Commemorative coin from others' pain
Here’s an article I found that discusses the new commemorative coin. I get the impression that they’re not in favor of it. You can make your own conclusion.
Just as holiday CDs flood television airwaves when the Christmas season is remotely near, a certain coin is being advertised much in the same fashion, only this isn’t for a joyous holiday season. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.
The 2001-2006 World Trade Center Gold and Silver Clad Commemorative coin has been advertised on cable stations for weeks, presumably leading up to Sept. 11.
On one side, the coin features five stars — representing the five year anniversary — residing over a bald eagle, while on the flip side, a skyline view of lower Manhattan is present. But what may be most appalling is the fact that National Collector’s Mint, the brains behind the coin, claims to have harvested silver from the devastated site.
According to National Collector’s Mint’s website, “The World Trade Center skyline is lavishly clad in gleaming silver miraculously recovered from a bank vault found under tons of debris at Ground Zero.”
This isn’t the first time the minting company has tried to peddle 9⁄11 coins.
According to a USA Today article written in 2004, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer obtained a court order to temporarily suspend the sale of the coins, citing fraud and beginning an investigation regarding the claim of where the silver actually came from.
“It is a shameless attempt to profit from a national tragedy,” he said. “This product has been promoted with claims that are false, misleading or unsubstantiated.”
Trying to commercialize the world-changing events of Sept. 11 not only trivializes the disaster, but also cheapens the memories of thousands of lives lost on that day.
(via AdaEveningNews.com )