Question About Commemoratives

They are legal tender and you can try to use them like trying to use an ASE. They aren't used as legal tender since they generally have more than tender value.

I guess the question is...were you denied a purchase while attempting to make a purchase?
smat

jpsned, you're going to give commems a stroke at the very thought of spending them as legal tender.

As noted by others, all US commemorative coins are legal tender. In the case of silver and gold coins, their intrinsic value is greater than their face value so it makes little sense to spend them at their stated denomination.

The CuNi Clad half dollars are minted in the same composition as regular circulating half dollars, however, so the intrinsic value vs. face value argument is negated. It's for this reason that more modern-era commemorative half dollars have made their way into circulation than any other modern-era denomination.

If we're talking about coins not intended for circulation, then "Yes."


A number of modern-era commemorative half dollars have been reported here on CCF as being found in rolls from banks. They've been reported on other sites as well.


Maybe you mean the 1993 James Madison/Bill of Rights silver Half Dollar?

Commems,

I Do NOT agree, Out of ALL of Coinage in the Modern age, Not Intended for Circulation, No.......


I have NOT seen Any, I will take your word......


" Maybe you mean the 1993 James Madison/Bill of Rights silver Half Dollar? " That's THREE..... My prior mentioned 2 and Your 1993 BOR....

As mentioned, NOT many Halfs were minted in Silver........

As mentioned in the other thread discussing legal tender status of coins, American coins today are covered by the 1965 coinage act, as preserved in 31 U.S. Code § 5103, which is very broad and vague in its definition, and is unrestricted in terms of numbers of coins that are regarded as legal tender:


So, any coin ever issued under US government authority is currently legal tender for its face value. This would include commemorative NCLT coins. Legally, there isn't really any difference in terms of legal tender status between NCLT commemorative coins, and made-for-circulation commemoratives like the 2009 Lincoln pennies or the 1976 bicentennial coins.

And, as discussed ad nauseum in such threads, there is a difference between "being legal tender" and "being able to spend it". The legal tender clause and the "compulsion to accept" is only in play in very limited circumstances: the incurrence of a debt which you are offering to pay. Going shopping, or buying fast food at a restaurant, or even depositing money in a bank, does not "incur a debt", because a transaction hasn't happened until after you pay; up until that point, you're negotiating a transaction, not incurring a debt. A merchant is perfectly entitled to refuse your "legal tender" coins and ask you to pay in some other form of money, if they don't recognise or question the authenticity of the coins or notes in question. They aren't even obliged to put up a sign in their shop stating which forms of money they do or do not accept, though this is often done as a courtesy to customers. If your "legal tender coins" are refused, you can then either choose to offer a form of payment more acceptable to the merchant, or to cancel the tranasaction, walk away and leave your goods behind on the counter.

As noted, other countries may have different laws. Most countries have limitations on the number of coins that must be accepted as legal tender (for example, in Australia, more than $5 worth of five cent pieces are not legal tender, so you can't pay your $1000 tax bill in 5¢ pieces here). For Canadian coins above $10 face value (all NCLT coins), the number of such coins you can use in a transaction is one - so you can't just hand over a giant pile of NCLT to try to pay a debt. Some smaller countries (Marshall Islands, Cook Islands, and others) which over-issued vast quantities of NCLT have even retrospectively revoked the legal tender status of their own coins.