State of the Hobby

I am not saying numismatics will die if we go cashless, but that there will be less interest in the hobby with less exposure to daily cash transactions. Not sure many scrimshaw collectors frequent BK...lol. Come to think of it though, a woman did find a bone in her Big Fish Sandwich so maybe she became a "bone collector" after the lawsuit got settled:

http://cookcountyrecord.com/stories...allegedly-left-in-burger-king-s-fish-sandwich

TC

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Exactly.

This is a regular part of the economic system and is more exaggerated now days because even quarters are not as useful as they were only a few years ago. When times are good and everyone's working their change jars fill up but as soon as the layoffs start the coins go back to the bank.

The government does not make a surplus though. Most change jars go back every three years or less and it's the aggregate number of coins in all the change jars that is important. When coins flow out of the system the mint makes enough coin to fill the void and when they flow back in the government stores the surplus.

 

It wasn't directed at you. Your post just reminded me how often that theme comes up. Even in this thread it was cited several times before your post.

 

I feel like the exact opposite effect will happen - interest in coin collecting will skyrocket because it's the only way to see a "coin" any more.

 

We can't even get rid of the one dollar bill. How the devil are we going to go 'cashless'?

 

I posted earlier on this and some of the exploits happening in the world.

For actual coin/currency content - I did visit the Comptroller of the Currency booth and spent a bit of time asking questions and understanding their mission (and they're actively recruiting for those looking).

I spent this week at the RSA security conference in San Francisco. Among the memorable (and teachable) moments - I met the guys that performed the "Chrysler hack" and attended their presentation on how they did it. Truly intuitive and able to see the tinyest exploit and follow it down the rabbit hole.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/07/24/technology/chrysler-hack-recall/

I also met Kevin Mitnick last night - and attended his presentation at a vendor/dinner event. It's truly amazing what is capable when you think about your target, modern technology and think a bit outside the box. I watched him hack a proximity card (swipe badge), a bank website and pull detailed info on an audience member - all in the space of about 2 hours.

He gave me his "business card" which is actually a stainless steel plate that has a lock pick kit in it that can be snapped out. Most people want to meet rock stars and movie stars. To a nerd since childhood, this was like meeting Jesse James.

Thankfully he uses his powers for good now.

Think about your privacy, your security - and be safe out there.

 

Yup, scarry stuff. Did you get any extra business cards by chance? Those are cool

 

JMO....seems to be a decline in interest.

 

At which point those of use who just love the coins for themselves will be very happy after the prices crash.

What baseball said. Our money has lost so much of it's value that the coins aren't worth enough to bother carrying them. The quarter, the "workhorse" coin, has the purchasing power that two cents did back when I was a kid. They really don't buy much of anything anymore unless you have a large quantity of them and no one want to carry all that weight when they could just carry a few notes. So the coins pretty much make a one way trip from the mint to the change jar. The larger coins come back out from time to time but the cents (which make up the bulk of the aual coinage) stay in the jars a LOT longer.

But commerce has to continue so the mint has to keep making more coins to replace those disappearing into the change jars.

It will for awhile. Back when they discontinued the large cent it created a big increase in interest from people trying to put together a set before they all disappeared.

 

Sorry, I got one - was lucky enough to get it. Someday I'll be senile and forget where I left my keys - and I'll need it.

 

They are... and you can buy them for $12.

 

Aren't lock picking tools illegal?

 

Mostly not: http://toool.us/laws.html

Besides, it's a business card, not a set of lock picks.

 

Legal to own, although if you're caught carrying them around - they can be construed as tools specific to burglary.

 

OK. Thanks guys.......

 

This is going a bit off on a tangent...

I have an idea of how the US Mint can stimulate numismatic interest among current and prospective numismatists: CRH limited edition coins! The US Mint can issue a low mintage set of coins that can only be found randomly in bank rolls. Although intended for younger generations, it'll probably find its way to the older crowd, too (oh well ). This'll run nostalgic like the golden tickets in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I believe that McDonald's increases their revenue by a substantial margin when running their Monopoly pay-to-play game, and this maybe similar to that.

The one (major) caveat would be that banks would probably not enjoy the manual labor involved of trading cash for coins and the amount of returned coins for sorting. Though, it may be a way to get more customers in the door, so the US Mint can sell them on that lol. Bank employees may be involved in a scandal, too, somehow or other.

 

Depends on the state. In CA, the state needs to show criminal intent before a charge of possession of lockpicks will stick.

 

It's my intent never to find out first hand. For now, it's serving as a bookmark in Ghost in the Wires.

 

If you wanna trade I can send you a better bookmark in the form of a $20 bill Brett

 

Not for sale, but thank you. The time and effort I've put into the career opportunity that put me in the right place at the right time can't be bought.

Someday when we're both long gone, it will be something that ends up in an estate auction - kinda like an original Jesse James "wanted" poster. Or maybe not, but there's less mintage on these than 1928-P Peace Dollars - and I'll never sell those either.