Coins in Their Pockets
Questions about everyday coins suggest that curiosity is alive and well among beginning collectors, offering an encouraging glimpse at the future of the hobby.
When attempting to measure the level of interest in the coin collecting hobby, we tend to look from the top down. We ask how the rare coin market is performing, not taking into consideration the interest surrounding the more modest collectibles. The bottom (not meant to be derogatory), by that I mean the beginner who may take an interest in what’s in his pocket, is the true root that we should be watching. Without a continual influx of new hobby enthusiasts, it wouldn’t take long for coin collecting to become redundant.
Some comments made by very inexperienced collectors recently posted to Facebook suggest there are plenty of inquisitive beginners out there. Among these, an individual posted an image of a James Madison dollar with the comment “What do u think, value?” Someone else illustrated two Washington dollars and a Sacagawea dollar with the comment “Any value?” Another individual showed a handful of foreign coins and tokens with the comment “Coin Star, How rich’m I?” Yet another lost soul displayed a pile of miscellaneous coins and asked, “What should I be looking for?” A non-collector friend recently gave Bessie Coleman quarters to kids, calling them “great goodwill and an educational tool” while remarking “their parents were in awe.”
I know these are isolated cases and in no way measure the activity of the overall market, but they suggest that there is plenty of interest in coins out there. This also illustrates the need for education about coins, both what is being issued currently and the many coins that have been issued in the past. I agree; the primary interest of some of those commenting was to know if their coins are valuable, but let’s face it. Every collector has an interest in the value of his collection regardless of whether he wants to sell it or not.
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