What's So Interesting?

The most interesting thing I see about modern coinage is that coins 50 or so years old are fairly common in circulation.

There was a dramatic shift in a fairly short period of time that pretty much transformed much of the coinage. The first was the change in the US penny from the Wheat back to the Lincoln Memorial. This made collectors of many kids in the 60's and 70's and pretty much cleared out most of the Wheat pennies.

The second and more important change was the change to Clad coinage for the quarter and dime. Concurrent with the introduction of the Kennedy half the year before this pretty much removed most silver coins from circulation and removed the half from daily use.

By the late 70's the only US coin from before 1959 that was common was the nickel. Since then there has been less dramatic changes, chiefly the penny being changed to copper coated zinc. Even that change was less noted by the public than the removal of silver or even the Wheat-LMC change some 23 years earlier.

Since then US coinage has really only had one major item that the public was enthused about in a sustained way; the State Quarters. The bicentennial series was pretty much a bust except for the quarter since neither the half or Ike really circulated. There have since been several other multi-coin programs for the penny, nickle and quarter but none of these replicated the Statehood Quarter's success. The dollar coin has pretty much been a bust since the Ike, nothing they have done has helped revive it as a useful coin or for collectors.

For most US circulation coins over that last 50 years it is pretty much just hole-filling. Other than the pre-71 halves and any Ike's most can be found from circulation or roll hunting.

Coinfrog, I think all the coins listed under this forum heading "U.S. Modern Coins" should be sufficient. I would include any of the recent special edition coins and sets also in that group. Not bullion coins though.

I collect all of the moderns (as listed in the forum title), and have full sets of most of the series (don't collect LWCs or Ag Washingtons), but what I like to collect the most are the modern commemoratives (may be in the minority on this). I enjoy the different designs, they're readily available even though the mintages are low, they are affordable in Prf69 and you can even collect gold coins at not much over their gold value. Plus, there's ALWAYS a story behind the coins that you can explore. Finally, there's a natural progression path to the classic silver and gold commemoratives, if that's your desire.

Agree with this I do.

BadDog,

I was wondering if anyone would mention the modern commemorative's. I guess I will have to look them up and spend some time studying what has been issued, because honestly, I have not really followed them at all up until now.

n9jig,

Yes, the State Quarter series really injected some new interest and enthusiasm into coin collecting, lets just hope it sticks. I kind of think it will, coin collecting is somewhat addicting don't you think? Once you experience the initial attraction to coin collecting, I think it stays with you life long in most cases.

Probably not a bad ideaespecially the Uncs. They don't get a lot of respect and many of them can still be acquired for not much over melt value plus a small premium. I'm sure many were melted last time silver jumped over $40. Many of the Unc coins have ridiculously low mintages as well. For example the 1996 D Tennis Olympic dollar is under 16,000. Not that you can get that one for melt, but checking the sold listings on ebay I see MS-69's for under $120 and raw coins for under $50. $50 for a 90% silver dollar with a mintage under 16,000 sounds like a deal to me.

Ike dollars are a great start as well as Wheat Cents,I enjoy collecting these two the most since I was introduced to them around the same time last year.