy a prototype set of the new American Silver Dollar. This limited edition proof set has been designed according to the specifications in Congressman Larry Craig’s bill…[GSC’s] reputation for the highest quality proof coinage work is internationally recognized. As the recognized pioneer in free market financial services and coinage, [GSC’s] gold bullion deposit accounts were competitively imitated by Citibank and Merrill Lynch. South Africa and Mexico have not competitively imitated [GSC’s] fractional gold coins. Today [GSC], in cooperation with the U.S. Choice in Currency Commission — a non-profit educational foundation devoted to Freedom of Choice in Currency — is offering you a chance to obtain THE NEW AMERICAN FREE MARKET SILVER DOLLAR COINAGE Designed to challenge the paper money monopoly of the Federal Reserve! Most Americans want to own some bullion-weight coins. South Africa sells over $3 billion of Krugerrands in the United States each year. But frankly, gold coins are too expensive for most people, so the market is still very narrow. This is where the new Free Market Silver Dollar comes in — every American can afford to buy one [it should be noted that the price of the proof set, as noted in the brochure, was $145 plus ‘a $15 handling charge on all orders under $2,500’]. People will be able to use them at the grocery store, the hardware store, gas stations, and to carry them in their pockets and purses as a symbol of the honest, hard currency that built our free market system and 200 years of Freedom of Choice in everything except currency. Now Americans will have Freedom of Choice in Currency too! The new American Free Market Silver Dollar is not primarily designed to be hoarded, the way Krugerrands are hoarded; it is not designed primarily to be sold by coin dealers as a collector’s item. No, the market for the New American Free Market Silver Dollar will be the universal market for goods and services — the Free Market Silver Dollar will actually circulate as money in competition with Federal Reserve Accounting Unit Dollars (FRAUDs). The prototype proof set offered to a limited number of investors by [GSC] will become one of the best silver investments of all time, rivaling the Brasher Dubloon of 1787 which became the prototype for the American Double Eagle coinage in 1792! It has been estimated that if every American family began to conduct only 10% of their purchases of goods and services in Silver Dollars, the monetary demand for silver would be $25,000,000,000 (paper), or 2½ billion Silver Dollar coins at today’s market price of silver! The potential for a dramatic change in the price of silver bullion is clearly there — and it is already happening: in Congress, in the market place, and by popular demand.” The letter goes on to provide an explanation about the silver content of the coins: “The New American Free Market Silver Dollar coinage is an innovation in the marketing of bullion coins because these coins are designed particularly for the domestic United States market, unlike the Krugerrand and other foreign coins. The United States is the only nation on earth that uses the American (avoirdupois) ounce as a unit of weight. The famous Austrian economist, Ludwig von Mises, proved in his famous book, The Theory of Money and Credit, that money always originates as a unit of weight of precious metal, according to the common system of weights and measures in each particular nation — in Italy the unit of weight was the ‘Lira’; in England, it was the ‘Pound’; in Germany it was the ‘Mark.’ Logically, therefore, in the United States the money should be based on the American Ounce (not the foreign troy ounce), so that people can take the new Silver Dollar coins and weigh them on grocery scales, hardware scales, and postage scales — yes, even on bathroom scales. That was the original plan of the Founding Fathers in the U.S. Constitution. Article I, Section 8, says: ‘Congress shall have Power … (5) To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures.’ The Founding Fathers intended for the money in the United States to be units of weight of silver and gold, not paper. The original U.S. silver dollars were almost one ounce of hardened silver alloy but not quite! There was no standardized system of weights and measures in the United States until 1827! The famous principle of the philosopher John Locke, who inspired Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, was not followed because the weights and measures were not standardized — and this has led to all of our modern problems with paper money, legal tender laws, and the Federal Reserve System monopoly. John Locke had written in 1695 — ‘The Monetary Unit should be a definite weight of bullion, which must not be altered.’ The new American Free Market Silver Dollar is a definite weight — exactly one American ounce of hardened silver alloy.” He later writes: “This limited edition proof set has been designed precisely according to the specifications of Congressman Larry Craig’s bill in the U.S. House of Representatives…[GSC’s] prototype proof coins will say ‘Gold Standard Corporation’ instead of ‘United States of America,’ of course — as the bill requires for privately minted coins.” It should be noted that 1982 (the date on the coins) was selected because it was the 250th anniversary of George Washington’s birth. “The Free Market Silver Dollar Act will destroy the Federal Reserve System’s monopoly over United States currency. After Congressman Craig’s bill has been enacted and signed by President Reagan, the paper dollar and the Silver Dollar will compete in the marketplace. The Federal Reserve paper money will no longer be an exclusive legal tender, because Americans will have the Freedom of Choice in Currency that the Founding Fathers intended when they abolished the powers of the individual States to make paper money the legal tender…Freedom of Choice in Currency makes inflation impossible, because people have the freedom to choose good money instead of bad money. This is why the Constitution forbids the States from making bad money a legal tender. The Free Market Silver Dollar Act will forbid the Federal Reserve from making its monopoly money an exclusive legal tender (it will remain in circulation only as a ‘voluntary’ tender — debts denominated in Silver Dollars would have to be paid in Silver Dollars). Freedom of Choice in Currency has been the solution to all of the earlier monetary crises of the United States. In the 19th century, it was the fixed price of gold in terms of silver that caused the political turmoil after the Civil War. In the 20th century, it was the Federal Reserve System monopoly that caused the Great Depression of the 1930s and the Great Inflation of the 1970s. The U.S. Choice in Currency Commission has published research reports that demonstrate how Freedom of Choice in Currency would work — and how it would solve the problems of inflation, high interest rates, and unemployment today. Each prototype proof set of the New American Free Market Silver Dollar coinage that [GSC] sells will also include a $35 contribution on your behalf to the U.S. Choice in Currency Commission in Washington, D.C., which will help to finance the research about how competition in money and banking can end inflation and bring down interest rates. The Choice in Currency Commission has proven that the Federal Reserve System does not need to be a monopoly and has worked very closely with Congressman Craig to write the Free Market Silver Dollar Act according to correct economic principles. This is your opportunity to make an historic investment in the new prototype American Silver Dollar coin set offered by the largest private mint in the United States, with a proven track record for high quality numismatic investments.”
Along these same lines, GSC produced a fascinating group of 4 “United States Prototype Gold Coin Proof Set/Free Market Gold Coinage Act” medallions (housed in an “acrylic safe-keeping box” — a Capital plastic custom coin holder), consisting of a “Gold Troy Ounce” piece featuring a portrait of John F. Kennedy, a “Gold Avoirdupois Ounce” Abraham Lincoln piece, a “10 Gold Grams” Thomas Jefferson piece, and a “5 Gold Grams” Adam Smith piece. All of the pieces, dated 1981, have “Gold Standard Corporation” inscribed on their reverses. All the pieces all bear mottos — “Liberty” and “In God We Trust” on their obverses and “E Pluribus Unum” on their reverses — that are similar to those found on U.S. coinage. The text in the brochure is almost exactly the same as the text from the Silver Dollar Proof Set. Basically, the words “Free Market Silver Dollar Act” were replaced by the words “Free Market Gold Coinage Act”. For example: “The Free Market Gold Coinage Act offers great hope for unprecedented reformation of our money and banking system. First, it creates a new official gold coinage.” There is however, some new text: “The four coins that The Free Market Gold Coinage Act call for are not the only coins that can be minted either. Anybody’s picture and any inscription can be on any weight coin which is an important part of freedom of choice in currency. And since the price of the coins must include an appropriate premium to cover all production costs the likely result will be the emergence of private coinage over public coinage since the private sector is notoriously more efficient in fabrication and marketing. The fact that any size coin is free to evolve will allow the market to decide which size coins will be accepted. The Free Market Gold Coinage Act allows for the evolution of metric, avoirdupois, and troy ounce weight on an equal footing…To encourage the passage of this bill [GSC] was commissioned to design an exact prototype proof set of the coins described in the Free Market Gold Coinage Act. [GSC] is the largest private mint in the United States with over 500,000 coins in circulation.” I originally learned about this set from a collector named Mr. Pat McAuliffe: “If memory serves me correctly, this set was a prototype produced by GCS with the hopes that it would be adopted for U.S. gold coinage.” He pointed out that “it is interesting to note that the mint started producing gold eagles a short time after all this happened.”
Gold Standard Corporation also produced a “U.S. Olympic Boycott Gold Medal” (one ounce gold). On one side it features a likeness of Andrei Sakharov and the inscription “Champion of Freedom”. On the other side it features “a torch of freedom encircled by chains” and the phrase “Moscow 1980”. The brochure for this piece — provided to me by Mr. Thorburn — reads: “It is long past due that free men from around the world support those who are enslaved in other parts of the world, for if the tables were turned would we not want the same? For without our support in spirit, in thought, and in actions consistent with the principles of liberty we stand a good chance of becoming slaves ourselves. Because of the potentially grave consequences of the present crises it is our duty as free men to make it clear to leaders throughout the world that the enemy of freedom is not the Russian people but oppressive statist systems. It is in this spirit that [GSC] is offering this special OLYMPIC BOYCOTT MEDAL.” The brochure later states: “In our first year, [GSC] circulated over 200,000 gold pieces in five different denominations (one ounce, one-half ounce, one-quarter ounce, one-tenth ounce, and one-twentieth ounce) making us the largest gold mint in the United States. Many Americans are investing in Gold Standard mintages because of their practical size and cost.” One of the letters written by Braun to his customers reads: “Andrei Dmitriyebich Sakharov, winner of the 1975 Nobel Peace Prize, a renowned scientist and the most prominent advocate of human rights remaining in the Soviet Union, was driven out of Moscow by the KGB in January of this year [1980] and exiled to the ‘closed’ city of Gorky. Sakharov and his wife, Yelena Bonner, a well-known human rights activist herself, have been forced to live in an apartment with a police informer and forbidden to communicate by telephone or mail with foreign countries — not only with representatives of international human rights organizations but with their own children, who live in the United States. The Sakharovs have already been physically beaten at least once by hostile police in Gorky. Most observers of Soviet affairs believe that the decision to exile Sakharov from Moscow was triggered by his public opposition to the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. Because the invasion had already provoked sharp international criticism, the Soviet authorities felt they had little more to lose by exiling Sakharov. The secret police had long wanted to move against Sakharov, but had hesitated to do so because of his distinguished international reputation.” Mr. Thorburn also sent me a couple of newspaper articles (The Kansas City Star) from June 1980. These articles, both by Diane Stafford, mention that Braun had already commissioned several other gold/silver/platinum coins honoring his economic heroes (these are mentioned at the outset of this listing). “In each case when a living person was honored on a medal, Braun has presented a gold piece to the honoree personally.” For the Boycott Medal, Braun (“a Kansas City businessman who has developed a sizable trade in the minting and sale of gold pieces to private citizens” and who is now “president of…the largest private minter of gold pieces in the United States”) chose not to change this practice, except for one detail: he traveled to Moscow in order to present one of these pieces “to Sakharov’s wife rather than the man himself because tourists are not allowed in the ‘closed’ city of Gorky. ‘I am going to make this presentation as one individual human being to another,’ Braun said. ‘You know he’d never get it if I mailed it.’ Braun’s trip to Moscow is fueled by the same energy that caused him to buck the system and develop the first successful private mintage of gold pieces in this country in about 100 years. He has found a broad customer base among people who like investing in gold in times of inflation and devalued paper currencies. Private mintage of gold pieces is possible because the government views gold as a commodity, not money. The gold pieces sold by Gold Standard are not legal tender, and it is incorrect to refer to them as coins.” The author mentions that “Braun, the son of a Kansas City economic conservative, Marcus Brown, has in the last few years undergone a self-acknowledged transition from leftist politics to right-wing economics. About two years ago, Braun began taking time from his job as a broker at Clayton Brokerage Co. to purchase gold at U.S. Treasury auctions. He quickly built up millions of dollars in deposits from persons buying gold bullion and began marketing his privately minted…gold pieces.”
Furthermore, from Mr. Greg MacLean, I learned that there is a 5-piece proof set of gold pieces called the “Testimony Series”. Each obverse features a profile of Jesus Christ and the words “For Christ There is no Substitute”; each reverse has a cross in the center along with a round crown of thorns along the complete outer border. Most of the pieces have one more bit of text directly underneath the cross: the 1/20 oz. coin says “five piece”, the 1/10 oz. coin says “ten piece”, the ¼ oz. coin says “one quarter”, the ½ oz. coin says “one half”; the 1 oz. coin is blank. They are all dated 1985, which is pretty late in the company’s life.
The Gold Standard Corporation also printed some “Gold Standard Certificate” notes. Printed by the American Bank Note Company, they were supposed to be treated the same as U.S. currency. Several denominations — I’ve seen the 1, 5, 10, 20 Gold Standard Units — exist; they feature, respectively, members of the aforementioned cast of respected economists/theorists: Harwood, Deak, Hazlitt, Hayek. The following text can be found on the reverse of each paper note: “This bearer certificate can be applied at the face value for exchange into the following Gold Standard Interchangeable Mintages [five face values and gross weights are then listed]”: One Troy Ounce (100 Gold Standard units), Half Troy Ounce (50 Gold Standard units), Quarter Troy Ounce (25 Gold Standard units), 1/10th Troy Ounce — TENPIECE (10 Gold Standard units), 1/20th Troy Ounce — FIVEPIECE (5 Gold Standard units). “One Gold Standard unit has a face value of 1/100th Troy Ounce fine gold. Thus, one hundred Gold Standard units equal one Troy Ounce face value.”
I don’t know when GSC ceased minting its coinage. Mr. Thorburn thinks that Braun “continued to produce coins into at least 1990. I'll have to check some ‘other’ archives, but this will take a while…I show coin purchases in 1988 from checks, but can't find the brochures (so far). I may have a collection of his newsletters somewhere.” It certainly seems that by the mid-1980s, the company was in decline. From 1983-89, as the price of gold and silver took a steep dive, Braun took his clients’ money and made some unwise investments in commodity futures in an effort to keep his company afloat. On the domestic front, he was arrested for harassing his spouse and imprisoned for 2 years beginning in 1991. From jail, he ran GSC by phone. Then, in 1993, 3 of Braun’s employees discovered that the company was $2 million in debt; they turned records over to the FBI, who in turn raided the offices in February and emptied their vaults. Agents found only about $100,000 worth of gold, silver, and platinum instead “of the $2 million in precious metals he was supposed to have”. In March, they began an inquiry, and Braun was accused of defrauding at least 550 investors/depositors; he was arrested in September of that year. In April of 1994, with the company kaput, he pled guilty to 5 counts of mail/wire fraud and 5 counts of interstate transportation of funds obtained by fraud. For the embezzlement, he was sentenced to 90 months in prison and ordered to pay nearly $2 million in restitution. Upon his release from federal custody in September of 2000, he was re-arrested for violations of the conditions of his supervised release. He was set free once again in June of 2002. Portions of the preceding pastiche were printed in the pages of The Kansas City Star. I also found a story in the Offbeat News section of CNN.com (posted on January 26, 2004), which has also been reprinted on other Web-sites: Braun “left a judge buzzing” when he showed up at a Johnson County District Court (Olathe, Kansas) wearing a bumblebee costume, complete with yellow stripes, cloth wings, and a foot-long stinger. This contemptuously satirical getup was his way of protesting what he claims was a “sting” operation by prosecutors (involving his former wife, brother-in-law, and the youngest of his 3 sons); their case, involving a blackmail charge, alleges that he made a threat against his ex-wife's current husband.
On account of this listing, I was contacted by someone in K.C. who was close to Mr. Braun, who states that “when Conrad started his business, he was really a visionary.” But on account of his personal tribulations, “he was not able to sustain his success.” The person says that “he maintains that he was an innocent man” who believes he was framed. “He is convinced that he will prevail”.
Conrad himself explains, in a sometimes difficult-to-follow way, his lengthy legal battles, at a blog to which he contributed entitled Sentencing Law and Policy. It all started when he was “sentenced to 180 days” for a misdemeanor in September of 1991. His served only 120 days, but afterwards, his troubles only escalated, particularly because he would not refrain from contacting his children, against the orders (which he feels were a violation of his civil rights) of Kansas authorities; since then, he has spent time in halfway houses, correction centers, state and maximum-security federal prisons (including a brief stay at the “the Larned Facility for the criminally insane”), and was considered to be “a danger to the community.” His business (GSC) had collapsed after only “a year and a half in Kansas prisons”. He concludes by saying that “I was finally released in May of 2000...I was revoked in September 2000 and finally released without strings in April 2002...I now reside in San Diego” and “have started a small business”. He is “very busy trying to get reestablished and fighting more retaliation...from Johnson County Prosecutors who are under DOJ investigation for their actions.” And because he was “wrongly convicted” and received harsh treatment based on his “false criminal history” (which is built on a foundation of lies and cover-ups), “I am determined to bring this to the public eye.”
I was fortunate enough to correspond with Mr. Braun himself in March of 2005. Based on the choppy, brief reply he hurriedly wrote to me, he stated that his coins were an attempt at “alternate money.” His first task was to “decimalize [the] ounce”, a concept which was pretty “Radical at the time”. He says that a viable system of substitute money like the one he developed is “Needed now more than ever. Idea that money should be in hands of government is simply superstition, like divine right of kings.” He asked me to complete my homework by looking into old issues of one of the numismatic publications: “The day the front page Coin World appeared the feds from federal reserve walked in my door!” He referred to his first group of coins as the “Pioneer series”. He also listed a handful of pieces pertaining to his “Pioneer Interchangeable series”, of which I was unaware (featuring Currier, Friedman, Blanchard, Adam Smith, and someone else he couldn't remember). I had no idea what he was referring to until I received the brochures from Mr. Thorburn.
I obtained (on eBay) a gold 1980 Deak FIVEPIECE and a silver 1983 Harwood Ounce.
Images of some of the pieces from the Gold Standard Corporation can be viewed at the site of Mr. Haseeb Naz’s private collection:
http://chiefacoins.com/Database/Micro-Nations/Gold_Standard_Corporation.htm
A few years ago, I was told about an intriguing Graceland coin from a fellow collector named Mr. Greg MacLean. After a time-consuming search, I did manage to eventually find one of these elusive silver pieces on eBay. In the process, I became acquainted with scores of Elvis-related exonumia and other types of medallions, mostly bullion, commemorating the King of Rock & Roll in some way or another. But what truly makes this particular piece unique is that it bears, on the obverse, the word “Graceland” (above an image of the mansion and its gates) and an actual denomination of “$10”. An engraving of Elvis, along with the words “The Man/The Music/The Legend”, appears on the reverse. The coin that I purchased arrived only in its original blue-velvet box, which has “The Legend Lives/1977-1987” printed on the inside of the lid. Though the medallion itself is undated, we can safely infer that it was minted specifically for the 10th anniversary of the singer's death. Additional information can be found in the Certificate of Authenticity which accompanied Mr. MacLean’s coin, which declares that this Elvis Presley medal was “authorized by Legendary Coins and struck by the Royal Canadian Mint.” The bottom of Mr. MacLean’s outer cardboard box, which bears a copyright date of 1987, states that the “medal is for commemorative purposes only” and is “not legal tender”.
The entire chronicle is extremely amusing, and can be found in Froboz Mumbar's 6-page The Great Underground Empire: A History (“Copied right in the year 896. All rights reversed.”). Zork had its origins in June of 1977, and it evolved into one of the first works of interactive fiction, otherwise known as a text adventure game. Zork I (1980; the original version, published/distributed by Personal Software, was simply called Zork), II (1981), and III (1982) were authored by Dave Lebling and Marc Blank (2 of Infocom's founders). Two other talented programmers, Tim Anderson and Bruce Daniels, also contributed to the MIT prototype version of the all-text game. Zork Trilogy (1986) brought together, in one package, all three Zorks. According to Tim Anderson, he and the game’s other authors were at a complete loss in thinking of a suitable name for their new endeavor. “Zork” was never meant to be a serious title for their project. The term (usually a verb, as in “zork the fweep”) was nothing more than “a nonsense word floating around” at the time. This tidbit of jargon was used to describe an unfinished program in their lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. So since they already had a tendency to use the widely-used hacker word as temporary label for their works-in-progress, the group decided, on a whim, to continue calling the game “Zork” until one of them could come up with a better suggestion or something more profound. They later wanted to change the name to “Dungeon”, but to avoid copyright problems, the much more original and memorable name “Zork” was kept. The name stuck and survives to this day. The all-purpose interjection may have been derived from “zorch” (a kooky-sounding word implying total destruction.), but its actual etymology, like so many other slang terms from the early days of computing, may be lost to history.
Froboz Mumbar's A History — which came with Infocom’s “grey box” re-release from 1984 (as opposed to the earlier “folio” format from 1981) of Zork I and later with the Trilogy boxed set — is designed like a textbook, complete with a “Questions, Discussions, Projects and Further Readings” section at the end of each of the 4 short chapters. One of these thought-provoking suggestions is of numismatic interest; it asks its readers, the Quendorian schoolkids, to “Try to collect 10 zorkmids from everyone on your block, telling them that the money will be used to erect a giant statue of yourself. Use force if necessary. See if the others on your block begin to resent you.” After reading the entire comical opus, fans who are searching for even more chuckles can peruse the entertaining Encyclopedia Frobozzica (penned by “Nino Ruffini”), which came with Return to Zork (1993). Fortunately, the complete text from the History and the Encyclopedia are also available on the Internet.
The “money” mentioned by Mumbar actually exists. I am referring to a homely-looking coin that was issued by Infocom as a “feelie” (this designation refers to extra content and/or physical objects/goodies/trinkets that were included with many of their computer games). The “One Zorkmid”, along with Mumbar’s History, accompanied the aforementioned Zork Trilogy. The piece is dated 699 G.U.E. (“Adding ‘GUE’ after a year did not become common practice until the latter part of the eighth century.”). Its obverse depicts Belwit the Flat, who succeeded Duncanthrax the Bellicose in 688 AE and became the second king of the Flathead Dynasty. The reverse features Egreth Castle (the royal residence built by Duncanthrax in 660 AE) as well as the motto “IN FROBS WE TRUST”. The presence of the Empire's abbreviated name on this coin is quite an anachronistic occurrence, considering that this imperial designation wouldn't exist for another 71 Quendorian years. This “coin of the realm” might be made out of bronze-plated cast lead, but Mike Dornbrook (who was Infocom's Marketing Director/Product Manager for Entertainment Products) says “it is a copper composite that has been chemically treated to ‘antique’ it.” They ordered 20,000 units, which were fairly expensive to make. As it turns out, “Arranging manufacture for it was surprisingly difficult. We actually looked into it more than once, but made very little headway with the private mints that could handle it. [They were generally appalled that we wanted to make something look beat-up and old!]” Interestingly, the back of the Zork I “grey box” actually depicted a Zorkmid coin included amongst the other feelies, but production difficulties led to their omission from the contents of those packages.
I obtained my piece from Mr. Todd Yoder, a fellow eBayer. Even if I overspent (as I habitually do), I prefer to look at this acquisition from the “I'm-just-glad-I-finally-found-it-because-this-way-it-doesn't-have-to-stay-on-my-list-any-longer-and-I-don't-have-to-invest-any-more-valuable-time-day-after-day-looking-for-it” standpoint, which makes it overwhelmingly worthwhile!
An informative Web-site that provides more details about the Zorkmid is: http://quendor.robinlionheart.com/zorkmid/.
SOSARIA (KINGDOM OF BRITANNIA): Britannia is a fictional land in the Ultima universe, which was created by Richard Allen Garriott. Ultima has attained the lofty status as one of the most seminal series of fantasy computer role-playing games (RPGs) ever produced, and one of the first games of this type available commercially. The forerunner/model upon which its refinements were made was 1979's Akalabeth (which is so thematically inseparable from the others that Garriott and fans call it Ultima 0). The first game was self-published in 1980 by Garriott (California Pacific Computer Co.). This was Ultima (re-appearing as Ultima I: The Original, by Sierra On-Line in 1984; re-released — with improved graphics and playability — as Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness, by Origin Systems in 1986). The Ultima line of products served as a catalyst for what has been recognized as the longest-running online subscription-based game in history: in 1997, Garriott launched the groundbreaking Ultima Online, creating a new genre of Internet-based entertainment which paved the way for a flood of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs). This pioneering, immersive world is now offered in 6 languages in more than 100 countries.
Britannia consists of the remains of Sosaria, which were united under the command of Lord Cantabrigian British (which also happens to be the nickname of the Englishman Garriott, the celebrated begetter of Ultima's sovereign ruler) after the defeat of the evil wizard Mondain (in Ultima I, whereupon three of the world's four continents seemingly disappeared, leaving only Lord British's dominion) and his offspring Exodus (the demonic chief villain of the 3rd game in the series, whereupon Sosaria, its name having fallen into desuetude, became Britannia). The capital of this kingdom is a city called Britain; this is where the palace of Lord British is located. It is the original City of Compassion and it also has a major port.
The '86 Origin version, which I chanced upon on eBay, contained 3 machine-made anodized (colorized) aluminum “coins of the Realm”. As such, these vintage video-game “goodies”/trinkets deserve mention, even though they lack a couple of important requisite features pertaining to coinage — general characteristics such as a discernible place-name and a year. There is a fair amount of “writing” on the obverse of each coin, and I initially assumed it was all just meaningless, alien-looking gibberish (which succeeded in giving them the appearance of bizarre, otherworldly pocket-change). Though each of the coins was indeed identified/named by one of the accompanying manuals/booklets, none of them mentioned that the decorative angular script could be easily translated. Seven months later, based purely on a whim, I decided to go on the Internet and investigate the peculiar “text”; it turns out that it is made up of an actual, working alphabet composed of Druidic/Britannian Runes. The coins say, respectively, “one gold crown”, “one silver piece”, and “one copper pence”. I am grateful to Mr. Gunther Schmidl for bringing these fascinating examples of exonumia to my attention.
In addition, Origin's Ultima V (Warriors of Destiny, 1988), contained one coin with the Codex symbol; Ultima VII (The Black Gate, 1992), one triangular coin with the symbol of the Fellowship; and Ultima VIII (Pagan, 1994), one coin with a pentagram; these 3 might just be called medallions, because the design is exactly the same on the front/back of each one, and there are no runic letters on them. Images can be seen at: http://www.cosmo.ne.jp/~naopooh/sub521.html
GALACTIC REPUBLIC/EMPIRE: This larger-than-life franchise, from the mind of film-maker George Lucas, has played a huge part in our generation's popular culture since 1977 (though the original 13-page outline/story synopsis dates from May of 1973, and the 1st edition novelization was available in 1976), and an introduction to this beloved saga is hardly necessary. To briefly summarize its currency, a galactic standard unit called the Credit is used to facilitate smooth trade in the science-fictional Star Wars universe. Several identical copies of the brass 1,000 Imperial Credits were included with the 1996 Parker Brothers Star Wars “Monopoly” board game (which I bought on eBay). This piece has “Imperial Credits” and “Coruscant” (the capital; its name, prominently placed, perhaps indicates the primary world where the coin is intended to circulate) written on its obverse, using letters from the “Aurebesh”/“Aurek-Besh” alphabet. On the reverse, the token’s numerical denomination is superimposed over a large depiction of the Imperial crest (the symbol of the Galactic Empire, which was used on many things including uniforms and consoles). The Presidential/Imperial Palace, an impregnably gigantic pyramidal structure, is also displayed. This coin is based on a design for a two-credit coin which graphic artist Stephen Crane (he was the art director of West End Games, and he developed the Aurebesh beginning in 1993) had done for a product proposal and which was later passed on to Lucasfilm when the merchandise was not approved.
“Credit coins often bear the unique name and symbol of the planet where they were minted.” These include 3 other 1,000 Credit pieces: a round copper coin from Ord Mantell (this planet is a smuggler's haven, and its continent of Worlport boasts a sprawl of cities, rife with casinos and vice-peddlers), a 12-sided brass coin from Alderaan (this planet is the home of many famous heroes, including Princess Leia Organa Solo), and a tear-drop shaped nickel-plated brass coin from Bespin (a gas giant, over which the floating metropolis known as Cloud City hovers suspended by a type of antigravity engine). The first 2 show the “starburst in diamond” logo of the Corporate Sector Authority. This trio (which I purchased from Mr. Oded Paz) came with the 1997 Hasbro Star Wars “Monopoly” CD-ROM, and was perhaps produced by the Hoffman Mint.
There is an additional 1,000 Credit piece, which came with the 1999 Waddingtons (United Kingdom) Star Wars: Episode I “Monopoly” board game. This one says “Galactic Republic” on the obverse, alongside a rendition of Chancellor Valorum, their head of state; the reverse shows a futuristic cityscape on Coruscant, the same setting as that of the palatial residence mentioned above.
Furthermore, in 1997, a set of four different Star Wars coins was available in specially marked boxes of Estrellitas cereal in Spain. The first coin was from Kashyyyk (the lush, tree-filled homeworld of the Wookies); the obverse bears a depiction of that planet, while the reverse has Chewbacca as well as the numeral “50” (clearly, this signifies the value of the coin in terms of Credits). The second coin is from Tatooine (the home planet of the Skywalker family and the setting for much of the action in the saga's films — as well as several of the novels and other pieces of written fiction); the obverse features a design that is the symbol for the Desilijic Clan, which is headed by Jabba the Hutt (he inhabits a palace — the headquarters of his criminal empire — on that desert planet), while the reverse shows Luke Skywalker and “500”; the third coin is from the Death Star (the planet-destroying space station); the obverse bears as a depiction of that man-made orb, while the reverse shows Darth Vader and “1000”. The fourth coin is from Alderaan; the obverse features an image of R2-D2 (the Insignia of the New Republic is also depicted (this was the seal adopted by the New Republic Provisional Council; the design was based upon the symbol of the Alliance to Restore the Republic — also known as the Rebel Alliance and informally as the Rebellion — that preceded it, the blue crest of the Alliance), while the reverse shows Princess Leia and “10000”. Each box of Estrellitas contained one of these giveaways. According to Mr. Marino Arribas Muñoz, Nestlé launched this free-with-purchase promotion with little success. It wasn’t accompanied by a great publicity campaign, and for this reason the boxes weren’t seen in the supermarkets for very long. Though we might assume that the mintage figures for all four coins were exactly the same, the people who actually purchased these boxes knew differently. “I personally bought a total of 120 boxes in order to acquire as many sets as I could, and I only managed to put together 9 complete sets and the rest were duplicates.” The coin he found most frequently was the Alderaan piece, while the hardest-to-find coin was the Tatooine piece. I purchased one of the Tatooine pieces on e-Bay. Interestingly, the seller does not have any of the other 3 pieces — the supposedly more common ones — pertaining to the set: “Yeah, collecting is weird like that. Sometimes you just can’t seem to find the easy one. The first one of these that I saw was 3yrs ago…I’ve seen 8 Lukes since then and not a one of the others since”.
Images of the Credits can be viewed at the Web-site of Mr. Haseeb Naz (http://www.chiefacoins.com/Database/Movies/Galactic.htm) and at the Web-site of Mr. Peter Geelen (http://www.jezuss.nl/monopoly.htm). Images of the 4 Spanish coins can be viewed at:
http://www.starwarsspanishstuff.info/edicion_especial/nestle/nestle.htm
ISLAND NATIONS FEDERATION (RAZRIL): This realm is the setting of Suikoden IV (2004), a popular console-style role-playing game. The peaceful island-nation of Razril (also a city), which gained independence from the Dukedom of Gaien to become a founding member of the Federation, is a prominent location in this particular chapter (not surprisingly, the Suikoden sphere also contains several other republics, kingdoms, empires, city-states, etc...). The series, which began in 1995, is loosely based on a classic Chinese novel (about the adventures of bandit-heroes) from the early years of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Shui Hu Zhuan (Outlaws of the Marsh, also known as Water Margin and All Men Are Brothers), by Shi Naian or Luo Guanzhong (scholars seem uncertain about to which of the two men they'll ascribe authorship). I purchased the “One Hundred Potch” coin, minted in 2005, on eBay. It was a promotional item available to members of the Konami Insider club. Devotees could participate in the Suikoden IV Treasure Hunt by gathering the 7 secret passwords needed to unlock a trio of lost treasures, and then entering these special codes at Konami's official Web-site. Besides the coin, each of the other two treasure chests contained a different prize (a music CD featuring tracks from all 4 games and a silk wall-scroll) which fans could receive in the mail. Potch is this RPG's term for “money”, and according to one source on the Internet, it is “The unit of currency used in the Suikoden world, regardless of nations. It seems like different nations mint their own coins for potch, but different coins seem to be usable in different nations.”
ORK: This is a round, uniface “1 Grebble” piece made of cardboard. The printed side is a glossy, trompe l'oeil depiction of how a metallic Orkan coin might appear. Its source is the 1979 Mork & Mindy “Game of Splink”, a Parker Brothers board-game which was based on the popular television sitcom which aired on the ABC network from 1978-82. I acquired it on eBay.
Images of the Grebble can be viewed at the Web-site of Mr. Haseeb Naz (http://www.chiefacoins.com/Database/Movies/Mork&Mindy.htm) and at the Web-site of Mr. Peter Geelen (http://www.jezuss.nl/ork.htm).
LUNAR (THE SILVER STAR): This is a “One Hundred Guild” coin. It is based on Lunar 2: Eternal Blue (1994), which is the sequel to Lunar: The Silver Star (1992). From the outset, the Lunar series (developed by Game Arts/Studio Alex and released in the U.S. by Working Designs) developed a huge following and has remained one of the most popular console-style RPGs of all time. Lunar (a.k.a. the Silver Star) is the name of an inhabited moon that orbits a planet (similar to Earth) called the Blue Star. Facing extinction, the humans needed to abandon their crippled, war-torn home-world. Their goddess, Althena, became the survivors' source of salvation; she used her powers to turn a large piece of the lifeless moon into a fertile, vibrant land suitable for settlement. It became a place where humanity could get a new start. The biggest, most prosperous town on Lunar is Meribia. The headquarters of the “Magic Guild” is located in Vane (the Japanese spelling is Vheen). Another important location is Pentagulia, Althena's Holy City.
I obtained the piece from Mr. Marco Konar, who more than likely has one of the largest collections around of Lunar merchandise. Some years ago, while visiting Japan with his girlfriend for the first time, they headed straight for Akihabara, downtown Tokyo's Electronics Town (an entire district devoted to the latest toys, gadgets, hi-fi equipment, appliances, and computers). They spent half a week shopping in that part of the city, and one day found a “well-hidden-hard-to-find store” which specialized in goods related to certain video games. In particular, “they had tons of things from” his “all-time favorite: LUNAR!” As it happens, “they had a SPECIAL system going on there when you bought something. For every 500 Yen you spent in this store, they gave away one of these rare, golden coins which are directly made after the currency of the games!” The pieces happen to be extremely scarce because “the worker from the store proudly told us, that those coins had been produced for THIS store ONLY and ONLY in very limited numbers and that you could ONLY get those coins in this store in all of Japan (while more meaning, all of the world I guess)!! So, all in all, I think that it was pure luck that we managed to get these coins.” On one side, the coin features Althena's Shrine; on the other, there is the head of one of Althena's Four Dragons (who aid/protect the new civilization; the style in which the creature is depicted matches the traditional “carving” design, similar to the “stone inscriptions” seen in the
“intro sequence” to the legend of Eternal Blue). “But the most crucial fact about this is that those coins were meant like some kind of ‘coupons’.” When the customer had received his/her Lunar tokens after squandering the requisite amount of ¥ in the establishment, “these coins were supposed to be ‘spent’ again in this store in order to exchange them for special prizes in that store. So...its most likely that most Japanese fans simply went back to the store in order to” redeem them for those additional rewards. “As for me, since I was on vacation there at that time, I'm one of the few people who didn't have any real benefit of exchanging anything for these coins and so, rather kept them for myself. It figures it was a nice choice, as of today, these coins seem to be one of the rarest merchandise items from Lunar now. I'm afraid its pretty impossible to find even one of these coins on the net or eBay...not even in Japan.” So, Mr. Konar (who lives in Hamburg, Germany) might well be one of the only people “in the western world who might posses some of these coins.” He also purchased another unusual item at the little store: a special, copyrighted pouch, “made just like coinbags that may be used in the original world of LUNAR for storing money whiles traveling.”
The coin was minted in 1998; this coincides with when the remake of the second game, Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete, was released. That year, the manufacturers produced other promotional items as well. The store where Mr. Konar found the coins “seemed to have some special deal with the developers of the Lunar games series...I also don't know if these coins were their own idea, or if all this was an idea of the developers of the game.” As for the currency of the Lunar series, “it's not called ‘guild’. It's called ‘silver’. However, I believe that the ‘100’ in fact refers to a ‘value’, just as if the coins all had a value like ‘100 silver’...I'm not 100% sure on this, but I couldn't think of any other reason for the 100 there.” Though the narrative of Eternal Blue does take place 1,000 years after the events in Silver Star, “There's no ‘100’ years gap between the story line of the games...and also there's no anniversary of ‘100 years’ of any kind in any of the games that I could recall.” According to Mr. Kaiser Farooque, the currency of Lunar is indeed called “silver”, but because the Nipponese pronunciation of these English syllables is “shirubaa”, this is the loanword that is used in their version of the games. Why was “Guild” chosen as the denomination for the coin in question? “Silver would be more appropriate, but promotional material doesn't always square with the game it's promoting.”
Images of the coin can be seen at:
http://www.lunar-net.com/merchandise/coin.php
http://www.lunarhope.com/LUNAR/info/goods/mg_coin.htm
SANCTUARY (RANKAN EMPIRE): This
realm was created by Robert Lynn Asprin in 1978. As a writer, one of his long-standing gripes was “that whenever one set out to write heroic fantasy, it was first necessary to re-invent the universe from scratch regardless of what had gone before...every author was expected to beat his head against the writing table and devise a world of his own.” He imagined what it would be like if our favorite tales of sword-and-sorcery contained individuals who inhabited the exact same mythical context and time-frames. So he began to construct a shared universe (a literary technique in which several different authors share settings and central characters which appear in their respective works of fiction, often referring to events taking place in the other writers' stories). In Asprin's project, the array of protagonists “would all share the same terrain and be peripherally aware of each other's existence as their paths crossed.” Readers were introduced to Sanctuary with Thieves' World: Book 1, an anthology edited by Asprin and his (now ex-) wife, Lynn Abbey. First published in 1979, the best-selling romp contained collaborations by well-known, top-flight wordsmiths. Until 1989, the editorial pair of Asprin and Lynn then oversaw the release of 11 additional classic volumes pertaining to the lawless environs they had devised. Though there had previously been older shared-world series (Charles Dickens' Mugby Junction, Conan, Tarzan, and the Cthulhu mythos), Thieves' World was pretty unique insofar as it was the first one deliberately fashioned for other authors to write about. Its participatory backdrop is centered around the infamous and colorful city of Sanctuary, which is described as “the anus of the Rankan Empire.” In the words of the Emperor himself (from the Introduction of the 1st anthology), Sanctuary “has been excluded from the more recent maps. Whatever reason there was for the town's existence has apparently passed. It is withering and dying, a refuge for petty criminals and down-at-the-heels adventurers.” This tough, gritty community (the meanest, seediest city in all of fantasy”) is populated by larger-than-life warriors, swordsmen, magicians, deities, streetwise derelicts, and the dregs of society. It is a dangerous, outlaw world of the imagination; a den of thieves where mayhem and skullduggery rule and where wizardry is still potent. It should be noted that the Rankan Empire (named after Ranke, the imperial capital) is a large dominion which rules the eastern part of the continent on which it fictitiously stands; the Kingdom of Ilsig (escaped slaves from there actually founded Sanctuary) is a competing power on the western half of that turf (a long mountain range vertically divides the landmass down the middle). After an absence of 13 years, Thieves' World returned in 2002 under the guidance of co-creator Lynn Abbey, who resurrected the dormant city by re-launching the series with a novel and a couple of newer compilations (Asprin declined to contribute a story for this “new generation”).
A set of thin, uniface cardboard tokens came with Sanctuary: The Boardgame of Thieves' World (purchased on eBay), made in 1982 by Mayfair Games. The rulebook refers to the Rankan coins as “silver pieces (sp)” Each denomination bears a black and white pen-and-ink depiction of a different personage. The 5 sp, 10 sp, and 50 sp read “Ranket Imperatris”; the 25 sp reads “Savankala Deus” (Savankala is the divine god, father of the entire Rankan pantheon); the 100 sp reads “Vashanka Deus Primus” (Vashanka is the god of storm and war). The game offers a good description of Asprin's out-of-the-way locale: “The most important character in any THIEVES' WORLD story is the city of Sanctuary itself! The town's dark squalor and desperation are tempered by a curious pride which can laugh at the Empire, the gods, or itself as need be. Its casual viciousness strikes a chord in our innermost being and has seduced author and reader alike into a love-hate relationship”.
Images of the tokens from Rankan Empire can be viewed at the site of Mr. Peter Geelen’s private collection:
http://www.jezuss.nl/rankan.htm
TALON KINGDOM: Set on the fantasy world of Arcraetia, this one of the many settings created by a company called WorldWorks Games (http://www.worldworksgames.com/store/). “Founded in late 2002 by Denny Unger WorldWorks is responsible for a whole line of best selling, original gaming products. With our primary focus on quality and a personable connection with our fans, WorldWorks has grown into a thriving small business. As we continue to expand into other areas of the table-top gaming world so does the scope and scale of the business grow. We are now a tight cabal of inspired creators working towards common goals in an effort to bring something unique and exciting to the industry. Being obsessed gamers ourselves we have a unique insight into what people really want and we take many of our development ques [sic] directly from our fans.” WorldWorks produces “quality paper model sets for RPG & wargaming”. They also refer to this hobby as “cardstock modeling”. From what I gather, most of the material (Fantasy Sets, Horror Sets, Sci-Fi Sets, Modern Sets, Pirate/Sea Sets, Adventure Modules, Gaming Aids, etc…) needs to be downloaded (after being purchased) from their Web-site, and then printed onto cardstock. According to one fan, WorldWorks “provides many a cardstock terrain piece for innumerable roleplaying and miniature gaming fanatics. They support several genres for popular gaming”. For Arcraetia, “they develop independent and linked adventures to run! With each adventure comes a trove of exciting terrain add-ons for already existing terrain sets, as well as cardboard standies and other interesting goodies (the recent Coins of the Realm was developed with this realm in mind).” Throughout 2006, WorldWorks’ “staff has grown to include several talented writers, designers, kitbashers and illustrators. They have teamed up with several other terrain developers…to continue to provide many cardstock alternatives to expensive terrain gaming. For those new to the cardstock terrain building, they even supply some tutorials.” There are several Arcraetia-related modules (such as Something Below, Missing Persons, Dinas Ffordd: The Seeds of War). Customers can purchase modules that use the “Savage Worlds game system” (a universal/generic rules system available from Pinnacle Entertainment Group) or the “d20 System” (a role-playing game system published by Wizards of the Coast, Inc.).
According to one of the pages at the WorldWorks site (http://www.worldworksgames.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=145), “‘Coins of the Realm’ is the latest creation from the WorldWorks module department. Combining the talents of Alberto Silva, Bob Cooper, Joel Sparks and Kevin Jordan, this gaming tool is a must have for anyone who wants to add that extra level of immersion to their next game. Feast your eyes on richly detailed coin sets suitable for play with Arcraetia and your custom campaign settings.” This product features “choice coins and gold bars from the Talon Kingdom” (the Human culture) as well as “the official currencies” of Crenn (the Elven culture) and Worheim (the Dwarven culture). “The coins, variably (each nation is different) come in copper, silver, gold and/or platinum, and in some cases, in multiple additional denominations. They're not glaringly Arcraetia-only, and the human coins in particular make very ‘believable’ standard fantasy coins. Great for generic fantasy games!” The construction of these coins (printed on cardstock after being purchased/downloaded) involves tons of labor-intensive cutting, scoring, gluing, folding, burnishing, and trimming. I am immensely grateful to Mr. Thomas E. Havelka — a fellow numismatist and member of the Unrecognised States Numismatic Society (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UnrecognisedStatesNumismaticSociety/ and http://www.usns.info/) — for sending me extremely well-made samples of these coins. In my opinion, the coins from the Talon Kingdom are the most appealing ones of the entire group; these are the only pieces that feature some recognizable English wording and/or numerals (the 3-dimensional/brick-shaped Half-Sovereign and Sovereign “gold bars” — they are “rare” and “usually used by merchant interests for large purchases” — are particularly interesting). Many of the “Coins of the Realm” can be seen by clicking on the “Tour Guide” icon at the Web-page mentioned at the top of this paragraph.
The world of Arcraetia has 13 Northern Kingdoms and 11 Southern Kingdoms. The Guide to Arcraetian Kingdoms describes the Talon Kingdom thusly: “A motley collection of various human clans who migrated into the area during the Long Winter, since about the year 525 Talon has been unified under a king and divided into fourteen powerful duchies: Falcony, Nordhawk, Harrier, Grey Owl, Grand Eagle, Kestrel, White Kite, Red Kite, Osprey, Moorhawk, Goshawk, Gyrhawk, Sparrowhawk, and Black Erne. Black Erne has traditionally been the king of Talon due to the power and wealth the free city of Himmelveil affords his lands. The Black Erne clan has long defended its present lands, which includes Himmelveil, and it was because of that historical connection with Himmelveil that ultimately King Tathal of Black Erne was elected first king over the Talonian clans. Though each duchy is predominantly feudal and supports a growing and efficient infrastructure, Falcony remains close to its clan roots, and the duke rules at the pleasure of the various tribal kings, or Brenin, of Falcony’s complex clan society. A powerful Elven presence resides in the mountains; these Highlanders remain loyal to the Duke of Falcony though they retain some ties with Crenn. In the past, the Highlanders have sided with Falcony against the Crennians during periods of border war and raiding. In recent years the dukes have grown more independent and powerful while Black Erne, though still wealthy, becomes increasingly complacent.” As for Crenn, it “is the central kingdom for the Elves.” Worheim is made up of the “ancient kingdoms of the Dwarves”.
From Mr. Derek McClean, I purchased a “Greenpeace Dollar”, dated 1979. The obverse is completely occupied by the global Greenpeace logo. A pair of Harp Seals is highlighted on the reverse, along with the phrase “B.C. Currency Value One Dollar Expires April 30, 1979” (thus, this coin could easily be classified as a Canadian municipal trade token). There are also 4 other coins in this series, featuring Timber Wolves, a Bald Eagle, Sperm Whales, and a Sisiutl (a mythical creature that often appears in Pacific Northwest folk art, drawings, songs).
At Greifenberg, “we regard the printing of banknotes and postage stamps, as well as the minting of coins to be absolutely necessary as an expression of our sovereignty.” In April of 2007, Mr. Hilger provided me with some information about their numismatic project, which was then still in the planning stages (within a committee): “Our coins (and later banknotes) will be the actual currency of the Grand Duchy of Greifenberg.” Upon concrete acquisition of tangible territory, “the minting of coins and the printing of banknotes will be more than ‘items for resale,’ but actual ‘coin of the Realm.’” Though Mr. Hilger did not rule out the possibility of producing (at some point) small runs of commemorative coins (in higher denominations of Greifenberg Kronen) to be sold in uncirculated condition primarily to numismatists, “the coins for everyday use should be produced from cheaper aluminum that, while less desirable to collectors, would serve as currency for everyday use (and easily acquired souvenirs for tourists visiting the Grand Duchy in future).” Mr. Hilger later reminded me that “It is important that people realize that the Grand Duchy of Greifenberg is not simply producing coins as a profit-making venture. Certainly any profits we make will be used to pursue other micronational projects, but, most importantly, our coinage, banknotes, stamps, etc., are intended to be expressions of Greifenberg's culture, history, and future micronational aspirations.” The first coin minted by the Landeszentralbank Greifenberg (State Central Bank of Greifenberg) is a 2008 20 Greifenberg Kronen piece (made of silver-nickel plated copper). The obverse features the image of the Grand Duchy’s ruling sovereign, HRH Grand Duke Paul, as well as his royal monogram. The reverse features Greifenberg’s national coat of arms. Mr. Hilger, from whom I obtained a specimen, wanted to issue the coin in conjunction with their 2007 National Day celebrations. Unfortunately, due to the careful pace of the project (for which “There has been considerable interest”), there were several delays. The coin was finally available for purchase in mid-February of 2008. In the future, “we plan to have a ‘design competition’ which will allow other to share their ideas for new coins.”Return to the Main Index