The "Think Tank Recommends Melting 'Gold' Coins item reminded me of a search I did on eBay several months ago to find some modern Vietnamese NCLT (Non-Circulating Legal Tender) coins for a collector who had emailed me while I was in Viet Nam last year. The Singapore Mint produced some silver and gold NCLT coins for Viet Nam celebrating several lunar new years. During the last couple of years of minting them, they added a low value denomination made of Nordic Gold.

My eBay search found a seller offering one of those Vietnamese Nordic Gold coins at a little over the gold value for that coin's weight! I contacted the seller and told him that his coin contained no gold. His first response was quite angry but I replied with a request for him to go to the eBay Guide page; reviews.ebay.com/Nordic-Gold_W0QQugidZ10000000002362581 . His second reply was "Oops" and he repriced the coin.

Nordic Gold is 89% copper, 5% aluminum, 5% zinc, and 1% tin. The Swedish Mint developed it in 1991 for its 10 Kronor coin, and has since been used for many other coins of the world. It is the alloy used for the 10, 20 and 50 Cent Euro coins, so I am guessing the American recommending the melting of our gold coins will next recommend melting these Euro coins to get them out of their debt problems. We shall see.