911Twenty.com is a National Collectors Mint site selling a 9/11 commerative.
Title
9/11 Coin Certificate – World Trade Center Commemorative
Description
Excerpted from the website description:
- Special internet offer. 9/11 World Trade Center $20 Silver Certificate. You pay only face value.
Additional Information
Community Reviews
Picture of Dishonest Advertising
I see the commercial for this collectible $20 Liberian note quite frequently and felt compelled to comment. This is a free country, and they're allowed to sell this Sept. 11 commemorative, even though it's in poor taste, but their advertisement and Web site contain an out-and-out lie.
The lie, as many bloggers have previously noted, is that the silver-coated $20 Liberian note is being sold at "face value." That would be true, if payment were made in Liberian currency. However, according to XE.com's currency converter, as of Aug. 17, 2008, one U.S. dollar is worth 63.55 Liberian dollars. That means the $20 Liberian note is redeemable at most international banks and currency exchange offices for less than 41 cents.
Though the bill is coated in .999 pure silver leaf, it's impossible enough silver was used to make up for the $19.59 discrepancy (even though silver is currently worth about $12.70 per ounce), since pure silver leaf is practically weightless in such a small quantity. In fact, the company claims the size of the bill as 3.125 inches by 7.375 inches. I found an art supply store online selling 25 blocks of 3.375-inch by 3.375-inch pure silver leaf for $14.95, which is more than six times more silver leaf than would be used on both sides of the $20 Liberian bill.
Saying the $20 Liberian bill is being sold at face value, when the unadorned bill is worth about 41 U.S. cents and the silver adds perhaps another two U.S. dollars or so to its value, is unethical and misleading to consumers. It's even more unethical to charge customers $4.95 shipping and handling when already making an obscene profit on this item (the cost to apply the silver leaf to each bill must be minimal). National Collector's Mint should be ashamed of itself, not only for sullying the memory of all who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but by trying to bilk the naïve out of their money.
Saynotospam 00:34, 17 August 2008 (PDT)
