2011 Somali Elephant

S

Silvester

Member
Walking past Downies this morn, thought I'd drop in and not buy anything. Ha Ha. Couldn't resist these 1 oz Somali Republic Elephants.

Not the cheapest at $49 each, but very pretty! Hadn't even heard of them before. I like the idea of having a bit of variety in the 1 oz coins. Got some Grizzlies on the way also.

Anyone else got an opinion on these elephants?


1258_elephant.jpg
 
wow, Somalia can still mint hard money? I thought it was civil war torn shithole. Very nice design imo.
 
They are nice, their low mintages and rarity justifies the price you have paid.

You paid around $5 more than for a Kook or Ase or Maple and the coin you got is 100 - 10 000 times rarer than those coins.
 
pmfiend said:
wow, Somalia can still mint hard money? I thought it was civil war torn shithole. Very nice design imo.
Click to expand...

like many coins issued by 3rd world countries they are minted somewhere else. this one was minted in germany.
 
Cool. Sounds good to me. I've read they have a mintage of only 5000. If I had a bit more cashola not earmarked for basic necessities, I would have grabbed a few more.

Unfortunately some of us only get to add a few ounces each payday... :)
 
Yeah I like these too, they've been putting them out for a few years now. Read on Facebook that Eurocollections is putting up a mass of bullion coins this week from different countries, including this one. Will need to save some dosh me thinks :)
 
Oh they have their world silver stock in?

What else did they have?
 
They had Grizzlies, Libertads, Maples, ASEs, Britannias, Philharmonicas, rolls o' Kookas, Elephants, 2011 Pandas, all the good stuff under the counter. Pretty much all the 1oz 999 "silver crowns". A pile of 2 oz rabbits glistened nearby.

I only stopped in for a brief visit, so didn't see too much else. Should have hurried past looking the other way... :/
 
xrayspecs said:
Yeah I like these too, they've been putting them out for a few years now. Read on Facebook that Eurocollections is putting up a mass of bullion coins this week from different countries, including this one. Will need to save some dosh me thinks :)
Click to expand...

The Somali Elephant has been around since 2004. The 2004 has kind of a matte 'SAE like' finish. The rest of the series are prooflike. I like how the obverse changes every year like the Kook, Roo and Koalas.

I'll put up some pics when I get home.
 
I like the elephants I have been wondering if someday they will become a more collectable coin, I forget where they are minted , I think Germany, we can get them here now for about $39 usd last I checked, they put out a pretty cool one for 2012 with a dragon privy on it that is a lower mintage than the regular I think they also made a dragon privy kilo as well. I am suprised more people have not heard of them but I am sure we all know how that can change.
 
silverstar1 said:
I like the elephants I have been wondering if someday they will become a more collectable coin, I forget where they are minted , I think Germany, we can get them here now for about $39 usd last I checked, they put out a pretty cool one for 2012 with a dragon privy on it that is a lower mintage than the regular I think they also made a dragon privy kilo as well. I am suprised more people have not heard of them but I am sure we all know how that can change.
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Since Somalia in effect has no functioning central government outside of the capital Mogadishu, i always wondered:

1) If the "legitimate" government gave permission for Germany to mint the coins.
2) To whom the proceeds/profits go to.
3) How the proceeds are used by the government. Are they used in or outside of Somalia.

Not a knock at the coins, they are quite beautiful and worth buying, but it's strange how a besieged government that could collapse any minute without outside help, got into such a venture to try and raise foreign currency.
 
Hey byron, I know it is strange to have nice silver coins from a totally unstable country I have no idea the financial history of them . That is one of the great thing about coins , a beautiful coin can come from a really ugly place. Did you see the silver coins from north korea the guy posted a while back, they looked really nice but I have never heard of them or seen one. It would be interesting to know the history of the elephants.
 
Byron said:
Since Somalia in effect has no functioning central government outside of the capital Mogadishu, i always wondered:

1) If the "legitimate" government gave permission for Germany to mint the coins.
2) To whom the proceeds/profits go to.
3) How the proceeds are used by the government. Are they used in or outside of Somalia.

Not a knock at the coins, they are quite beautiful and worth buying, but it's strange how a besieged government that could collapse any minute without outside help, got into such a venture to try and raise foreign currency.
Click to expand...

Almost without exception, these things work like

1) some foreign businessman comes to some small or poor country and makes a deal with some government (semi-)official to use their name, currency, internet domain or such. The "official" may not be authorized to do this deal and I would guess there is money under the table as well.

2) All the business/production is made outside the country and the profits go to the businessman. The country only get small scraps, if anything.

3) The government disputes the deal and says the agreement is invalid.

And sure enough, after checking out the Somali coins now, the central bank of Somalia says the coins are NOT legal tender and are not authorized by the central bank. See http://www.bilder-space.de/upload/20.05pLyCOME9B4jvwRm.jpg

There are also coins from "Somaliland", also minted in Germany. I don't even have to check how fake those are... At least the North Korean coins are minted by the Central Bank of North Korea.
 
mfm said:
Byron said:
Since Somalia in effect has no functioning central government outside of the capital Mogadishu, i always wondered:

1) If the "legitimate" government gave permission for Germany to mint the coins.
2) To whom the proceeds/profits go to.
3) How the proceeds are used by the government. Are they used in or outside of Somalia.

Not a knock at the coins, they are quite beautiful and worth buying, but it's strange how a besieged government that could collapse any minute without outside help, got into such a venture to try and raise foreign currency.
Click to expand...

Almost without exception, these things work like

1) some foreign businessman comes to some small or poor country and makes a deal with some government (semi-)official to use their name, currency, internet domain or such. The "official" may not be authorized to do this deal and I would guess there is money under the table as well.

2) All the business/production is made outside the country and the profits go to the businessman. The country only get small scraps, if anything.

3) The government disputes the deal and says the agreement is invalid.

And sure enough, after checking out the Somali coins now, the central bank of Somalia says the coins are NOT legal tender and are not authorized by the central bank. See http://www.bilder-space.de/upload/20.05pLyCOME9B4jvwRm.jpg

There are also coins from "Somaliland", also minted in Germany. I don't even have to check how fake those are... At least the North Korean coins are minted by the Central Bank of North Korea.
Click to expand...

Wow, that is crazy. What other coins fit in to this category?
 
Hello.
I looked at downies website but couldn't find these coins...any idea how I could get some? I'm also looking for 2007 koalas :)
 
Best thing to do is all their office directly. I assume you're in Sydney? You can also swing into the store as well because their counter stock changes almost daily.

I have a few of these coins myself, they're very pretty.
 
mfm said:
Byron said:
Since Somalia in effect has no functioning central government outside of the capital Mogadishu, i always wondered:

1) If the "legitimate" government gave permission for Germany to mint the coins.
2) To whom the proceeds/profits go to.
3) How the proceeds are used by the government. Are they used in or outside of Somalia.

Not a knock at the coins, they are quite beautiful and worth buying, but it's strange how a besieged government that could collapse any minute without outside help, got into such a venture to try and raise foreign currency.
Click to expand...

Almost without exception, these things work like

1) some foreign businessman comes to some small or poor country and makes a deal with some government (semi-)official to use their name, currency, internet domain or such. The "official" may not be authorized to do this deal and I would guess there is money under the table as well.

2) All the business/production is made outside the country and the profits go to the businessman. The country only get small scraps, if anything.

3) The government disputes the deal and says the agreement is invalid.

And sure enough, after checking out the Somali coins now, the central bank of Somalia says the coins are NOT legal tender and are not authorized by the central bank. See http://www.bilder-space.de/upload/20.05pLyCOME9B4jvwRm.jpg

There are also coins from "Somaliland", also minted in Germany. I don't even have to check how fake those are... At least the North Korean coins are minted by the Central Bank of North Korea.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info on the background of the "Elephants".

On the subject of Somaliland coins. You may be aware that Somaliland forms the north-western part of Somalia. They have declared independence from the rest of Somalia (with good historical reasons, as they were a former British colony and the rest of Somalia was Italian). In addition they realise there is no point in remaining part of a failed state.
Its a peaceful, economically and politically stable quasi-independent state. They are pushing for international recognition (which i think is a good thing) however at the moment foreign governments are only giving them informal recognition.

Dare i say Somaliland coins are probably more genuine in terms of official approval (even if by an unrecognised govt) than the "Elephants".
 
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