Talking Washington Dollar From Liberia

Would you even consider this a coin?

Legal tender that's not even meant for spending. Holograms and enamel are cool, but electronics inside coins kind of cheapens the whole hobby.

After reading that ad, I gotta wonder...does he talk in all caps?

Or..."Don't melt me", followed by "I'm melting".
Oh the horror!

In many cases, "Liberia" does not make these coins. These are issued by private mints in the United States. The issuers may, or may not, have actually asked for and received permission from an authorised representative of the Liberian government to issue these coins.

Liberia was in a state of civil war and near-anarchy for most of the period between 1989 and 2003. Many private US mints took advantage of the lawless situation to churn out all sorts of "coins" in the name of Liberia, with no-one in Liberia with the ability or responsibility to authorise coinage or challenge their legality. I doubt that very much that anyone in Liberia was aware these coins were being made, or if any of the profits from the making and selling of these coins actually went to any of the warring factions in the country. The situation is very similar to the "coins" made in the name of "Somalia".

Most of these "coins" do not end up being listed in the mainstream Krause catalogues, rather they get dumped in the "Unusual" volume.

Some of these private mints may not even be aware that the situation in Liberia has now markedly improved. I would not be surprised if this very "American-looking" coin were not actually authorised by the current Liberian government.

I wonder if the US Mint can sue the makers of this "coin" for copyright infringement. Washington's portrait seems to have been lifted straight off the GW Presidential dollar, right down to the curved truncation of the bust (which makes sense on the US dollar, but not on the Liberian one):