Business · Energy & Commodities · 12 hrs ago
Rising silver prices forced Germany to melt down two planned coins
Germany’s Finance Ministry cancelled two planned silver coins about a year ago after silver became worth more than their face values.
The coins were planned to mark the Three Wise Men and the 125th anniversary of the Wuppertal suspension railway.
The ministry had the coins deformed and melted down, then gave them new face values.
The work cost a reported nearly €1.4 million in total.
The Three Wise Men coin will now be issued on November 5 as a €50 coin instead of €25, while the railway coin will cost €35 instead of €20.
Green Party budget lawmaker Sebastian Schäfer criticised the use of public money, but the ministry expects a coin-making profit in the high single-digit millions.
The silver price has since fallen from above $100 an ounce in January to just under $50.
Germany’s finance ministry had to melt down two planned silver coin issues after silver prices rose above the coins’ face values.
The reworking cost €624,000 for the “Heilige Drei Könige” coin and €733,000 for the Wuppertal suspension railway coin, nearly €1.4 million in total.
The coins were deformed, melted down and assigned new face values.
The ministry still expects a coin profit in the upper single-digit millions of euros.
Green Party budget spokesman Sebastian Schäfer criticized the handling of public money.
- Who
- Germany’s Federal Finance Ministry; Green Party budget spokesman Sebastian Schäfer criticized its handling of the coins.
- What
- Two planned silver coin issues were melted down and given new face values after silver prices rose.
- When
- The planned sales were cancelled about a year before the articles were published. The revised “Heilige Drei Könige” coin is due on November 5.
- Where
- Germany; the coins were reworked at a mint.
- Why
- The rising silver price pushed the coins’ material value above their face value.
Germany’s Federal Finance Ministry
Sebastian Schäfer
Handling of the coins
Germany’s Federal Finance Ministry
The ministry reworked the coins and still expects a coin profit in the upper single-digit millions of euros.
Sebastian Schäfer
Schäfer said public money had been “literally and negligently shredded” and should not be handled this way.
The ministry cancelled the planned sales of the two silver coins after silver prices rose.
Both coin issues were deformed at a mint, melted down and assigned new face values.
The revised “Heilige Drei Könige” coin is scheduled to be issued as a €50 coin.
- Heilige Drei Könige” reworking
- €624,000
- Wuppertal suspension railway coin reworking
- €733,000
- Combined reworking costs
- Nearly €1.4 million
- Heilige Drei Könige” new face value
- €50, up from €25
- Wuppertal suspension railway coin new face value
- €35, up from €20
- Expected coin profit
- Upper single-digit millions of euros
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What people are saying
So darf mit dem Geld der Bürgerinnen und Bürger schlicht und einfach nicht umgegangen werden.
So darf mit dem Geld der Bürgerinnen und Bürger schlicht und einfach nicht umgegangen werden.