South Pacific Island To Use Star Wars Coins As Currency? Or Just As A Publicity Stunt?
from the does-george-lucas-get-a-cut? dept
The islands of the South Pacific have some odd views on currency. In the past, we've discussed how the Island of Yap famously used massive immovable stones as its currency. And now the island of Niue is prepared to recognize collectible Star Wars coins as official currency. Of course, the whole thing seems more like a publicity stunt by the New Zealand Mint, which is making these coins. They're still being sold at collectible prices -- meaning coins with a face value of $1 (New Zealand) will actually sell for $23.50 NZ. So even as they'll be recognized as legal currency in Niue (but not New Zealand), it seems unlikely that anyone will use them as such, as their face value will be significantly below their market value.
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Filed Under: currency, new zealand, niue, star wars
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I guess these are better than many of the other coins advertised on late night, these have actual value somewhere.
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A sad day for us all
The restatement of fact was made after Jar Jar Binks was discovered unresponsive in a hotel room in Niue, after having ingested several handful of the coins he mistook for candy.
No one bothered to try and resuscitate him, keeping with the public's wishes.
Jar Jar will be remembered in death as he was in life.
The plan calls for poor children to use him as a pinata to release the coins into the local economy.
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Medium of Exchange
However, since we've changed in the US to eliminate gold as the medium for exchange, I'm beginning to wonder if that's still a valid principle. Yes, to rational humans, any item of worth can be used as a medium of exchange. What screws it up is politicians getting their fingers in the pie and bastardizing the medium, which should have intrinsic value, to further their political gains. If they can print as much of it as they want, or limit it's availability, then we have the games we're playing today.
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Yap
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What's the difference between that and pennies?
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YAP Currency
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