Coins Found Under The World Trade Center

[treasurenut]

I thought this was so cool as a collector of coins, I don't know why I did not know about these coins before now. Here a little bit about these coins from the site http://www.wtc911coins.com

Inside tower 1 of the World Trade Center, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission held what was known to the investment world as the COMEX vaults. Inside this network of vaults was a vast collection of investment grade Silver, Gold and Platinum held by a variety of financial institutions from around the globe. When the Twin Towers fell, no one expected to find anything salvageable.

As the cleanup effort continued, on November 1, 2001 the workers at ground zero reached the Iron Mountain vault located directly under the World Trade Center. Inside were Silver, Gold and Platinum bullion as well as coins from around the world that miraculously survived the disaster. The coins recovered were from various countries around the world, here is the list.

1) Mexico

2) Uruguay

3) Hungary

4) Austria

5) South Africa

6) Canada

7) Australia

8) USA

9) Jamaica

10) England

Under high security, the coins were loaded into Brinks Armored vehicles and sent directly to Collectors Universe, the parent company of the world renowned (PCGS) Professional Coin Grading Service. They were then cataloged, graded and encapsulated in the patented PCGS high security tamper resistant capsules along with a specially designed commemorative United States Flag insert that immediately identifies the coin as a genuine artifact recovered from Ground Zero at the World Trade Center. No coin will ever be slabbed with this special Flag insert ever again as it is copyright protected specifically for these magnificent pieces of American History

 

[EDDE]

ill be the nay sayer and say its a scam

 

[djui5]

This is really cool.


edit, umm...why are they on ebay? That seems strange.


edit again,
I'm seeing these all over ebay, some are by fake grading companies and are fake looking coins. What the hell is going on here.

 

[jeff of pa]

I have to agree Scam.

The CFTC is a Government Agency.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodity_Futures_Trading_Commission

Somebody is using the disaster for profit.

 

[treasurenut]

Guys I promisse you this is not a scam, the coins have been grade by PCGS and there a maybe a total of between 5000-10000 coins in total out there. The World trade center recovery coins where only graded by PCGS the 3 tier grading companies that are now re grading coins are BS if you ask me because the original chain of custody is broken. Originally the coins where taken from the vault by Brink security and transported to PCGS (collectors univers) for grading. If you research it there are article about it from back then.

Its not a scam if you get the coins with the American Flag marker from PCGS. I just think that it makes the coins interesting and a part of history.

 

[FredCobol]

NOT A SCAM. I have had mine for about 5 years.

The real scam was the gold/silver plated and painted "special collector coins" that were sold on TV.

 

[djui5]

Yep, not a scam! Here is a reply I got from PCGS. I took this mans contact info out of the e-mail, but if anyone wants they can e-mail PCGS from their web-site:


Hi Randy,
Yes we did grade these coins. There were quite a few that were recovered from the wreckage. As long as they are in PCGS holders, and have a grade with a certification number they are authentic.
Please let me know if I can assist you further.

Thanks,
Peter Smith
Customer Service
Collectors Universe, Inc.


edit:
Here are some coins that ARE a scam. This was from 2004 though:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/10/13/national/main649060.shtml

 

[FredCobol]

FYI....

In case you are thinking of buying a PCGS certified "WTC Ground Zero Recovery" coin, the coins that are actually dated 2001 are more desirable and carry a higher price. I have watched the EBay prices since I bought mine and they are now 2 to 3 times what I paid about 5 years ago.

 

[treasurenut]

I told you guys not a scam.

 

[bradyboy]

Sure smells like a sick scam
Not to mention, people taking advantage of one of if not the most vial and devastating events in American history
It makes me sick to see an organization profit from such a devastating crime against America and her people.
The big question that comes to mind, the coins (if they are in fact from the WTC) belong to the original owners.
How did they manage to hit the open market?
Don't they belong to the original owners / contries?
If there was any profit, should said profit go to the organizations that support the groups tending to the families of the lives lost?.
I'm I missing something here?
This is discusting, turns my stomach
Brady

 

[FredCobol]

I believe that the coins belonged to the Commodities Exchange that was housed in the WTC. I don't know whether they got an insurance settlement or they agreed to part with the coins voluntarily but they were not "misappropriated".

The reason that it was deemed acceptable to have these coins encapsulated and sold was that money from the sale of these coins did go to relief organizations helping the victims of the despicable act that occurred on 9/11.

 

[bradyboy]

if this is true, does any one have any proof that 100% went to the victims
how much went to marketing, sales people and so on
how much "on the dollar " did the victim's families realize?
Am I going to far on this?
Brady

 

[utah hunter]

if this is true, does any one have any proof that 100% went to the victims
how much went to marketing, sales people and so on
how much "on the dollar " did the victim's families realize?
Am I going to far on this?
Brady

Yes, you are going too far on this. At least you are way too worried about the situation. Isn't the business a victim as well as families who lost their lives, or the people who no longer had a place to work? The owner of the commodities also had no access to their tangible assets for months, so no way to sell/trade said assets. If they can recoup some of their huge business losses by documenting where these coins were on 9/11 then I say good for them. Businesses lost untold Billions of dollars due to the attack, much of which can never be recouped in any way, shape, or form. My opinion...Ryan

 

[TheHarleyMan2]

I don't think it is a scam. I remember about a year or so after the towers fell when they finally got to ground zero there was gold, platinum, and silver bars, bullion, and coins that was found, but the feds wasn't sure who had actually owned it from what I remember.

 

[FredCobol]

Brady,

You raise an interesting question about the collection of historical artifacts that are associated with tragic events. I know that the collection of Nazi memorabilia is a sensitive subject but there are other types of artifacts associated with death and crimes against humanity such as slavery related items and Civil War munition that seem to be more acceptable.

Where should the line be drawn? I don't know. I hope I am not opening up a can of worms here.

 

[treasurenut]

You guys can find some of the research on the page but to answer a few questions the coins where sold for a profit by 4 people to start with and they committed to donating between 6% and 12% of the gross sales price to the fireman/victims funds

PCGS Answer: On the WTC Coins. November 14, 2002

This was one of the toughest and touchiest decisions we ever made.
In the months following Sept 11, we were approached on numerous occasions to do coin-related projects. We rejected all the projects except one PCGS project from one source. After considerable thought, we decided to do the one PCGS project because we knew the people handling the deal very well, they assured us that everything would be handled in the best possible way, and they assured us a hefty donation would be made to the victims. It is our understanding that there are 4 direct retailers of these coins, that the two largest have committed to donating between 6% and 12% of the gross sales price to the fireman/victims funds, and that the largest retailer has raised close to $400,000 for the funds. It was certainly not our intention to participate in anything that is disrespectful to our country or the victims of our National tragedy. I hope this is explains what we did and why we did it. Like I said, it was a touchy decision.

 

[treasurenut]

Post about WTC coins being blod coins or Death coins.

For these coins to have been melted down would have been a crying shame as these coins serve a purpose of allowing people to bring them out in a hundred years time to show our children’s children them and help tell the story of what happened that sad day.Yes,These coins are making money (how else are they supposed to be handed on….Given Away…!) but this will become unimportant in a hundred years time.The memory of the coin and Lady Liberty standing on it will help tell the story.I am proud to be an owner of these coins and I applaud PCGS for sealing these coins for the future.So many peoples lives where lost,Let’s not melt and waste these coins and waste part of their memory.

 

[djui5]

that has scam wrote all over it.

Sure smells like a sick scam

Did you guys not read my post? That e-mail was from PCGS them selves.

 

[FredCobol]

that has scam wrote all over it.

Sure smells like a sick scam

Did you guys not read my post? That e-mail was from PCGS them selves.

We read it but we ignore people from Arizona.

 

[treasurenut]

I wish PCGS would give us some population numbers on the WTC Coins I have been a collector for a while and the prices just keeps going up its hard to find a good deal on them