Heavenly Coins

Tue, 30 Jun 2009

Collectors with an interest in extraterrestrial objects can catch a falling star with these NCLTs.

Since 2004, three countries have issued noncirculating, legal-tender (NCLT) coins with embedded pieces of meteorites, making the issues literally “out of this world.” Meteorites are natural objects from outer space that survive entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. There are three basic types of meteorites: stony (called “chondrites”), iron and stonyiron. Meteorites generally are named after the place where they were found. (The International Society for Meteoritics and Planetary Science maintains a database of official names at www.meteoriticalsociety.org.)

The first meteorite coin, produced by the authority of the National Bank of Liberia in 2004, has become a classic among NCLT collectors. Struck from 2 ounces of .999 fine silver, the coin has a face value of $10 and a mintage limited to 999 pieces. It carries a piece of the 163-pound chondrite meteorite known as Northwest Africa (NWA) 267, discovered in Morocco in 2000. On the coin’s reverse, a meteor streaks across a starlit sky above a desert and palm trees, with a camel and rider in the foreground.

Following the success of the Liberian issue, in 2006 the independent Republic of Palau released a $5 silver crown produced from 25g of sterling silver; total mintage was 2,500. The coin holds a piece of the Nantan iron meteorite, which is known to have fallen in A.D. 1516 in China’s Guanxi region. The coin’s reverse shows a farmer plowing a field behind two oxen; in the distance, meteorites fall from the heavens.

In 2007 the Cook Islands, a selfgoverning, parliamentary democracy in free association with New Zealand, threw its hat into the astronomical ring when it issued the first of its three meteorite coins. In technical aspects, the Cook Islands coins are the same as those of Palau’s Nantan issue. The 2007 coin has an embedded piece of the Brenham stony-iron meteorite found in 1882 in Kiowa County, Kansas. On the reverse, palladium plating creates a spectacular, nightsky effect, on the galactic view.

The 2008 Cook Islands issue is the first coin to feature a meteorite slice rather than an irregular fragment. The embedded piece is from the 550 pounds of material recovered from the chondrite Pultusk (Poland) meteorite that fell in 1868. The coin’s reverse shows a meteorite in space, with the Earth as a giant sphere in the background. Mintage was limited to 2,500 coins.

The most recent meteorite coin, issued this year, is the first to incorporate a piece of a lunar meteorite. The fragment came from NWA 4881. Interestingly, the meteorite’s origin was determined by comparing its mineralogical, chemical and isotopic composition to samples from the moon collected on Apollo missions. Another fascinating aspect of this coin is that each side depicts one side of the moon. Camouflaged on the obverse is a small image of Queen Elizabeth II and ELIZABETH II/COOK ISLANDS/FIVE DOLLARS.

The 2004 Liberia meteorite coin is extremely difficult to find. The other issues generally can be purchased on the Internet for less than $100 each.