The documents are very informative .which skull to buy maybe later arrives a a palau goat skull to complete the mess.
I don't think there is any doubt that the Palau one is the original series. The country backing it has simply changed, similar to the Niue Taku (Fiji) and the Palau Tiffany Art series (Liberia). By using the same Lunar Skulls name for this impostor series, the mint and dealer behind it could be opening themselves up to legal problems, regardless of Ghana considering it their legal tender.
Well im sticking with the SM skulls....not this rip off. He really think that people will fall for these??
If someone has to steal others idea to produce a 12 years series... what would we expect it will end after 12 years??? Most likely the potential n marketing would b sub-standard..... my 2 cents.
If memory serves from the SBSS fiasco, Chris Duane contracted others (Mulligan "Mint" I think) to produce the product. When the relationship fell apart, the "mint" felt that the contract gave them the right to continue the series. It kinda looks like this could be happening the same way here. Maybe this "truth" guy is from the "mint" that SM used last year, so now this "mint" feels as though they have some ownership of the series.
For a new comer to the coin and bullion world this is very confusing , questionable regarding the honesty and credibility of the producers plus most damaging to ones ongoing interests in a hobby or trading future . It scares you off and puts your trust back with established dealers . Quite detrimental the the coin and bullion industry . Why doesn't SM respond ? Can the SS Administrator clarify and throw some light as to where this is going .
Agreed. It is damaging. Except for being scared off. Let's be clear here that the honesty and credibility of SonMontuno mint has never been in question, as far as i am concerned. His is a relatively new venture, sure, but in short time SM have proved themselves capable and credible, with good vision for original concepts. That deserves a large measure of support. He has listened to what collectors want, and delivered on quality when other long established organizations continue to ignore such demands, or consider them of no importance. The lunar skulls is his concept. He has ticked all the correct boxes for collectors.... design, limited quantities, standard of minting, mirror finish, no milk spots, fairness of distribution, serial numbers on proof AND BU coins and coa's for all. SM does not need to respond here at all, the statement on his site is there, and quite calm under the circumstances. What happens now is down to the collectors response. It is all for the better of our hobby to have small, independent start-ups who are proving they have the vision and creativity for years to come. An industry populated with only opportunists will simply kill it off.
As far as I can tell, the dealer that was originally helping SM secure legal tender has decided to steal the concept and make it his own. While those contracts may prove legitimate legal tender status, they also prove a complete lack of ethics. I think Son Montuno should come here and out this thief's and kill his reputation.
Hello Sully , I have a displayed collection of SM's coins and appreciate your guiding comments . I will look up SM's site . You have provided detail that generates understanding and comfort that I can rely and have faith with the system again . To know that SM has credibility and respect is most reassuring . Thank you .
I was expecting some good conversations in this thread but 20 posts was the same guy quoting himself. Anyways I bought the SM' mints Palau coin set during the lotto. No regrets, just want to know what the hell is going on!
I am MB Coincorner germany and I will help to bring all details on the lights to this series. Normaly as a reseller I dont write something in such a forum because I think it should be used from collectors and not from resellers. I bought the Ghana Lunar skulls series Monkey coin and had a lot of questions and problems to solve in the last days. After I made my research last 3 days I can tell you: The idea of this series Lunar Skulls Ghana is from son-montuna USA without any doubt. He made first coin, the Goat 2015, together with a company Deutscher Mnzexpress - Uwe Bergmaier about legal tender ghana. Because son-montuno is no mint, so he has no license to make coins and no machines to mint... Sm Mint is only a fantasy name and sure no mint. Last year son-montuno was not big enough in business to take the whole mintage. Cause of this Deutscher Mnzexpress and son-montuno made this issue Ghana Lunar Skulls Goat together, each round about 50 percent of the mintage. License for Ghana Skulls from 2015 -2016 up to whenever it should be has only Uwe Bergmaier - Deutscher Mnzexpress. 50 percent of the mintage went in this case to german coin dealers and coin dealers from europe. So this Lunar Skulls Goat Ghana was a common project of Deutscher Mnzexpress and son-montuno, one of the them had the idea and of them the license, machines and know-how for minting this series. In 2015 for coming year 2016 Uwe Bergmaier asked son-montuno if he wants to continue this successfull project together and suprising for all, son-montuno told that he will make this Lunar Skulls project with Coin Invest from Liechtenstein and with mint BH Mayer germany. Here I may allow to ask, a person who calls himself sm mint must mint coins by a german mint ??? So Uwe Bergmaier, Deutscher Mnzexpress made the follower alone and sold it mainly to 2 german resellers, Numismatics4You and MB Coincorner that is me. I have official documents (legal tenders) that shows that The Lunar Skulls legal Tender for 2015 Goat and 2016 Monkey is signed from minister of finance in Ghana in both years. The idea Lunar Skulls is from son-montuno, but his own first coin of this series is sure Palau Lunar Skulls Monkey 2016 and this Palau coin can sure not be the follower of Ghana Lunar Skulls Goat 2015. If son-montuno would be honest, he would say that his Palau coin can only be start of his series with Palau. But he wants to take the hype for the Ghana Lunar Skulls coin for his marketing. This is the complete story and 100 percent true. Now all collectors can and must decide for themselves: A) buying the Palau Lunar Skulls Monkey from son-montuno (because he had without doubt the idea) B) buying the Ghana Lunar Skulls Monkey from Deutscher Mnzexpress about other resellers all over the world (because he had license for Ghana goat and Ghana Monkey) C) non buying any of this coins cause all this is too confused now D) buyng both coins to look what coin is nicer maybe I hope I brought a little bit light in all this discussions and I hope that this discussions will end in the next days. greetings MB Coincorner
Very nice MB Coincorner. Thanks for the historical context. I think it is fair and objective. I'm not interested in the series, but interested in the discussion. Sounds like SM didn't follow thru in their obligations, so Deutscher took matters into their own hands and continued with their series that was rightfully theirs too. The question is what happens after the monkey? )