WTC coins not genuine U.S. coins

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Mint advised consumers Friday that a widely advertised coin commemorating the World Trade Center is not a genuine U.S. coin.

National Collectors Mint Inc. has been marketing the “2004 ‘Freedom Tower’ Silver Dollar,” which it claims has been created using silver from ground zero, the site where the World Trade Center towers fell Sept. 11, 2001.

One side of the coin shows the Freedom Tower planned for the site and bears the phrase “In God We Trust.” The other side shows the old Manhattan skyline, with the World Trade Center still standing, and the phrase “One dollar.” The company marketing the coin says it is the first “legally authorized government issue silver dollar … to commemorate the World Trade Center and the new Freedom Tower.”

The company is not connected to the U.S. government, the U.S. Mint said Friday. The U.S. Mint is the only government entity in the United States with the authority to coin money.

National Collectors Mint is advertising the coins as products of the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The U.S. Mint said the commonwealth, as a U.S. insular possession, does not have the authority to coin its own money.