After the first set of colored coins we were quickly introduced to a new phenomenon. Semi fake colored coins. Actually quite logical because painting coins is cheap and the royal Dutch mint charges a lot for a painted coin. In addition the number of painted coins is very low and they are sold out very fast.

This time the KNM is warning us about ‘fake’ coins with the double heads (former queen and current king). Actually the coins are not fake, they are just normal/legal coins, which everyone is allowed to paint. It seems that to only way to distinguish a fake from a real painted coin is by looking at the packaging.

Sorry, this entry is only available in Nederlands.

Luck can be used to make products more desirable. Good luck charms, horse shoes, four leave clovers, they have all found a good market with people seeking good fortune. The royal dutch min is also trying to get some of the action in the good luck market. After the 2012 good luck 10 cent coin issued especially for the football competition (and failing to be really lucky) there is now a new 2014 lucky 10 cents coin aimed at good luck throughout the year. The coins are sold for 4.95 euro so they should provide a healthy profit. The coins can be recognized by some orange paint over the number 10 and they are sold in the popular coin-card format. This discrete layer of paint also renders the coins legally worthless.

The amount of coins that will be painted and packaged will be determined later, probably based on the number of orders that will be placed. This is the first colored coin from 2014 and it looks like colored coins are getting more popular. In addition to the royal Dutch mint there are also various other companies offering colored coins, which is legal because the colored coins are no longer legal forms of tender. The colored coins painted by the royal Dutch mint until now are:

Progress can’t be stopped and it looks like we’re moving ever faster to a new digitally oriented society. Payments are done using plastic and the future promises even more advanced possibilities using your phone to pay for things. Everything turns digital which makes things easier and faster. Except where there is a power outage. In that case we still need to rely on old bank notes and coins.

To keep the market for coins alive the Dutch mint is researching different approaches targeted at the various market segments. One of the markets identified is the collectors. Coins collectors have by definition access to financial means, and most are happy to spend a little bit to keep their collection complete.

Since a few years coins are packaged in a credit card format. A little piece of added carton which raises the price about 400%. The same way old coins are release in a new package, and for a much higher price. These carton versions are very popular. More recent the Dutch mint also started experimenting with colored coins. These have existed for a longer time, but now they have reached a more official character; specifically because they are being sold by the Royal Dutch Mint (KNM).

Since a few years the KNM started creating colored coins. Last week there was another one, and this time it was a colored two euro coin minted in honor of 200 years of Dutch kingdom. The 1500 sets of colored coins were sold out within the hour.

It still remains unclear what is the status of the colored coins. According to the KNM the coins are “Official 2 euro 200 years Monarchy 2013 in Proof-quality with color“. The coin might be official, but legally it is a modified (painted) coin, which means it cannot be used as legal tender. Based on the low amount of coins being minted it seems clear this colored set is solely aimed at collectors.

The (official) colored coins minted so far by the KNM:

There is another 5 euro coin available and this time they minted another small batch of colored coins. The number of colored coins is 1000 and this is a little bit more then the previous set with the colored tulips, which counted 750 sets. Again the entire batch sold out within a day.

The colored set of the Utrecht five euro coin exists out of 6 silver coins where each has a little colored detail. For each country/area that signed the treaty of the Peace in Utrecht there is a colored coins present in the set. For each country the coloring that is used is based on the countries flag or arms from 1713. The countries that participated were France, Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and Savoy.

Even though these coins are not legal tender this remains a mystery when you review the website of the royal Dutch mint. Clearly they want to sell the colored coins quickly without any hassle. They announced (*) the coins on their website with the specifications stating “Nominal value: 6 x 5 euro”. In the news item announcing the new coins the colored set is mentioned right alongside the rest of the coins. A bit strange because the colored coins are legally viewed worthless and should not be considered legal currency.

The (official) colored coins sold by the royal Dutch mint until now:

(*) Sadly the royal Dutch mint does not preserve the content of their website. As soon as a product is no longer available in their shop all the details related to the product disappear.

The departure of queen Beatrix and the arrival of our new king Willem Alexander is of course very big news and just like a lot of other commercial parties the royal Dutch mint is trying to get a nice slice of the cake. They are producing aankondigingspenningen (announcement coins), abdication sets, special 2 euro coins and a lot more merchandise. Right now all products feature the portrait of our queen, but after the 30th of April there will surely be a big number of new coins which are minted with the portrait of the new king Willem Alexander.

The new 2 euro with both portraits of Beatrix and Willem-Alexander will be mixed with the normal 2 euros and there will be 20 million of such coins, so for sure you will encounter a few of them. For collectors the KNM has a different approach. Once again the created an extra nice coin but in a very limited edition. So limited that they were sold out in days. It seems like a standard approach to quickly sell a few coins which then become very rare and expensive.

The last few emissions by the KNM in 2013:
2 euro dubbelportret – sold out in 3 days
2 euro verdrag van rome in coincard – sold out in 15 days
muntrol 2 euro dubbelportret – sold out in 1 day
BU set Nederland 2013 – sold out in 11 days

Once sold out the price of the coins usually quickly doubles. It almost obligates collectors to review the KNM facebook page and website to keep up to date with new releases. I am not sure what exactly is the advantage for the KNM, but coin dealers must be very happy.

15.000 colored coins. This was the eventual number of the orange colored lucky dime. A dime that really wasn’t very lucky if you look at the recent results of the Dutch football team.

During this sale of colored coins the Dutch Royal Mint invalidated/destroyed coins with a total value of 1.500 Euros. These 1.500 Euros they colored, packaged and sold for (1.500 x 4.95 = ) 75.250 Euros. A nice profit.

Now we wait. We wait to see that the next release by the Dutch Royal Mint will be. Will they continue with coloring parts of the coins they release or will they finally realize that colored coins are still a gray area in regard to the law and when considering coin collectors.

What is exactly the deal with these colored coins that keep appearing. It was a question that kept playing in my head and after some research I finally got an idea. I started wondering with the appearance of the colored 5 euro coin where there were suddenly some non official versions, only to notice that these non official versions were not called ‘illegal’. It seemed that anyone is allowed to paint their coins.

According to the law once a coin is painted it is no longer a legal form of tender. They are coins with a defect and are removed from the payment systems. As a collectible item they are nice to have and some are really pieces of art, and as such represent a certain value, but for making legal payments these coins are worthless. On the facebook page by the Royal Dutch Mint a number of critical questions were asked and you can read the following (about the Orange Lucky Dime, translated from Dutch):

• RoyalDutchMint: … the Lucky Dime is made using an authentic 10 euro cent 2012, and the base of the coins is a legal form of tender but the dime is intended to be collected. The Royal Dutch Mint does not guarantee the coin can be used for making payments.
• RoyalDutchMint: …, the original version of the Orange Lucky Dime 2012 is a legal form of payment. However, due to the added coloring the coin does not formally submit to the euro coin specifications and as such can be refused to serve as payment. This implies that the legal status as applies to the other 8 euro coins does not apply to the colored coins.

The peculiar thing is that the Royal Dutch Mint sells these colored coins and they seem to be quite unclear regarding the legal state of these coins. On their website they advertise these colored coins with these texts:

• First official Dutch 10 cent euro 2012 in Orange.
• Nominal value: 0,10 euro

They do seem to be referring to normal 10 cent coins. Still, they are worthless coins that are being sold alongside normal coins seemingly like they are similar products. The colored coins are a lot more expensive, but that they are not really legal tender only becomes clear after quite some investigation. It would be prudent if somehow this confusion was removed and it was made clear these colored coins represent a pretty and innovative product intended for collectors and that it does not represent legal tender.

A colored coin will not buy you anything but I think that still a lot of people would be interested in these pretty coins.

More coin related news.

Regarding the Silver colored Tulip set both the packaging and the coins themselves imitated. We suspect the coins are original coins in circulation quality, where a color has been applied. The coins in the official colored Tulip set are silver coins, minted in a proof quality. If is not prohibited to apply color to a coin.

The Royal Dutch Mint is only issuing a warning that there is a set circulating that resembles the official colored Tulip set, but which differs in the area of material, quality and color and which is not authorized by the Royal Dutch Mint. This way we hope to avoid disappointment when customers assume to order an official colored Tulip set and instead receive and imitation.

This is the reaction of the Dutch Mint to my inquiries about the imitation colored Tulip coins that seem to be circulating. It seems there is nothing illegal about the coins itself. It’s just a warning for buyers to take into account a set might not be the official one.

The status of colored coins for collectors remains an unclear area. There are official releases and there are imitations, but the imitations are completely legal. Coloring the coin yourself is one of the possibilities. As such a colored coins really does not add to the collection. It is nice to see but it will always be an action applied to the coin after it has been minted. Adding color is an action which can be executed at any time, even a year later, which implies that the addition of color really is unrelated to the original minted coin.