You know, like their equivalent of Maple Leafs, Kooks, ASE's, etc. Just some off the top of my head: Germany, France, Japan, Brazil.. The list goes on & on. Little surprising. I am just not looking in the right places? Meanwhile, we've got those small African countries..
Partially not looking in the right places, partially because many of them just aren't 1oz or .999 so they don't have the international following. Seems that many people in Europe that buy coins are buying them for their looks, not their silver content, so .999 and 1oz become much less important. Think about it, when silver is $16, does it really matter if that $200 coin is 1oz or .8oz? Or if it's .999 or .925... It clearly does to many people, but there's also a very large amount of people that just don't care. The reason there are so many African countries is because those are the countries that are most willing to sell access to their legal tender. This is what makes it possible for companies like CIT, NZ Mint and many others to create legal tender coins rather than fancy generic rounds.
Yeah, I've seen some stuff like modern French coins that are less than 1-oz, and/or less than than .999, for example. Lots of sterling in Europe. But why not also throw the "standard" coin into the line-up? Obviously there would be pretty good demand for them, if made available. I've also seen some other countries (some large) that might do the 1-oz .999 for a couple years, then suddenly stop. The whole thing is just weird & disappointing, at least for somebody like me.
It could just be the difference between the coin selling business and the bullion selling business, not every country needs or wants to sell investment grade bullion and perhaps the collector coins they do want to sell they don't want to be .999 for whatever reason. Also, a lot of countries don't even have their own minting facilities and rely on other countries to mint their coins for them, including their circulating coins. For many of them, 1oz is non-standard. Heck, even looking at the US, .999 and 1oz wasn't really a standard for legal tender. .900 is (or at least was) the standard here. Look at the commemorative coins the US Mint makes, generally 90% silver or gold, not .999 outside the eagles and buffaloes. This is like going to France and asking why they aren't speaking English, standards aren't always international.
Well, just seems to me like many of these governments are passing up on a good opportunity to make some easy (and much-needed) cash. Then again, the same could be said about me due to not buying some of these things. :lol: Eh, I get my non-.999 / non-1-oz fix via old, slabbed numismatics -- many of which were once used as currency. Understood that there's a huge & varied Ag universe across this globe. Doesn't mean, though, that some govt's can't expand it that much more..
Government have other easier ways of making cash, like printing them, adding 0 behind their cash account, slap a new tax, etc.
In Europe there are Euro coins very popular to collect. Especially the coins of small countries like Monaco, Vatican, San Mariono. Look at this Ebay Auction: http://www.ebay.de/itm/Super-Gelege...ce-Kelly-/261699509191?_trksid=p2054897.l4275 Some found this 2 Euro coin in his wallet. For a BU you have to pay 1100 Eur.
