By current monetary statute these off-metal strikes (OMS) are not-legal tender in Lanka. Probably why the CBSL cannot sell them to collectors as Non-Circulating Legal Tender (NCLT) without some new legislature.
Suggest calling these pieces Presentation Off Metal Strikes ( POMS ),
paid for by the tax-payer and gifted by the Presidents to their cabinets,
friends and relatives. Most coins like this probably never get listed in
catalogs like SCWC, since the existence of these POMS are not well publicized
in the media. The mints probably know if they keep record of all orders.
The number minted of the two Lanka issue took a long time to verify.
The rumor is that the Lankan Presidents wanted to have even a few kahavanu in their name even though they just couldn't democratically claim that crown. The acronym POMS reminds me that these coins were struck for pompous leaders :-) .
The only recent example in the numismatic history of USA are a dozen Proof 2000-W Sacagawea 22-karat gold dollar coin that were placed aboard the NASA space shuttle Columbia during its July 23, 1999, space mission, guided by it's first female commander, Eileen Collins. They were struck with an different early die which was also used for 5500 coins randomly hidden inside Cheerios-brand cereal products during a 2000 General Mills advertising promotion. An uncanny parallel with the Sri Lanka 1978 J.R.Jayawardena one Rupee coin.
The 1804 Draped Bust US silver $ struck, without specific authorization, to fulfill President Andrew Jackson's desire to use presentation sets of United States coinage as gifts for foreign Heads of State toward whom he wished to make diplomatic overtures. It is not an off-metal-strike.
The mint over the period from 1970 to 1990 gave Sultan of Oman gold and silver issues (Robert E. d.-oran), which are listed in Krause SCWC as Struck for Presentation Purposes. Some of them are off-metal-strikes of circulating coins and therefore POMS as described above. As presents of the sultan some of them they made their way on the numismatic market.
| Country | year | Coin | Metal | OMS | Mint | KM# | Gifted To/By | Title |
| Oman | 1975 | 25 Baisa | Cu-Ni | Gold | 250 | 45 | Qabus bin Sa'id | Sultan |
| Oman | 1975 | 50 Baisa | Cu-Ni | Gold | 250 | 46 | Qabus bin Sa'id | Sultan |
| SriLanka | 1978 | 1 Rupee | Cu-Ni | Gold | 40 | 144a | JR Jayawardena | President |
| SriLanka | 1992 | 1 Rupee | Cu-Ni | Gold | 100 | 151b | R. Premadasa | President |
| USA | 2000 | 1 Dollar | Cu-Ni-zi-Mn | Gold | 12 | 151b | NASA/US-Mint | Sacagawea |
Please let me know of you know of
any Off-Metal-Strike (OMS) World coins of purely presentation nature as
described above.
There are also some of only presentation nature but not off-metal-strikes.
Turkey 1948 1/2 Kurus Brass 150 Minted (KM884) Not issued to Public - Gold 25,000 - NCLT?
Ecuador 1973 5 Sucres Cu-Ni 15 exist 485 melted (KM85) - Government Officials - Not OMS
Tanzania 1985 25 Shilling Cu-Ni Proof (KM30) - Parliamentarians - Not OMS
The User's Guide in Krause SCWC says Off-metal Strikes previously designated by "OMS" which also included the wide range of error coinage struck in other than the officially authorized compositions have been incorporated into Pattern listing along with special issues, which were struck for presentation or other reasons.. This statement implies a class of coins minted for presentation. This incorporation has not been done for full catalog, in particularly not for Sri Lanka/Ceylon. IMHO it is probably better to list each Class independently since they are not the same and maybe even separating out the NCLT.
I thank Wolfgang Schuster and Paul Baker of for the information on the the SCWC entries for the POMS pieces in modern Oman.
In reply to my query, Steve Pellegrini say in E-Sylum of 2002-09-15 (Vol.5#37) that the term `Novodel' came immediately to mind. Novodels were special coins produced by the Russian Royal Mint in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. They were struck on demand for sale or presentation to favored collectors, almost exclusively of the Russian aristocracy. A Russian Count or Duke with a hole in his folder, would present the Mint-master with an order for whatever date, denomination and composition of coin desired. If the dies were extant, fine, if not, new ones were cut. If the coin in question were so rare that nobody remembered or ever knew how it looked, then an approximation was produced. Many Novodels were struck of rare dates in off metals, some were of dates which had never existed, but which the noble collector felt should have existed. The characteristic most Novodels shared (aside from rarity) is whimsy. It appears that in the area of manufactured rarities the Russian Mint put even the US Mint in Philadelphia in far the shade. Krause lists 602 Novodel up to 1861
There are a significant number of 1.0kg coins that have been issued
in Silver, Gold, and Platinum from many countries.
In 1991 Australia issued NCLT 1.0001 Kg coins in both Gold and
Platinum with a face value of 10000 Au$. The 32.16 ounces of Gold is
worth Bullion value + 3.5%. The issue contiuned in subsequent years
with a face value of 3000 Au$.
China followed in 1992 with a 1.0 Kg gold coin with a face value of
2000 Yuan, issuing 15 different types over next 8 years.
Some nations in Africa issued 1.0 kg Silver coins 100MM in diameter
(~12MM thick) Uganda(1993, 10000 Shillings),
Liberia(1993,1998 300 Dollars),
Gambia(1996 100 Dalasis),
Zambia(2000, 20000 Kwacha).
Browsing through the Krause 30th edition I didn't notice many which were
significantly over 1.0 Kg.
The devaluation in Russia in the early 1990 after the collapse of the
soviet union saw the ruble deflate by a factor of 10,000 in 8 year.
After 1991 they stopped minting Kopecs and introduced coins up to 100 rubles
in aluminum. Bullion became important for the rich in Russia to protects
from hyper inflation.
From 1995 to 2001 Russia issued in Silver0.900 a dozen types of
1111.12 gram coins, each with a mintage of 1000 or less.
In 1996 and 1997 Russia issued 100 gold NCLT coins 1.111Kg each with a
face value of 10000 Rubles (~$2) the 35.7 ounces of Gold have a
Bullion value $13800/-.
1997 was the first year on new currency with a factor of 1000 removed
from the exchange rate on 1998 Jan 1st by when the Ruble had
depreciated to 5998 Rubles to one US$. Kopec coins were reissued in
1997 with 10 old-rubles=1 kopec. The older currency was
slowly withdrawn from circulation over 2-years and then demonetized,
except for the precious metal issue which absorbed the
factor of 1000 since they remained still worth lot more than face.
The Guinness Book of Records of NCLT coins must clearly be the 18 coins of 180MM diameter (17MM thick) 8.228Kg of Gold issued by the People's Bank of China to celebrate the new millennium in 2000. With a face value of 30000 Yuan ($3623) the 265.3 ounces of Gold had a Bullion value $76285/- !!