National Coin Week 2008

April 20 - 26 is National Coin Week in the U.S., which is sponsored by the American Numismatic Association (ANA.) The theme for this year's celebration is "Money Makes the World Go Round." The primary purpose of National Coin Week is to raise awareness in the general community about coins and coin collecting. The ANA and its affiliated local coin clubs sponsor events that are aimed at drawing in the non-collector, especially younger collectors.

As part of this year's celebration, the ANA put together the National Treasure Hunt for coins. Those who would like participate are directed to find five coins, each of which meet a specific requirement, as outlined below. When a participant has found all five coins in the treasure hunt, they should report their findings to the ANA to enter a drawing for prizes. Here's the list of coins to find in order to participate in the treasure hunt:

1. A coin with an animal.
2. The oldest coin you can find.
3. A coin from a different place (country or state.)
4. A coin from the year you were born.
5. A coin that's not a coin (token, medal, etc.)

Part of the planning for National Coin Week includes an annual contest among ANA members to determine the theme for each year's celebration. This year, the winning theme, "Money Makes the World Go Round," came with a bonus: a professionally-done song, written, produced, and performed especially for National Coin Week. The song was written and recorded by ANA member Mark Keefner and million-selling recording artist Alan O'Day (remember "Undercover Angel?") When I first heard about this song, I thought, "oh great, some sappy crap written and sung by a kid somewhere!" In fact, the song is top-10 quality music and very well executed! The music is catchy, the lyrics are clever and memorable, and the production quality is first-rate. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to embed the song in my content here, so you'll need to click through to the ANA Web page linked below, and then scroll down a little ways to find the media console. It is well worth the effort! Give it a listen and see what you think:

• "Money Makes the World Go Round" Theme Song

One of the traditions of National Coin Week, at least among long-time collectors, is to do a "coin drop" during this time. A coin drop is where you spend certain coins into circulation, hoping they will be found by someone who becomes a coin collector as a result. I always spend Wheat Cents, Buffalo Nickels, and sometimes even a Barber or Standing Liberty Quarter into circulation (if the clerk will take them! I've had both obsolete Quarter Dollar types refused before, with the clerk claiming they weren't real money!) I would like to encourage everyone who reads this to join me in "dropping" at least a few Wheat Pennies into circulation this week to help bring new collectors into the hobby. Better yet, hand out Wheat Cents and Buffalo Nickels to any kids you see, and warn them not to spend it! This works best with kids aged 8 to about 12 or so, I think. I also hand out lots of common foreign coins during National Coin Week, usually to other adults, such as coworkers, etc.

Although I love the idea of National Coin Week, I must confess that I think this year's activity, the self-guided treasure hunt, is a bit weak. I don't think it will capture the imagination of outsiders like a real treasure hunt would have, such as the activity the ANA did last year, putting State Quarters into circulation that had special ANA Coin Week stickers on them. I'd love to see activities like the local coin clubs having a day at the local mall, where they set up a table and hand out free inexpensive coins and information to kids and teens, or where they contact the local kid's clubs and send a speaker bearing low-cost numismatic gifts (such as Lincoln Memorial Penny boards and Statehood Quarter boards) to the local schools and youth organizations. The ANA has a great Boy Scout/Girl Scout outreach effort, but it could go so much further. I know these things are easier said than done, but a core mission of the ANA needs to be to remind all collectors that the only way their coins will have future buyers at the current prices is if we keep bringing new blood into our hobby. National Coin Week would be a great time for the ANA to reinforce this message among its own members and hopefully inspire more volunteerism at the local level.