Confederation of Antarctica This coin was made by Richard Hanscom (akcoins@mosquitonet.com) in 1976. He is currently a partner in the firm Alaska Rare Coins, of Fairbanks, AK. Images of his intriguing '76 coin can be viewed below.   Year: Stated as 2076 Metal: Copper Designer: Richard Hanscom Mint: Patrick Mint Mintage: 1000  Diameter: 20.5 mm Denomination: 1/100 Troy ounce of .999 Silver Edge type: Plain   This is a “Good for 1/100 Troy oz. 999 Ag.” piece, dated 2076; its reverse has a seemingly generic 1776-1976 motif. The thought-provoking coin from Mr. Hanscom, who explains that “Since there was in fact no Confederation of Antarctica in 1976, I dated them for the future.” It may have been an arbitrary decision, but he chose to postdate his creation by 100 years because the roundness of that number “sounded good.” He settled on Antarctica because numismatically, nothing was being issued from there in those days — and ultimately, this frigid, moneyless continent justly deserved a no-frills coin of its own. “The bicentennial die was used because that is what Patrick Mint was doing at the time...I am also a believer in hard money, thus the 1/100 oz. silver value. It was just one of the things I did to amuse myself. Now, nearly 30 years later, I am providing amusement to others. Not a bad investment.” You can say that again! Now that this coin has finally re-surfaced, the attention it is now receiving is well-earned and long overdue. It might have gone under our collective radars for 3 long decades, but now, thanks to the Internet, it'll no longer go unnoticed. Hopefully, it shall be appreciated by all those collectors who missed it the first time around. It was quite a shocking and unexpected sight, I must admit, to be shown — out of the blue — a coin that clearly precedes Mr. Fred Zinkann's earliest Antarctica piece by 5 years. As a result, I am now obligated to think of it as the great-granddaddy of the entire Antarctic lot. I am pleased to announce that Mr. Hanscom is currently exploring the possibility of issuing a silver, 2006 follow-up!     Micro-Nations   Chiefa Coins