Pop Culture on Coins: A Boon or Hindrance?
The U.S. Mint will soon be releasing coins with pop culture characters. Will this be a boon for the numismatic community or a hindrance?
Has United States commemorative coinage taken a questionable turn, or will this be a boon to coin collecting? Coins depicting Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman will soon appear on non-circulating legal tender commemoratives. The United States is following the example of such countries as Great Britain and Canada, each of whom has, for some time, been issuing coins that shock traditional collectors but are eagerly sought by non-traditional collectors and—very important—by the non-collecting public. For some time, other countries have featured everything from dinosaurs and the Titanic to fictional movie characters on such NCLT coins.
What’s important for U.S. coin collectors to recognize is the attention this draws to coin collecting. Coins have been in the headlines quite often recently. President Donald Trump drew attention to the 3.96 cents it costs to strike a single 1-cent coin, driving speculation that the 2025 cent might become a rarity due to Trump ordering its production to be stopped. We’re all waiting for the other shoe to drop—recognizing that our 5-cent coin costs 13.78 cents to make.
Adding to all this are the many recent misleading headlines or clickbait about the value of coins you may have in your pocket. Clickbait is a headline meant to draw the reader into what, on the surface, appears to be an exciting story the reader might otherwise never read. Clickbait is meant to generate readership, but since clickbait can be misleading, it can leave readers with a negative experience of the article's subject. Headlines such as “Top 5 Rare Coins Collectors Are Eager to Pay Millions For – Hidden Fortunes” or “$76 Million For These 6 Rare Coins: Do You Own One?” are ridiculous but may lead to more people thinking about checking their small change coins for value. That’s what we really want—more people thinking about collecting coins.
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