We don’t put it in their face

What dopes collect coins?

Does that queston get your attention? Is it in your face enough?

Modern media, especially on the Internet, is not known as being polite, dainty or quiet.

Breaking through the blah, blah, blah that seems to be the background noise to many people’s lives is a difficult thing for organized numismatics.

While collectors have never accused bourse dealers with being excessively polite, nor bourse dealers collectors, numismatics still comes across, if it comes across at all, as timid.

The bullion coin investment field tries to wake things up by accusing the government of all sorts of nefarious plots as well as predicting inflationary Armaggedon in the near future.

It does not seem to matter that these accusations and forecasts mostly have no basis in fact, or are anchored in events of 80 and 90 years ago.

The investment crowd keeps trying. They have energy. They keep selling those bullion coins, especially one-ounce silver pieces.

Yesterday, I received notification from the American Numismatic Association of the theme for National Coin Week. It will be held April 19-25, 2015.

The theme is “Building Tomorrows: Inspiration and Innovation at World’s Fairs.”

Does that get your adrenaline pumping?

Do you suddenly have the urge to get involved?

Or is it just blah, blah, blah?

Longtime coin collectors will know what the theme is getting at, especially after reading a further description:

National Coin Week “will celebrate the history of these great events and the 100th anniversary of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco.”

That conjures up images of round and octagonal $50 gold pieces as well as the $2.50 and half dollar commemoratives.

The theme conjures up stories of the great promoter, Farran Zerbe, after whom the top ANA award is named.

But it is only active coin collectors who can bring any of this to mind.

And world’s fairs?

They were hot 50 years ago when I was a kid.

I remember 1962 Seattle and the space needle. I even knew people who went there. I remember New York in 1964.

But if you are presently 15 years old, or 25 or 35, what does world’s fair mean?

And that in a nutshell is organized numismatics public relations problem.

It is not ANA’s fault. National Coin Week and its changing themes does many positive things in the minds of collectors.

But the observance does not break through all the noise of daily life in the 21st century to reach the general population.

As far as the general population is concerned, we collectors are polite, dainty, quiet and boring.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper is winner of the 2014 Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog and is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."