"circumstances" i would assume relates to the strained politics between Fiji and New Zealand. The military dictatorship of Fiji has not been getting on too well with their large neighbors in recent times. It seems permission to mint the Taku on behalf of Fiji has been suspended for 2014. Remains to be seen if the Taku (as we know it) makes a return at all. Actually - just a quick question, with all the Australian & New Zealand members on here why has no one mentioned this?
Hmm. There's still a dealer here selling the 2011 fiji takus at ~27 AUD (~25 USD) per piece. No 2013s though.
There seems to be all sorts of info on this thread, Just to give a brief update: There are currently no plans for a 2014 Taku. The 2013 ones are continuing to be minted. There is no Shortage, etc. Altima, I'd say its a terrible deal at almost $6 over spot, unless you're looking specifically for older Takus.
I own two dates of the Takus, the last year with the Queen and first year with the 2 guys in "skirts". All 4 coins I own had sharp edges. Premium was not that much compared to other majors, so I was not too disappointed. I hope they do come out with a different design and then come out with a new design each year. That will make me buy them yearly. Why are you guys planning on "loading up" on the 2013 Takus? I assume "loading up" means tube(s) of them. Do you think the premium will rise later down the road if they don't come out with a 2014 one?
Not really. The longer they mint them the more there are and they keep reminting older ones as well. Also, collectors don't like gaps in their collections. Fiji has gone downhill since the coup and being kicked out of the Commonwealth. If I were at the NZ Mint I'd look into transferring their bullion(ish) range over to Niue. It's working for Treasures of Oz and their Tokelau range well enough.
This makes no sense at all. The turtle design has not changed, and it's pretty cheap to make one small change in the die (only changing the year from 2013 to 2014).
Yes, but the current 2013 is still a Fiji coin. It's still the same design, with the same legal tender, so since nothing has changed but the year. If NZ mint is still allowed to mint a Fiji coin, then why not just change the year? Am I still missing something here?
The NZ Mint would need permission to strike a coin for Fiji from the Fijiian government. If the date has changed, it's a new coin and Fiji would need to approve it. It's the same with the many Niue coins which are all approved by the Niue government. A mint doesn't get blanket approval to release whatever they like in a set period. As far as I know, each coin design has to be approved. It makes sense when you consider it's technically national currency. It seems that this year, because Fiji is getting arsey with New Zealand and others, approval was not forthcoming.
AgAu is correct, before a coin is minted, there are terms set between various parties. In this case I would assume the NZ Mint had set terms with the Fijiian government stating they can mint XXXX amount of the 2013 coins within a period of XY - YZ At the same time, I would assume the NZ Mint has not wrapped up any kind of deal for the 2014 coin as of yet, and they are still ok per their terms to continue minting more. I.e. the time period and mintage limit have not yet been reached.
Yes, but as long as they are below the 350k, they can keep minting. If you look at actual vs set mintages, for most coins, the actual minted is always less than the max. If NZ Mint is still minting, it would mean they have not yet minted 350k coins (if that is the set mintage).
Regarding the Fiji Taku, a recent change in Fiji Reserve Bank policy makes it commercially impractical for New Zealand Mint to continue to produce and market this product. We are also responding to customer feedback regarding preference for a Queen's Head effigy. NZM does have a new bullion direction currently going through internal planning here, due for release later in 2014. In the interim, we continue to sell the remaining mintage of the earlier Fiji Taku's through our authorised distributors.
Thanks for addressing this, but it would be a major mistake for NZM to go back in time and continue minting earlier dated Fiji Taku coins, even if the full mintage was not produced. It is even a mistake for your company to continue minting the 2013 Fiji Taku coins. If you need to know why it's a mistake, just ask Perth Mint how minting old date Kookaburra coins worked out for them. They absolutely lost many many customers over it, not to mention a tarnished reputation and a complete loss of trust.
Nice to hear directly from the mint on this. Thanks for confirming 2013 will be the last of the turtle mintage. But I also agree with the above post, that minting the current year with the previous year's date is probably not a good idea. Perth mint did this and got quite a bit of backlash. Any hint on what the new bullion will be?
No disrespect to the NZ mint, but the Fiji Takus are just a silver round, NOT like the Kookaburras from the Perth Mint which command a premium. I would buy another type of round from the NZM if they were to make one again. Take for example the Kookaburra vs. the silver eagle. Everyone knows that the Kookaburra holds a higher place in the realm of stacking just because the design changes. The NZM does not have to worry about that....I am presuming of course.
