For those considering a purchase, a word of warning. I received mine from The Coin Shoppe today and there is a noticeable problem on the obverse. There are noticeable scratches and significant wear on the obverse in general and on the Coat of Arms specifically. It looks worn down and shows very little detail: it looks like someone took a scouring pad to it and "filed" it down. In contacting The Coin Shoppe, I was informed of the following: "When we received our coins we did reach out to the mint in regards to this, and their response was that every single coin has that look, the mint purposely minted it this way to give it the weathered/antiqued look." As every site selling and reviewing the coin (like agau) have shown a pristine obverse, I would caution people about future purchases, and question the mint on such an item.
The Coin Shoppe are good with returns so no worries on that, but the response that this was what the mint intended was kind of crazy. Every site is running images that the obverse is pristine like every other NEW coin on the planet, which is nothing like the real deal. It's unfortunate as I like the reverse and the old school aliens taking over the planet...but buyer beware
If that was intended, then the mint needs to close their doors...that’s just horrible. #senditback That is putrid.
lol Yeah, it's in the mail in the morning. I told the Coin Shoppe they need to update the stock photos to warn people, and they said they are going to contact the mint for updated pictures...we'll see.
Yeah man, good call on shipping it back...no hesitation there...good concept, but very bad execution. Wow!!
The banner is worn down a bit on the stock image I just saw on ebay, but not as much as this. Looks like they over did it on this one. They are probably individually done by hand so each one is unique but dam, don't know how that passed inspection and got released. Thanks for the warning.
The new coin is struck in 999 pure silver with an Antique finish by a private American mint. It has a maximum mintage of 500 coins. European Mint is the exclusive distributor of this coin outside the United States. That's all I could find on it. Some anonymous American private mint. Either the auther didn't feel it nesseccary to disclose the name of the mint or its a secret lol
I was told that the dealer (coin shoppe) had a problem with it as well when they received it but was told by the mint it was supposed to look like that. But that is far from believable. Every dealer is showing pristine images. There was no need to "wear down" the coin as the image itself and the antiquing were enough in my opinion. There were actual scratches (more than I showed in my pictures) on the coin. It's unfortunate because I'm a fan of the coin concept, but I'm staying away because of what to expect from any purchase. It would be interesting to hear more from the 'mystery mint', but nonetheless there is no justification for the poor quality.
