Royal Canadian Mint turning into Franklin Mint?

How can you call Lincoln, Jefferson, Roosevelt, Washington and Kennedy pigs?

 

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Uh oh....i think you just got Onofrio mad at you for insulting the "dead presidents". Ha, ha!

 

That was called a metaphor....

From Mirriam:
Metaphor:
Full Definition
1 :a figure of speech in which a word or phrase literally denoting one kind of object or idea is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them (as in drowning in money); broadly :figurative language — compare simile

The more you know

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_.../2008/09/who_first_put_lipstick_on_a_pig.html

 

I'm glad that you took English in high school.

 

Its an attractive piece. I do not blame you for wanting it.

You know as well as I do Ken there are two competing aspects of this hobby. There are those like you and I who buy coins and consider the money simply gone. Our purchase makes us happy and that is the end of the discussion. The other aspect is financial. I understand this too, and to many its a very large consideration. Is was to that end i was commenting sir. Of course, I never begrudge or demean whatever anyone wishes to collect, but I was simply warning others who financial concerns might be higher than ours that I am worried this flood of products might demean financially all products from that mint.

 

I wish that you had retained some, but I digress...

No need to attempt to be condescending and insulting.

After all, you won't like the way it feels when the shoe is on the other foot.

 

Put an egg in your shoe and beat it!

 

Ha, ha! I love the humor. Keep it comming, so long as the moderator doesn't ban it. Ha, ha!

 

yah, I know that they're modern ... but they're so fricken cool

=> tiny lil' pure gold gems, with animals on 'em ...

I collect ancients, but I can't resist these sweet RCM moderns!!

 

Nice save @stevex6!

 

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Years ago, I completely lost interest in collecting sports cards when different card types started to multiply endlessly... in 1981, to take baseball cards for instance, a single set each year (Topps) suddenly multiplied into 3 (Topps, Fleer, Donruss). That was somewhat manageable, but later it exploded into however many brands exist now - I lost count years ago and every time I look at the state of that hobby I become so overwhelmed my brain melts.

I'm starting to have similar feelings when looking at lists of US and Canadian commems. OVERLOAD! I'd have to spend tens of thousands of dollars to afford "everything" for a single year - it's too much to even comprehend. Not only that, if I don't pay attention to coin news on a weekly basis I seem to miss numerous pending releases. Of course, I could just buy what I want, which makes sense, but it's harder and harder to gauge just what I want in the morass of issues that spew from the mints these days.

I was at the Winnipeg mint recently and found myself aghast almost to submission at the overflowing commems in their showroom. Many of them were beautiful but deciding on one or two became an exercise in aggravation and I went into a "too many choices" coma after fifteen brain pounding minutes of browsing. (The mint tour was awesome, by the way - they were minting the colored Canadian flag anniversary coins while I was there.) I did succumb to the "big coin" nickel, though, because I've always loved the Canadian beaver nickel (yes, I have animal coin disease). I'm sure it was a lousy buy, but I do really like the pretty shiny thing (side note: a tour guide had a story about an old woman in a wheelchair who toured once and told a filthy joke about the beaver nickel and the Queen which shocked the entire group, but she wouldn't tell it to me - perhaps that cost extra ).

Anyway, I worry, just like the Coin Talk guys and others here do, that the miasma of releases from the mint may simply cause collector catatonia and bring down the value of numismatics. Though I'm not sure of the exact connection between the modern commems and historical numismatics - would a crash in moderns necessarily affect the classic coins? That's another whole topic.

And now I'll end my rant with far too many words about mints that release far too many things. Full stop.

 

As long as there are 'classics' to collect, the demise of collecting coins will never happen. New classic will transition to collectibles among the young folks. As the young folks transition to middle age, they'll look to seek older, more traditional coin examples. Collecting is a circle........

 

Yes, I think that the RCM went off the deep end 10 or so years ago and now is considered right up there with the Franklin Mint and the Isle of Man with issuing "granny bait" at the drop of a marketeering hat. It was nearly tolerable when they restricted themselves to issuing designs with their plethora of "Canadian content"items until they stretched the definition of Canadian, but then came the grade-school and modernistic designs, as well as the giant leap into comic books. The Mint is still counting on aging Mildred and Fred standing in line at the Post Office or reading the newspaper/magazine ads when Mildrd says to Fred "Oh, look at the coin .. wouldn't little Johnny just love that for Christmas?" Then the coin & box go into a drawer only to see the light of day when he finds a place to sell it at 50% of the issue price. I think that the RCM policy just teaches kids that what they put out is essentially worthless somewhere down the line.

 

100% => I totally agree that "most" of the Granny-bait items (clever, I like that term) probably won't be worth a whole lotta cash in the future, but hopefully they'll be cool enough to attract a potential young collector's eye? ...

Example => I am fan of purchasing the annual proof, specimen and/or uncirculated sets, rather than the amazingly tacky glow-in-the-dark dinosaur coins, but I'm also pretty sure that lil' 4 year old Bobby would think that the dinosaur coins are pretty cool (maybe cool enough to ask his Mom to buy him the annual specimen set as well?) ... etc, etc ...

Sidenote => yah, I bought the tacky glow-in-the-dark dinosaur coins as well (*sigh*)

 

It has been awhile since I heard (read) 'granny bait'........thanks for reintroducing the term Bill.

 

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You make a good point. But, so does green18. I have simply concluded that the federal mints, sports card companies etc. can produce what they want, and the customer ultimately determines supply/demand. By the way, why haven't you posted more insightful comments in the 7 years as a CT member? You should!

 

Or maybe, this is to interest a new generation of collecters. It would have worked on me. Or maybe I'm just simple.

 

Finally!!! I was able to figure out how to post an image of my self on this Avatar. A live screen shot from my computer.