Native American Mint - Treasures Of The US - Massachusetts

HI all

I seem to always end up with something I want more information on, information which doesn't seem to exist online.

THUS, I want to share my recently purchased Native American Mint Massachusetts Beryl coin, part of their "Treasures of the US" series.

Being a semi-beginner rockhound, I was instantly interested in the series when I saw them on APMEX. They are silver and include little capsules with mostly mineral samples. They come in plain silver and colorized versions.

But when I first saw them, the prices were a bit too high for me, and the ones I liked were out of stock. THEN the Massachusetts and Maine coins came out.

I decided to do a little research before deciding on a purchase.

I found VERY little info on these coins. Their website is out of date and not very informative (www.nativeamericanmint.com). There was a site for the people who produce the little capsule inserts (Coin Jewels) but it doesn't seem to work anymore.

I hemmed and hawed for a while trying to decide if I should spend money I shouldn't spend on a Massachusetts version.

Pretty much all images of these coins online are computer renditions (with a few useful exceptions on APMEX), so the minerals don't look exactly like the ones you will get. I finally found a few (bad) photos of examples on ebay and decided to take the plunge. I chose a standard Massachusetts example.

As you can see, the beryl is "colorless". In other words, not exactly gem quality. Not a surprise, as gem beryl is not easy to find in MA anymore. BUT the online images show aqua colored beryl. aquamarine. I can't help but think some people are disappointed to see the clear and not gem beryl in their coin.

(On the other hand, the Maine coins come with tourmaline. The online images show colored, CUT gems. The colored minerals are more common up there, but you are NOT going to get tiny cut gems in your coin!)

The coin did lead me to the town of Goshen Massachusetts, location of Barrus Farm, a mineral collecting locality that once provided many interesting specimens, including colorless beryl called goshenite by the gem industry.

So. am I happy with my purchase? Yes. I just wish it cost less and I could read more about their source!