How important is the ability to find coins of value in change for the hobby?
Zoins
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When thinking about how many people got started in coin collecting, a lot of the origin stories involve finding coins of value from change, even if it's just 90% silver in a sea of clad. How important is this for the future growth and health of the hobby?
Here are two origin stories about Simpson and Pogue from Monaco:
https://monacorarecoins.com/wp-content/uploads/famous-finest-known-collectors_V6.pdf
Bob R. Simpson 1949 to Present
Bob Simpson, co-chairman of the Texas Rangers baseball club is a wellknown coin collector. He has been collecting coins since he was a child, when he thought he’d found a 1943 copper cent in circulation, but it wasn't authentic. Since then he has amassed one of the finest known numismatic collections. He was the first collector to ever assemble a complete P-D-S set of bronze-planchet 1943 Lincoln cents, including the finest known 1943-S bronze cent for which he paid $1 million for in 2012.
D. Brent Pogue 1965 - Present
In 1974, when Brent Pogue was 9 years old, his father, Dallas real estate developer Mack Pogue, brought home a sack of old pennies and a price guide to give the boy a hobby. He told his son he had paid $100 for the bag, and Brent had a seven-day option to purchase it for $110. Brent picked out a 1915 cent that he appraised at $80 because it was so shiny and exercised his option within 20 minutes. The rest is history. As Pogue’s knowledge broadened and his connoisseurship deepened, he collected many of the finest known rarities in a relatively short amount of time. In 2015, the $200 million collection came up for auction setting many numismatic sales records.
Comments
I think it is pretty important as that is how many people initially become interested in numismatics. For example, I first became interested in coins by looking through change and picking out pieces of value. I still have over 100 pounds of copper cents from those days. However, with society increasingly becoming cashless I believe we as a hobby need to think of alternative ways to attract new collectors. I personally believe that the history of a numismatic item should be the focal point so providing the story behind an item might be a good way of getting more people into the hobby. Also, someone who already enjoys history will likely be amazed that you can hold a piece of history in you hand let alone own the item.
ANA-LM, CWTS-LM, NBS, TAMS, ANS
It's immensely important in the history of the hobby, but to be honest, I don't even look at pocket change. My participation in the hobby has virtually nothing to do with currently circulating coinage. I listen for silver, but that's about it.
I'm not sure circulation finds are that important when collectors are building advanced sets, but it seems to be a part of their "origin story" about how they got interested in collecting to begin with. For example, at the heights of their collection building, I don't think Brent Pogue and Bob Simpson were searching through change but it's how they got started.
For me, I'm more interested in art and history which I had passions in back in grade school, which has led to a collection focused on tokens and medals. I do have some coins but quantity wise, they are a much smaller part of my collection. I did have circulation coins and modern Mint NCLT as a YN, but that's not what drives my collecting.
What started your interest?
I started with a small blue Whitman Lincoln cent album. Would collect pennies from change back in the 70s.
I think being able to collect something from common change is important to get people started. JMHO.
Sixty years ago this was relevant to me. Not at all now.
Exactly. The question is whether it's relevant for new collectors to get started, not once they are already advanced collectors.
I think when done correctly it can help to grow and broaden the hobby base, problem is that imo it seldom is done correctly or with that aspect in mind.
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
I suspect everyone has a story or multiple stories from back in the day when numismatics was foreign word that was easy to mispronounce as well as misunderstand. I remember one of early encounters... I was a cub scout. My mom gave me two dimes... one looked different and noted it was from 1943. I noticed the difference as it did not have the look of a regular dime so I kept it and used a different dime for cub scout dues that day. I wanted a Duncan yo-yo and thought I could trade my newly found 1943 dime for one from one of my friends that might rather have the dime. Well that never materialized and neither did my talent with a yo-yo. I suppose Duncan was better off as well.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
I was thinking about this for the last few days. The push to go cashless will no doubt hurt our hobby. Many people carry only plastic, no cash or coins. I have been around for 75 years so this ole goat never leaves the house with less than a C note.
The way things are taxed will still keep change around for many years I hope. It still irks me that taxes are rounded up and not down. Most people don't know that 100 mills equal one cent, the public loses with rounding up. This so called coin shortage has led to some interesting results in coin change. I found a 1972 D penny that looks MS 65 at least, no spots
full luster, great strike, amongst a 2000 and 2015 penny. Also found a 1960 proof nickel. I just throw the change on top
of the dresser and sort them out once in a while. I hope to get my grandson interested when he is old enough.
Probably a few different things, but pulling coins from circulation hasn't ever been a significant part of it, except for helping my kids to a fill out a cheapie State Quarter board. I did look for 1980 and 1981 Susies in circulation when I was a kid. A few months of that was nothing but frustrating.
I got my real start in collecting after picking up a few silver dollars as a bullion play. I was intrigued by the Peace dollar and one thing led to another.....
As for anyone paying attention to circulating change, I think re-valuing our coinage so you could easily (and routinely) carry enough change to buy a meal would help. They got rid of the half-cent when its buying power was more than a dime today. As it is, coins are mostly a nuisance in daily commerce. It takes almost an entire roll of our largest circulating coin to pay one hour's minimum wage. Compare that to what you could do with a single half-dollar in the 1800s.
We could easily live with a dime as our smallest coin. Kill the cent, nickel, $1 $2, $5, and $10 notes and replace them with re-designed $0.10, $0.25, $.50, $1, $5, and $10 coins. $500 notes would be nice too. Make circulating commemorative $20 bi-metallic coins for special occasions. Then, we'd notice them again.
Good info. Thanks.
I agree.
When I was in the UK, it was very common to get £5 and £2 coins in change and have a pocket full of them.
£5 is $6.72 while £2 is $2.69. Compare this to our largest really circulating coin which is just $0.25 or less than 4% of the £5 UK coin!
IMO not important anymore. Most non-collectors use card payment and or never bother with change.
I pick up loose change from the coin returns at self service kiosks all the time.
More important now for the major stakeholders in the market/hobby to invest in promotion/advertising which I see little of outside the trade publications and websites. Maybe with the new ownership in our host that will change. I hope so for the sake of the market/hobby. Don't want to be too much of a downer, the US Mint is a huge plus for cultivating interest, seems they are trying to get their act together.
What's important to the hobby is encouraging others to seek enjoyment in it. There are good coins to be found in change. 1999 Wide AM cent, 1992-D Close AM cent, 1995 DDO Lincoln cent. These newly minted W Quarters (while I am not dealing in) seem to spark tons of interest.
And the cool part is : these are found looking through change.
A few thoughts.
Many, maybe most, collectors got started by pulling coins from circulation. Unfortunately, there’s not much to search for anymore. Perhaps that is why the mint started programs such as the state quarters and the more recent W mint quarters among several others. Since the turn of the century the mint has succeeded in creating some level of interest in circulating coins. Not sure that it’s widespread enough to create the same levels of interest that existed when many of us started collecting.
The ability to find "valuable" coins in change is very important to the hobby even if the "value" may actually be an illusion. The likelihood of being able to find anything major in change is long, long gone. This hasn't stopped current newcomers to the hobby. The newcomers have set out to create their own "valuable" coins by collecting ever more obscure "errors" and "varieties".
These new "errors" and "varieties" are of no real interest to me but are avidly sought by many new collectors.
Now that we can find so many “coins of value” on the internet, pocket change almost doesn’t matter, even for kids.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
For me, circulating rarities is near everything. There is nothing like finding rare coins from the bank for face value with your own blood, sweat, and tears. The treasure hunting aspect itself is such a part of the experience as well. Additionally, although it's not an impenetrable rule, circulating rarities are MUCH more likely to be authentic. I believe in this rule to the point where I have zero interest in buying a slabbed coin with no provenance. Grading companies make mistakes with counterfeit coins, so the slab ultimately means nothing.
Error Ref editor
There is a lot to search for if you are interested in varieties and errors. It doesn't take much effort at all to find one that has been listed somewhere by an expert, and it isn't even all that hard to make a contribution to the hobby by discovering a new variety.
Error Ref editor
There are major variety and error cents still in circulation. Examples would be the 1999 mule clash, 1992/1992-D close AM, 1969-S DDO, 1999 wide AM, 1970-S LD DDO, 1984 DDO, 1983 DDR, 1988/1988-D reverse of 1989, etc.
Error Ref editor
None of those varieties are of any interest to me. I would pay no premium for any of them. If I were to find one in change my objective would be to sell it for as much as possible as quickly as possible and move on.
As a part of their research, Mint Director Ryder has hosted at least a few workshops. Unfortunately, they have not appeared to be well attended. However, at the one I witnessed, the conclusion to the question “How to stimulate interest in numismatics” was that most collectors started the hobby by finding interesting, valuable, or rare coins in circulation, and without that possibility, less young collectors would find the hobby. I would imagine that these discussions, along with their research was an impetus for the W quarters in circulation.
Everyone collects differently. There's no requirement for everyone to collect the same way.
The real slab does come with a guarantee and that means something for many collectors.
It is important to find coins of value in circulation to maintain interest in numismatics. As stated earlier, there should be a revaluation of coins, and higher denomination coins should be minted for circulation. The one cent needs to be eliminated, but the concern wth those who have the authority to do this is inflation from rounding up, former Director Moy has discussed this. Where this has been done the inflation has been minimal, or none at all that can be attributed to eliminating lower denominations. The cent is a just a nuisance to most people.
As others have said, probably important for new collectors and less so for advanced collectors. My interest was sparked as kid by a combination of less common circulation finds (bicentennial quarters and halves) and an uncle who shared the hobby with me.
I actually did find something of value in change once — a 1983 DDR Lincoln Cent — and that did solidly my interest in coins. That find was probably ~15 years after it was minted, so it's certainly still possible to find a coin of value, especially with old change jars that have been untouched for years or decades being dumped back into circulation.
Nothing is as expensive as free money.
I am surprised no one has mentioned the annual Great American Coin hunt. Isn't this the reason why dealers donate older coins and release them in to circulation? To stimulate interest in finding coins in circulation?
Does anyone know the date for 2021? Last year it was during National Coin week in April.
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Doesn't look like the date has been released, yet. But, I'm guessing it'll be around the same time as 2020: National Coin Week, April.
https://www.greatamericancoinhunt.com/
I actually participated this year. I'm not a dealer, nor do I have a great collection of my own, but I wanted to do something to help spark some interest in a potential YN. So, I dumped about $100 face value of IHCs, Wheaties, Steelies, Buffalo Nickels, Roosies, and Mercury Dimes back into circulation. Some I spent. Some I dropped on the ground on sidewalks or parking lots. Some I left in coin returns of vending machines. Some I hid among the toys at Walmart, etc., hoping a kid would find them! It was fun! I wonder what actually happened to all those coins, and hope that I sparked interest in at least one person!
Rocking my "shiny-object-syndrome"!!!
With that many coins, I'll bet you did! I know for a fact that I have gotten both my barista and my barber interested in coins — I'll often tip them with NIFC AI Dollars, which are always a hit because they are bright and shiny right out of the Mint bag. Sometimes I'll throw an Ike or Kennedy in as well. It feels like I am doing my part at least.
Nothing is as expensive as free money.
For modern coinage to even be part of my life, it will have to be changed and made useful. I almost never use cash and only receive change (I don't spend it). I would love it if we had coins that could actually purchase something. Looking nice or having a shot at a rarity would be a plus.
Circulating coinage was never part of my collecting experience. What mattered most in getting me started was having someone spend time with me and seed my collection with interesting things that I could build on.
For those that didn't start with circulating coins, I wonder how they got the funds to purchase their coins? Was it from an allowance or a job?
As I have mentioned before, I got started with my paper route when I was a kid, about ten years old...dimes, quarters and halves were all silver then... and mercs, SLQ's, WLH's were common. Buffalo nickels were all around and IHC's would frequently be received in change. I had quite a collection (more of an accumulation), that also included two '55 DDO's....all long gone after I joined the Navy... between my kid brother and my mother clearing out things (she had no idea about coins). I still use cash and get change and look at my coins. Just found a 1940 wheatie today, a silver dime ('62) and a '43 steel cent... They were in a coinstar reject slot.
Cheers, RickO
In my job (English teacher) I use IHCs, wheaties, and all sorts of period type coins as prizes for tests and quizzes on novels from the past.
But . . . I have one OCD 'return to circulation' trick (mentioned here once before). Every school day at 5:15am, and weekends at 7:30am when taking the dogs for a ride, I hit the same quiet intersection at 90th South just above our TRAX station. As the light flips green and I turn right down the street and over the TRAX tracks, I drop a BuffNick in the crosswalk.
I wonder if some vagrant now has an accumulation of BuffNix . . . or if kids walking to school now race to be first to the crosswalk?
Drunner
for me, coin collecting as a kid was searching moms coat pocket and dads dresser top. Back before the clad era, you could come seriously close to filling blue Whitman’s. One interesting thing, I still have these Cent books, and the only RD wheat is a 1940. Even by the mid ‘60s, the Lincoln wheat cents in circulation were BN.
not very important today
I give away money. I collect money.
I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.
Yes, in the days when cents circulated heavily they would turn brown very quickly. Today it is not unusual to find 25+ year old cents that are still mostly red.