The legal tender paradox
Non-circulating legal tender coins are a unique paradox. Officially issued and backed by governments, they carry face values— yet they’ re not meant to be spent.
In this article, we’ ll explore what sets these coins apart, why they matter to collectors, and how their legal tender status shapes their appeal and value.
FACE VALUE VS ISSUE PRICE
To explain why you would never wish to spend a non-circulating coin, we need to differentiate between the coin’ s face value and its issue price. Face value is the amount stamped on the coin, in other words its legal value, and this is mostly all you need to know about everyday coins in your pocket.
The coins you might find in your wallet are worth the dollar amount with which they are stamped. But the face value on a non-circulating legal tender coin is only a nominal figure.
In the non-circulating world, issue price is the price a collector pays to purchase the coin. All the factors discussed above feed into the issue price, which must cover everything from the cost of precious raw materials and the expert skills of the artisans involved in production, to the more intangible element of rarity.
MELT VALUE
Non-circulating coins have a face value too – but it’ s a popular misnomer to think this figure is in any way representative of its market value.