Many efforts have been made to capitalize on the emotional connection Americans have to the tragedies of September 11th. One venture however, has found a major opponent—the New York Supreme Court.
Last Tuesday, the New York Supreme Court ruled that the National Collector’s Mint Inc., based in Port Chester, N.Y, engaged in false advertising, fraud, and deceptive business practices in the production and sale of the September 11th commemorative silver dollar coin.
All of these charges are civil offenses because the company claimed each coin was a "legally authorized government issued silver dollar … struck to commemorate the World Trade Center and the new Freedom Tower being erected in its place … Most importantly, each coin has been created using .999 pure silver recovered from ground zero.”
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer obtained a temporary court order halting sales until the lawsuit was decided. The judge’s permanent decision that was made on November 11, and released last Tuesday, stated that Spitzer is asking for $8 million dollars from the company for restitution.
"National Collector’s Mint has complied, and will continue to comply, with all orders of the court," the company said in a statement released to the Associated Press last Tuesday. "The company notes that the attorney general’s petition did not challenge the origin of the silver, and the Court has made no finding in this respect."
In actuality, the investigation conducted by Spitzer found that the coins that the company claimed were almost purely silver, were made from an inexpensive metal alloy plated with approximately one ten-thousandth of an inch of silver. The company values the coins at $39, but the coins had a value of less than a penny.
The Company has made no plans to appeal the court’s decision publicly.
