Her collection of presidential coins is impressive and something Tanya Thomas takes great pride in. Her latest purchase, though, has left her feeling short-changed. She paid The National Collectors' Mint a pretty penny for four Barack Obama coins, But she thought $75 was a small price to pay to add the 44th president to her collection. That is until her daughter brought them home after show and tell at school.
"The whole front comes off. Its just a sticker stuck on top of a regular quarter or regular Kennedy half dollar. Its just a Barack Obama sticker stuck on top", says Thomas.
While Thomas wasn't familiar with the National Collectors Mint out of New York, the Better Business Bureau is. The coin dealer has an unsatisfactory record with the BBB, because theres been a pattern of complaints and the business has not taken action to correct them. The web-based rip off report also lists countless stories of deception. Thomas says shes called the mint nearly a dozen times herself--to no avail. Our call to the National Collectors Mint wasn't returned, either.
As for the two-dollars worth of coins she paid big bucks for? They won't be going in this collection--. (what, NOT Pepsi? ObamaCola?)
In 2005, the mint was ordered by the New York State Supreme Court to pay penalties for misleading consumers about its Freedom Tower silver dollar. The company claimed the U.S. government endorsed the coin to commemorate the 9-11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.