Were any monetary coins ever made where the value of the actual metal was more than the coins worth?

Question

If so were they hoarded and melted down and sold again for a profit?

Answer 1

.Yes, some years ago some Italian aluminium coins had a higher cash value than the actual face value, consequently they were quickly bought up causing massive shortages, it was not unusual to be given your change in sweets due to lack of small change. Subsequently the Italians used only paper money they even had 5 lira notes when the exchange rate was around 2000 lira to the pound sterling I know this is true, I was in Italy when this was taking place, I cannot recall the exact year other than it must have been over 30 years ago

Answer 2

This is not an awkward question at all. All gold and silver coins eventually became worth more as metal than their face values, and were hoarded and weere melted down illegally. It happened in every country that issued such coins.

In UK, the Half-Crown and the Florin contained a proportion of silver right up to the mid 1930s, and some were in circulation after the second World War. You could discover the silver examples by spinning them and listening to the tone of the ring. They were worth in metal about 4 times their face value and were all recalled before decimal coinage arrived in 1971.

There was an attempt to restore the British pound to the gold standard in 1925 by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill. It was a disaster for various reasons but basically the British pound was not worth the gold it was meant to represent. For six years, the British Government tried to depress the international price of gold to make it match the value of the pound. As a result, the UK lost practically all its gold reserves, international economic depression deepened and the Government eventually fell over the issue.

These days, the cost of manufacturing coins is about 3 per cent of their face values, taken across all demoninations.

Answer 3

I'm amazed at some of these answers!

The answer is YES!

The Gold Krugerrand from South Africa is still a good example. It was first minted in the early 1970's without any official numbers stamped on it and derived its value by the weight of Gold it contained as it still does today.

Since South Africa at the time was the worlds largest producer of Gold, and since this coin had the characteristic's needed to replace the dollar as the worlds currency, ex. president Reagan outlawed their use in the USA. {A little known fact to most Americans}

Also, suddenly about this same time a joint British & American economic embargo was put into place against South Africa using the apartheid problem in South Africa as an excuse.

Most people don't realize it but when an amount is stamped on a coin, that means the government wants people to honor the dollar, pound, lira, etc. amount and not the metallic value of the coin.

American $20 Gold coins minted in the early 1800's are worth over $650 in todays dollars, even in very poor condition.......this clearly shows what inflation has done to American money.
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Answer 4

I'm not sure that any were ever made where during the time of production the scrap metal value was more than the face value. However, a lot of the older gold and silver coins are worth more than the face value. But, even the collector value is still worth more than the scrap.

Answer 5

That's a very good question. I wouldn't be surprised if there are some British (and in other currencies possibly) coins now where the value of the metal is worth more than its face value. What about our 2 pence piece?

Answer 6

Gold or Platinum coins.
Copper penny is worth 1.37cents
It is against the law of most countries to melt Coins or burn Currency
Buy a million $ of pennies, melt them and sell the copper you make a $370,000 profit.
It is against the law, yet I am most certain someone has done it already. .
Estimates are based on current exchange rates for metals.

Answer 7

A simple answer to this would be: try to buy a $20 gold piece on eBay for $20. Many are selling for $500, $1000, I have seen them as high as $50,000

Gold and platinum are investments and have risen 30-50% in 3-5 yrs.

Answer 8

Gold sovereigns and half sovereigns are a prime example of this. That's why the milled edge was introduced to stop people from filing the coins down and melting the gold dust for bullion.

Answer 9

yes, copper pennies cost more then one cent to produce one cent. so if you melted pennies the raw metal would fetch you more cash.

but it also depends on the fluctuating cost of metal these days, as most metal prices are sky rocketing.

Answer 10

yes and yes