World Trade Center Recovery coins
over the years browsing through ebay and other coin sites i saw quite a few coins in PCGS holders with a special label designating it WTC recovery. this was a very weird label to have on a coin that was graded pf70 because like everyone else who saw what happened on 9/11 there is no way a coin can be found within that ruble that would come out without a scratch or so i thought. there were some speculations that these coins were minted from the scrap metal of the towers but they are bullion gold silver and platinum coins so that is highly unlikely and in fact false. what actually happened was the following.
after both towers collapsed there were hundreds of people that came to help clean up the wreckage and through that finding many artifacts that belonged to varies employees and other people that worked or shopped there. after a couple of months on November 1st, the teams finally reached the lower levels or basements of tower 1 and in network of vaults and safes was a massive storage of bullion coins from over 10 different countries. these coins were immediately taken from the vaults and loaded onto an armored car that went strait to PCGS to get graded! even with these huge iron safes directly under the towers the coins themselves remained safe and are now available for the public as a token of history and show that despite the devastation we are still here and evil cant destroy everything.
there are also other stories of people that had coins in a safety deposit box in the basements and their coins were discovered but had major damage done to them do to intense heat. for more information they have their own website about these coins http://www.wtc911coins.com/
it would be very nice to own one of these coins just as a reminder of the event and what a tragic historic moment it was and i myself had 2 relatives who worked there (but where not present until after they were hit) and a reminder to all the brave souls that were sacrificed that day.
just as a side note if there are any coins that you see with this label that are minted after 2001 (2002-pres) they are not recovery coins because there would be no way it would have been at ground zero.
Comments
coin collector
Level 4
a very lucky coin
Daniel M.
Level 3
nice coin. a 70 from 2001 that is so cool
user_9894
Level 4
Hard to believe that they came out intact.
Kepi
Level 6
I'll never forget... Thank you for sharing this blog.
"SUN"
Level 6
Thanks for sharing this with us.
Longstrider
Level 6
Never to forgive. Never to forget!
user_9073
Level 5
We all need a touchstone of this event to help carry the memory and to never forget the tragedy and the heroism. It is a shame that some saw an opportunity for their own profit.
Mike
Level 7
Thanks Conan. This will be only the second time I have written about this. Yes your right. There was no silver or gold recovered from the lower levels that were not returned to the banks and financial institutions. Those stabbed coins are not recovery coins. There was controversy over them for years. The U.S. Mint made a medal at west point on the tenth anniversary. That was it. Every mint there was were making money off the dead and the heroes. They made us sick. I was on my way to a hospital uptown for test. In was a passenger when we just passed the center and we heard the explosion. We speed up to get as far away as we could. When we found out we cried uncontrollably we saw the few people covered in dust could not tell they were human. My family thought I was gone. No communications. I did get home eleven hours later. There were papers from Cantor Fitzgerald on Brooklyn streets. We would watch the trucks brining the material and steel and body parts pass the house. Our windows were closed. Them they brought it to Staten Island by barge. Yes there were thieves who stole everything they could get there hands on down in the lower levels were the stores were. Rolex watches anything that was salvageable. This blog brought back memories to me but we can never forget what happened that day not just here in N.Y. thank you for writing it. Those third party graders got taken those and i will repeat are not recovery coins. They belonged to companies countries that stored them in the banks. They were returned. I remember the pictures when they broke through no one no bodies but cars and stores and thieves. Stealing from our hero's . It was a very scary picture. Does anyone really believe everything was there for free picking? Those bars were returned no coins were made from them the gold and silver were placed under heavy guard. I do own the anniversary coin but personally even if these coins were legit they were stolen. Thank you for the memories we can never forget not just what happened in N.Y. Mike.
Conan Barbarian
Level 5
thanks for the comment i was a little suspicious when there was only one picture of this event and they didnt even show any coins in the vault