Dubloons: Real Money for Real People
By Carl Bussjaeger, May 5, 2009

These are kind of nice; silver "Dubloons"*, 1 full ounce of .999 fine silver, with nary a statist emblem or slogan to be seen:

Kent McManigal, fairly well-known on the more hard-core libertarian-to-anarchist sites, wants to get a batch of these minted. Of course the supplier will only do a minimum order, so Kent is asking those who are interested to place firm orders in advance. I want a few of these for myself, so I thought I'd help spread the word. Some folks might be wary of placing an advance order, but I think Kent's reputation is up to it.

I've seen an objection to these coins on the grounds that the spot price of metallic silver is less than $20. True, but as Kent points out at his website, you're paying for more than just a lump of metal. This is going to be a fairly limited run, as well (barring a miracle); they could turn out to be collector's items. If the price still bugs you, go take a look at what the Franklin Mint charges for stuff (like the 1 oz. .999 Silver Eagle for $750.00!)

And here's the standard libertarian argument: Buy one of these for $20, and put $20 in a bank account (or under your mattress). After four years (or maybe even 8 years) of Obama's Chavez-esque nationalization of industry and devaluation of currency at an admitted 4.5-5.0% (and actually closer to 20%) per year, which do you think will still hold the most purchasing power; the $20 silver coin, or the $20 dollar piece of paper?

Besides, they're cool.

* The "misspelling" is deliberate. Kent wants to evoke the memory of the old coinage without misleading an illiterate idiot into think he's buying an historic gold coin for a mere twenty bucks.