The

Freedom Tower One World Trade Center (also known as One World Trade, One WTC, and formerly Freedom Tower) is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merr ...

Silver Dollar is a "one dollar" coin minted under license of the

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI; ch, Sankattan Siha Na Islas Mariånas; cal, Commonwealth Téél Falúw kka Efáng llól Marianas), is an unincorporated territory and commonwea ...

(CNMI) in 2004, although the CNMI does not have legal authority to issue or authorize currency. Despite vague statements in advertisements, it is not issued by the

United States Mint The United States Mint is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury responsible for producing coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce, as well as controlling the movement of bullion. It does not produce paper money; tha ...

and is not considered

legal tender Legal tender is a form of money that courts of law are required to recognize as satisfactory payment for any monetary debt. Each jurisdiction determines what is legal tender, but essentially it is anything which when offered ("tendered") in pa ...

, nor is it considered

non-circulating legal tender Non-circulating legal tender (NCLT) refers to coins that are theoretically legal tender and could circulate but do not because their issue price, and/or their melt value at the time of issue is significantly above the arbitrary legal tender value ...

. The CNMI receives royalty fees from proceeds of the sale of the coin. The coin is actually minted by SoftSky, a

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

commemorative coin Commemorative coins are coins issued to commemorate some particular event or issue with a distinct design with reference to the occasion on which they were issued. Many coins of this category serve as collectors items only, although some countries ...

maker.

Description

The obverse of the coin features a rendered image of the original design proposal for the

Daniel Libeskind Daniel Libeskind (born May 12, 1946) is a Polish–American architect, artist, professor and set designer. Libeskind founded Studio Daniel Libeskind in 1989 with his wife, Nina, and is its principal design architect. He is known for the design a ...

that was to be built on the former site of the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

in New York City. Also on the

obverse Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ''o ...

are the United States national motto "In God We Trust" and the words "Freedom Tower, July 4, 2004." The reverse features an image of the former World Trade Center and the words "We Will Never Forget", along with a small symbol of a star on a stone pillar within a circle. This latter unidentified icon is in fact the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Legality

The distributor of the coin,

National Collector's Mint National Collector's Mint, Inc. is a Westchester County New York based company that sells privately produced coins, tokens, commemoratives, and collectibles, as well as anti-aging skin products through the BioLogic brand. The company does not p ...

, advertises the item as "legally authorized government issue" and marks the coin with the valuation of "One Dollar". This is seen as being a deliberate attempt to mislead American consumers into believing it is a legal tender coin produced by the

and is worth one U.S. dollar. In reaction to advertising for this product, the U.S. Mint, as well as the

attorneys general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

of various U.S. states, released a statement that the coin is not U.S. government issue. Furthermore, since the Northern Mariana Islands is a United States

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

, it cannot mint its own

currency (it uses regular American money). The distributors also purport that the coins have been struck using silver recovered from a vault in the rubble of the World Trade Center. The validity of this claim has not been confirmed. Distributors warn that the

minting Minting is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The village is situated south from the A158 road. The population (including Gautby) at the 2011 census was 286. Minting Priory was located here. Mi ...

of the coin will cease once the quantity of recovered silver has been exhausted, and have therefore placed a limit on the number of coins that can be ordered per person. The coins are not solid silver, but are silver

clad Cladding is an outer layer of material covering another. It may refer to the following: *Cladding (boiler), the layer of insulation and outer wrapping around a boiler shell *Cladding (construction), materials applied to the exterior of buildings ...

(0.0001 inch (2.5

micrometre The micrometre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American spelling), also commonly known as a micron, is a unit of length in the International System of Unit ...

) layer). Actual silver content is 45 mg, or 0.00145 troy oz. The territorial government of the CNMI has made money from commissioning commemorative, non-tender coins through SoftSky and National Collector's Mint in the past, but does not claim the right to commission legal tender coinage. Some past coins issued by SoftSky, such as the 1933 Gold Double Eagle coin, have also incurred marketing controversy. In October 2004 the

attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

of New York,

Eliot Spitzer Eliot Laurence Spitzer (born June 10, 1959) is an American politician and attorney. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was the 54th governor of New York from 2007 until his resignation in 2008. Spitzer was b ...

, obtained a court order against National Collectors Mint (a

Port Chester, New York Port Chester is a administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the largest part of the town of Rye (town), New York, Rye in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County by populat ...

company) to halt sales of the "Freedom Tower Silver Dollar" coin, citing it as fraudulently advertised. Spitzer also alleged that the company's sales contacts had asserted that the coin is legal tender. On October 13, 2004, Spitzer obtained a temporary order halting the company from advertising or selling the coin. On November 9, State Supreme Court Justice Joseph R. Cannizzaro ruled that the company had engaged in deceptive and fraudulent marketing practices, and ordered the company to terminate its misleading advertising of the coin. An investigation as to the silver content and the origin of the silver in the coins was started. The attorney general's office easily determined that the coin was only silver clad, but as of 2005 the veracity of the claim that this silver came from a World Trade Center bank vault had not been determined. As a result of the controversy and legal action over the Freedom Tower coin, CNMI governor

Juan N. Babauta Juan Nekai Babauta (born September 7, 1953) is a Northern Mariana Islander politician who served as the sixth governor of the Northern Mariana Islands from January 14, 2002 to January 9, 2006. Biography Early life and education Juan Babauta was ...

suspended the SoftSky contract on November 13, 2004. On December 2, Babauta ended the contract. Before this course of events, the CNMI government made about $160,000 off the deal. Other groups have also released silver Freedom Tower coins, but not with a denominational value or advertised as government issue. The CNMI coin was named "Stupid Investment of the Week" by ''

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

MarketWatch'' on September 24, 2004.

2005 Freedom Tower Dollar

In 2005, a similar coin to the CNMI Freedom Tower coin was sold, with similar design and the same claim of being made from silver "reclaimed" from the World Trade Center, but bearing the name of the

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

instead of the CNMI. The Cook Islands are a self-governing democracy, and do mint their own currency (at par with the

New Zealand dollar The New Zealand dollar ( mi, tāra o Aotearoa; sign: $, NZ$; code: NZD) is the official currency and legal tender of New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Niue, the Ross Dependency, Tokelau, and a British territory, the Pitcairn Islands. Within New ...

), though this coin is sold as a "

" coin. As of February 19, 2014 this Company still has a catalog selling "World Trade Center 'Recovery Silver' Silver Eagle Dollars" for $99.00 with a claim that all silver has been independently verified as authentic from Ground Zero by a former Asst. Director of the FBI.

2001–2006 World Trade Center Gold and Silver Clad Commemorative

As of 2006, the National Collectors Mint was offering what is variously described as ''2001–2006 World Trade Center Gold and Silver Clad Commemorative'', ''2001–2006 World Trade Center Commemorative'', and ''5th Anniversary World Trade Center Commemorative''. It is advertised as a "non-monetary issue" that "will never be released for circulation." This coin is a two piece set of a gold coin with a detachable silver inset of the World Trade Center complex and claims to contain "15 mg. of 24 KT gold and 15 mg. of .999 Pure silver clad," and also continued to claim that the silver was found in a bank vault buried under the rubble of Ground Zero. For comparison, a U.S. dollar coin is 8.1 g and a dime is 2.268 g, meaning that the precious metal content of the commemorative coin is likely between 0.4% and 1.3% of the total mass. It was discovered that the silver analyzed was, indeed, not silver, and was only worth about 32 cents. The company claims that "$5 of every 2001–2006 World Trade Center Commemorative order is donated to official 9/11 family charities and memorials." This claim has not been verified.

References

External links

2001–2006 World Trade Center Gold and Silver Clad Commemorative
''(commercial)''

''(commercial)''
U.S. Mint press release on the Freedom Tower Silver Dollar

New York State Attorney General's Office, October 13, 2004

, New York State Attorney General's Office, November 9, 2004

{{World Trade Center History of the Northern Mariana Islands Commemorative coins World Trade Center Currencies introduced in 2004 2004 in the Northern Mariana Islands