Why is Northern Marianna Islands considered a country?

This is a possession of the USA. None of these coins are legit. They have no law that supports their issuance... it's ridiculous that they have status as their own nation from Numista when they don't even have that status from the USA.

New Caledonia is French, St-Helena is British, Azores is Portuguese... But are split from their ruling country.

There are lots of territories which are enough far from their ruling country to have its own coinage, either circulating or not. However the use of "countries" is only a simplification of the real name "countries and territories".

Concerning Northern Mariana Islands, we should check if these coins are really coins and not fantasy tokens to decide if they deserve to be listed as a separate territory.

They are a territory with no legal authority to issue coinage of their own. The legal coin and currency of this territory is the US Dollar. At the best these can only be fantasy. They are not legal tender.

But they're autonomous from mainland USA.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_%28U.S._insular_area%29

I never said they're circulating. But a US Commonwealth may decide to mint uncirculating commemoratives.

I guess I should have the thread title read why is Northern Marianna Islands listed by Numista when they dont have coins? What is listed as coins just isnt possible under federal law. My concern isnt that the NMI is or is not a country, it is that Numista has given them a slot when they have nothing but a fantasy issue. Numista does seem to like to elevate fantasy coin issues to the level oflegitimacy...but they are hugely inconsistant. NMI should go as they have nothing but fantasy issues. Or will Numista now legitimize all the fantasy coins issued in the 2000s for Easter Island...Cocos(Keeling) etc.

Cocos (Keeling) is here, but only older circulating tokens registered in KM or any recognized catalog. Like another territory you should consider "heretic" under US law: US Samoa.

Northern Mariana has a serious issue of catalog registration as no reference for any coin.

Please note there are some fantasy nations registered as well (Sealand, Seborga, Lundy for example), and others relegated as tokens. I spoke about this issue but the debate seem to have been forgotten.

We have 18 coins in the NMI section and 17 coins in the tokens section.
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/tokens-98.html#devise1950

Chomp Master...it makes one think...I agree with you. I also must say it is strange that they include dubious countries or legit countries with dubious coins but lump legit political entities with legit coinage into huge awkward categories... or have Danzig and Saar as stand alone countries (rightfully so) but Hamburg must languish in a group orgy called the German States... I am impressed that they dont list Hawaii and Puerto Rican coinage under US...but curious why spanish colonial Philippines and US colonial Philippines and republic of Philippines are lumped together... Do you think Numista will ever have like a comittee to have a standard? I think it makes Numista appear as a reactionary place rather than a place of reason.

Danzig and Saar can't be compared with German states (an awful mix of Holy Roman Empire, Confederation of the Rhine, German Confederation and German Empire constitutive nations which often leads to a debate for splitting this mix between more coherent and smaller ones but always abandonned). There is no more distinctive German state after WWI and the Weimar Republic rising. Danzig was a free city created after WWI under League of Nations protection. Saar was a French protectorate created to refund France after WWII costly victory over Nazis.

Moreover, Hawaii and Puerto Rico coinages we're listing here are pre-US coinages (Hawaii independant state and Spanish Puerto Rico).

For Philippines, there is a territorial continuity making all of them united in a single territory. Similar continuities are kept for former colonies from other countries like British Guiana/Guyana, Hong Kong under British and Chinese administrations, Portuguese and independant Mozambique...

There is always a logic in splitting and merging various regimes. We're already trying to do our best to do so. However it's never easy to agree each other. Each subject would need a separate topic. Let's turn back to Northern Mariana as well...

I found a very interesting issue: the $5 "coins" from the Euro series are dubious duplicates of the registered Northern Mariana token files listed in Tokens.

If they ever make a committee I would nominate you Chomp Master. Very reasoned. Im new to this forum. Just trying to figure out reasoning. I mentioned Danzig and Hamburg because they are both free cities. Yes I agree that Hawaii and Puerto Rico should have their own listing as they had coinage that predated.US involvement. But so did the Philippines. And neither the Philippines nor Puerto Rico find themselves under Spain...and Mexico...they had a Hapsburg Emperor and imperial issue...a nightmare of lumped togetherness...it boggles the mind. But yes...I will keep it NMI from now on...they are less than a sovereign state with no right to issue coinage. Issues in their name are pseudo fantasies. Should be moved to tokens...

In facts I already detected 1 token I already asked to move to the concerned section, and a few duplicate files of tokens. This will make as much remaining files as the number of fingers in a human hand.

Chomp-master...one of my heroes..

Citeer: "chomp-master"Similar continuities are kept for former colonies from other countries like British Guiana/Guyana

​This seems to be a common error, but British Guiana is modern day Belize.

Anyhow, it's a very please tell read to read your comments chomp, and I do reckon that you deserve the master in your name!

Sorry, but it is not.

https://www.google.cz/maps/place/Guyana/@4.3029672,-61.8084374,5.5z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x8dafefaf60d8c2b3:0x48e38867b6e54440

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belize

No sorry, I'm thinking on British Honduras. Wow, too tired to think..i'll read your link and shut up..

Even a geography master like me can do horrible "noob" mistakes like this, obviously. There's a first for everything, haha!

Yup you made a confusion between British Honduras/Belize and British Guiana/Guyana.

Yes, give him more! Such errors! He managed to irk Belizeans and Guyanese alike in post.

LOL

One factor is whether or not these territories had coinage before they were claimed by whatever nation they belong to now. Did Puerto Rico have it's own coins before it became a US territory? If yes, it deserves it's own status as a country and its own coinage for that time period; if not then all is coinage has come from the US and it should be considered part of the US. Similarly British and French colonies in Africa, etc.

A week ago I asked for the 1st move thanks to a Chiefacoins publication.
http://chiefacoins.com/Database/Micro-Nations/Northern-Mariana-Islands.htm
Thanks to this link, a token has been sent back to the token section. And another one were in the center of a polemic about the way it was minted and sold. The remaining ones become by the way suspicious. We'll need to investigate more about these.

PS: I think I'll launch a campaign of updates for the dubious gold tokens to kick them all out of the "country" listing as nothing done for them.

Awesome! Especially since none are recognized as legal tender by US law or federal government. Thank you sir!