Royal Mint is accused over £5 coin ‘that’s not worth a penny’

 
Dalya Alberge24 May 2013

The Royal Mint is facing accusations that it is duping the public into buying commemorative coins that have no actual monetary value.

Richard Lobel, a leading numismatics dealer in London, warns that people are paying £9.95 for £5 coins which have no apparent worth because, despite assurances from the Royal Mint that they are legal tender, banks are generally not accepting them.

Speaking to the Evening Standard, he said that millions of these coins have been issued since 1990, bought by people who assumed they were keepsakes with some value. He regularly breaks the bad news to them: “We tell them ‘we don’t want them and no bank wants them’.”

One coin company, which requested anonymity, discovered that it could not sell almost 3,000 of the coins when it tried to cash in on its original investment.

In an email seen by the Evening Standard, a Royal Mint executive told them: “It would not be possible for us to cash these in to the banks. The £5 coin is not in general circulation and so banks will not accept them. Because of the royalty agreement with the Treasury, it will also cause us problems if we treat commemorative coins like circulating coins.” Asked how the Royal Mint assesses their £5 value, Mr Lobel said: “They put the word £5 on it.”

He is head of Coincraft, which was the UK’s biggest dealer in the secondary market for Royal Mint coins. But, after 38 years as a Royal Mint agent, he now refuses to trade in its coins because he believes the market is devalued by the number of issues. The Royal Mint website states that the £5 coins are intended to be souvenirs rather than ordinary circulation coins.

It adds: “Most people would not wish to exchange a crown piece, but in recognition of the fact that some people may wish to do so, some banks will allow crowns to be deposited into bank accounts. However, please note that whilst the coins are legal tender, banks are not obliged to accept the coins.”

Shane Bissett, the Royal Mint’s director of commemorative coin, said: “All our UK £5 coins are legal tender as defined by the Coinage Act 1971.

“So, while they may not be in general circulation like other coins, they have been declared by royal proclamation to be a coin with a face value of £5.”

He added: “The claims made have no foundation. A number of UK high street banks have reaffirmed to us that they will accept £5 commemorative coins issued by The Royal Mint should their customers wish to deposit them. Indeed, the banks in question have for many years issued materials to all the cash handlers in their branches so that such coins may be readily identified.”

A spokeswoman for Barclays confirmed that the bank accepts the coins.

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