2010 Barter is Better Buy Local AOCS Silver Round

MintAOCS Mint (Frisco, TX)

IssuerAOCS Mint (Frisco, TX)

DistributorAOCS Mint (Frisco, TX)

CollectionAmerican Open Currency Standard - AOCS

A single oversized dollar sign, drawn in outline with layered inner contours, fills the field. "GO LOCAL" runs along the left rim and "BUY LOCAL" along the right. No date or maker's name appears.

"BARTER IS BETTER" across the upper field above a large "FIVE" denomination. Below: "TENTH TROY OUNCE .999 FINE SILVER" and the acceptance line "AOCS APPROVED · © 2010."

2010 Barter is Better Buy Local AOCS Silver Round Overview

The 2010 Barter is Better Buy Local AOCS Silver Round is a tenth-troy-ounce .999 fine silver trade piece issued under the American Open Currency Standard, the Frisco, Texas–based program Rob Gray built to put everyday local commerce on a metal footing. It is the silver half of a matched two-metal pair: the same slogan and the same dollar-sign design were struck on the one-ounce 2010 Barter is Better Buy Local AOCS Copper Round, denominated “TWO.” Like its copper companion, the silver round carries no portrait, allegory, or historical figure. It is a message piece from start to finish, made to promote the barter network it was meant to circulate within.

The obverse is given over to a single oversized dollar sign drawn in outline with layered inner contours, flanked by “GO LOCAL” and “BUY LOCAL” along the rim. The reverse follows the standard AOCS layout. “BARTER IS BETTER” runs across the upper field, with the large denomination “FIVE” below it, followed by the weight and fineness statement “TENTH TROY OUNCE .999 FINE SILVER” and the AOCS acceptance line with its 2010 copyright. Both faces repeat the copper round’s design on a much smaller planchet, under 20 mm across, which leaves the lettering tight and the dollar sign dominant.

The “FIVE” is the most misunderstood feature of the piece. At first glance a denomination of five on a tenth-ounce round looks arbitrary, but it follows the standard AOCS silver scale exactly. AOCS valued silver at fifty units per troy ounce, the “FIFTY” struck on one-ounce issues such as the 2009 Andrew Jackson Proof-Like Silver Round and the 2009 Free Lakota Bank Proof-Like Silver Round. A tenth of an ounce at that rate is five. The copper companion follows the matching AOCS copper scale of two units per ounce, which is why the one-ounce copper reads “TWO.” The two denominations are therefore not free-floating barter values assigned piece by piece; they are the program’s ordinary silver and copper rates applied to two different weights. Either way, the number is a unit of voluntary trade within the AOCS network, not a legal-tender claim.

What sets the pair apart from the rest of the AOCS catalog is its purpose. Most AOCS-approved rounds of 2009 and 2010 were struck for an affiliated organization with its own name and cause, such as the Free Lakota Bank, the Ludwig von Mises Institute, or Jackson Silver. These two rounds instead advertise AOCS’s own barter side. The copper version spells out the web address “WWW.AOCSBARTER.COM” on its reverse, pointing to the program’s barter exchange rather than to a coin storefront. The silver tenth, with less room to work with, drops the web address but keeps the slogan, the design, and the 2010 date, tying it to the same campaign. By 2011 the aocsbarter.com address was directing visitors to AOCSMarketplace.com, and AOCS’s own directory of approved currencies, as captured in January 2012, lists “Barter is Better” as the official medallion of the AOCS MarketPlace, issued in multiple denominations. A listener comment on the page for Gray’s December 2010 appearance on The Survival Podcast already mentions plans to list a side business on the AOCS Marketplace. The obverse legend names a second program on the same directory: an October 2011 capture lists “Go Local : : Buy Local” (golocalbuylocal.com) as an AOCS-listed national shop-local campaign, barter group, and local currency in one. Each round in the pair therefore carries both names, Go Local Buy Local on the obverse and the MarketPlace’s “Barter is Better” medallion on the reverse. They were pocket-sized currency for that network, meant to be carried, spent, and shown to merchants.

The slogan did not end with this pair. “BARTER IS BETTER” reappears on the 2012 Paradime Barter is Better, a tenth-ounce silver round struck by Mulligan Mint in Dallas. The shared slogan and the shared tenth-ounce format make the 2010 silver a natural forerunner of the Paradime, though no document has yet been found connecting the two programs directly.

2010 Barter is Better Buy Local AOCS Silver Round Attribution

The struck AOCS acceptance line and 2010 copyright anchor the round to the American Open Currency Standard and date it to 2010 directly, with no need for inference. The round’s place in the AOCS barter program rests on two points. Its slogan, dollar-sign device, legends, and date are shared with the 2010 copper companion, which names the program outright through its struck “WWW.AOCSBARTER.COM” address. And the AOCS approved-currencies directory (January 2012 capture) lists “Barter is Better” as the AOCS MarketPlace’s official medallion series, issued in multiple denominations.

No mark on either face identifies the physical manufacturer. Following site convention for AOCS-program rounds, Manufacturer/Mint, Issuer, and Distributor are recorded as AOCS Mint (Frisco, TX). North American Mint was AOCS’s documented production partner for the 2009–2011 window, but no source ties this round to that facility specifically; see the AOCS Mint page for the production-partner timeline.

2010 Barter is Better Buy Local AOCS Silver Round Notes

• “FIVE” is the AOCS silver rate (50 per troy ounce) applied to a tenth ounce; the copper companion’s “TWO” is the AOCS copper rate applied to one ounce.
• The silver round does not carry the “WWW.AOCSBARTER.COM” address struck on the copper companion.
• A 1/2 oz .999 silver “Go Local – Buy Local, Barter is Better” AOCS round has surfaced on eBay, consistent with the directory’s “multiple denominations”; its denomination has not been checked, though the AOCS silver scale would put it at twenty-five. Not yet examined.
• A 2011-dated “Barter is Better” copper, described as proof finish, is listed in the secondary market. Not yet examined.
• Designer and mintage are not documented.

2010 Barter is Better Buy Local AOCS Silver Round References

• 2010 Barter is Better Buy Local AOCS Copper Round, The Texas Stacker
• 2012 Paradime Barter is Better, The Texas Stacker
• Archived aocsbarter.com (2011 capture) — referral to AOCSMarketplace.com
• Archived opencurrency.com/directory/currencies/ (Wayback Machine, Oct. 5, 2011) — AOCS approved-currencies directory listing “Go Local : : Buy Local” (golocalbuylocal.com)
• Archived opencurrency.com/directory/currencies/ (Wayback Machine, Jan. 13, 2012) — AOCS approved-currencies directory listing “Barter is Better” as the official AOCS MarketPlace medallion
• The Survival Podcast, Episode 567, “Rob Gray on AOCS Copper, Silver and Gold” (Dec. 2010)
• eBay listing, “Rare Go Local-Barter is Better 1/2 oz .999 Silver Round AOCS” (listing since ended)
• AOCS Mint (Frisco, TX), The Texas Stacker
• American Open Currency Standard – AOCS, The Texas Stacker
• Documented example examined (this entry)
• Texas Stacker Archives

Continue Exploring

← Previous1980 Dor-Tex Corp. Silver Trade Unit

Next →2013 Free Lakota Bank Silver Round

Other Coins in this Collection: American Open Currency Standard - AOCS

2009 Andrew Jackson Proof-Like Silver Round2009 Continental Congress AOCS Silver Round2009 Dixie Dollar Civil War Commemorative Silver Round2009 Dixie Dollar Jefferson Davis Silver Round2009 Free Lakota Bank Proof-Like Silver Round2009 John Galt AOCS Approved Silver Round2009 Ludwig von Mises Institute Proof-Like Silver Round2009 Unite or Die AOCS Silver Round Overview2010 Barter is Better Buy Local AOCS Copper Round2010 Bill of Rights Silver Ninth Amendment Proof-Like Silver Round2010 D’Anconia Copper2010 Free Lakota Bank Copper Round2010 Republic of Texas Copper Round2010 Republic of Texas Silver Round2010 Soto Nation of Turtle Island Proof-Like Silver Round2011 (Estimated) Republic of Texas Copper Round2011 Republic of Texas 1/10th oz Gold Round2011 Republic of Texas Half Ounce Silver Round2012 Free Lakota Bank Proof-Like Silver Round2012 Paradime Barter is Better Silver Round

MintAOCS Mint (Frisco, TX)34 coins in the archive

→