I see the US mint is starting the same silliness that the Royal Canadian Mint is so well known for. Who ever heard of a coin celebrating the 230th anniversary of something? I mean it is for the marines and no disrespect intended...nice coin though...go to eBay and do a search...

Coins are going the way postage stamps went after WW2. Created collectibles that are absolutely worthless because they make hundreds of millions of them. Collecting post-WW2 stamps is more like accumulating Beanie Babies. You can buy exportable qunatities of them for less than original cost (or face value) once the craze is over.

I am amazed at people who horde the commemorative quarters for each state. And the folks that buy the "Collector Sets" complete with Genuine Authentic Cardboard Collectible Collection Holder. Talk about preying on the uninformed.

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Don of Borg - Cool, Calm, Collective.

"Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

I like the variety in the coins. I don't collect them, but a little variety always keeps me happy. Heck, it makes shopping fun!

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"The plan does not involve mayonaise."
"... I knew there was a catch."

You can't take the sky from me.

There may be those who believe they are starting a collection that will balloon in value with time. Buit there are also many who just like the idea of collecting them. It's actually quite a challenge to collect both versions of every quarter in nearly uncirculated condition.

It's like doing jigsaw or crossword puzzles . No, you're not going to have anything of extraordinary value when you're through doing it, but you will have done it.

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Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by ignorance or stupidity.
Isaac Asimov

I vote for the challenge. The way I figure it, when I'm done collecting both Denver and Phily mints, I will have $23 towards retirement (the holders cost $1 each)

The thing I don't like is that I'm getting a lot more Canadian coins slipping through because they're not as noticable anymore.

I seem to get a lot of Canadian coins from our cafeteria at work (in MN). I think it is a conspiracy and an insider is trading Canadian for US coins and dumping them in the till, making about .15 on the dollar. I save them in a jar and a couple times a year purchase my lunch in all Canadian coins.

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Don of Borg - Cool, Calm, Collective.

"Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

Wow, I wish I was seeing a flurry of American quarters flying through my hands. Every time I get one, I put it aside. I don't think I've broken a dollar yet.

Again, it's more for variety's sake, and the fact that I'm a collector of anything, irregardless of value. I highly doubt my movie ticket stub collection is ever going to be worth the paper it's printed on, unless someone *really* wants a Planet of the Apes stub.

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"The plan does not involve mayonaise."
"... I knew there was a catch."

You can't take the sky from me.

you ought to visit a mint once... you'd be amazed at how many collectible coins (and bills) they actually make. quite a lot. if there's a reason to commemorate, they'll find it. and collectors love it, not just for monetary reasons.

my dad has thousands in gold coins from all over... he won't will them to me since i'm the child without sentimental attachments to inanimate objects (i'm waaay too logical for that). my youngest brother, however, will hold them forever. he'll get the whole lot simply because they won't be sold.

taks

The coins cost less than face value to make. The mint makes collector coins to make coins interesting, and every coin purchased and left out of circulation is money ahead for the government. Same with stamps. If all we cared about was postage, plain old flag stamps would be all we needed. Commemoratives serve no practical purpose. My dad used to collect plate blocks, which was a group of several stamps. I like comemoratives, but they are made purely for marketing. We collect the state quarters just for something to do. We have no notions of value. Every so often I get a "wheat penny" in my change. It might be worth a few cents extra, but I just find it interesting that it came to the surface. A bicentennial quarter just came by yesterday.

If it hasn't been said before, maybe I could coin (please excuse the pun) the phrase: "there's a sucker born every minute." :wink:

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I've become used to the taste of crow.

at Faire, we have large copper coins called "barracks," apparently after the guy who had the first set minted. they also serve as advertising, as you can "buy" a run of coins with your business prominently displayed on the back. you get a bunch; the rest go into general circulation both in the Society for Creative Anachronisms and at a bunch of Faires on the circuit in the Pacific Northwest. they all have the same obverse; checking out the reverse is about the only fun those of us working really have with them. (by 4:00 Sunday evening on the last day of Gig, I had $60 in them at the bottom of my pouch. I'm told each coin is one ounce of copper, and each coin is $1.)

now, I devoutly hope that the US Mint doesn't take the moneychanger (he told me his name, but I don't remember it) as an example and start selling ad space. but hey, it works for him--I have one with a friend's business on the back that has a ring on it so I can wear it on a chain. the guests ("mundanes") tend to keep 'em as souvenirs. it's all income for him.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Did you just say "irregardless"?!

irrespective, if i'm not mistaken, right?

taks

Erm. Shhhhh. I don't know what anybody is talking about. Where am I? What's your angle? Whose baby is that?

Edited becuse who's != whose. Sigh.

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"The plan does not involve mayonaise."
"... I knew there was a catch."

You can't take the sky from me.

I'll buy that.

Y'all will need to be reorientated.

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Don of Borg - Cool, Calm, Collective.

"Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley