#1 design original banned coin. Note designers Initials on coin! In 2004 Dann Carr was contracted by National Collectors Mint (NCM), a coin marketing company, to design a "Freedom Tower Silver Dollar".
After submitting the basic artwork, NCM began their marketing campaign. Shortly after that, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer banned sales of the coins and imposed a fine on NCM. Four major issues were involved. 1 The gereral perception was that NCM was attemping to "cash-in" on the tragedy.In reality, the original coin was intended to commemorate ground-breaking for the new "Freedom Tower" building at the site of the twin towers. But that still didn't make it right. 2 The marketing for the coins was misleading and caused people to believe that the coins were pure (solid) silver when, if fact, most (but not all) were only silver plated. 3 NCM claimed that the coins were "created with" silver recovered from the World Trade Center (WTC) disaster site.
However, all they had to do was melt one WTC recovery Silver Eagle in a larger batch of silver and use that silver for the coins. 4 NCM claimed that the coins were "Government Issue" legal-tender silver dollars. The fine print stated that the coins were legal tender of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). CNMI, however, is a protectorate of the United States and has no legal authority to issue their own. After the initial ban, NCM changed their marketing tactics, taking a more low-key approach.
They skirted the ban by associating the coins with the Cook Islands rather than the CNMI. The Cook Islands issues are technically legal tender. The item "BANNED COIN Signed DAN CARR WTC World Trade Center Recovery FREEDOM TOWER PF69" is in sale since Sunday, December 10, 2017. This item is in the category "Coins & Paper Money\Coins\ US\Commemorative\Modern Silver/Clad (1982-Now)". The seller is "greatlakescoinvault" and is located in Norwalk, Ohio.
This item can be shipped worldwide.