National Parks Quarters

I am thinking of pursuing this from circulation. I mean, that is what real collecting is. These coins come by often enough that I could fill an album if I watched my change. I remember the State Quarter frenzy. I was working at Coin World and if I got a candy bar at the vending machine, some other editor would want to see the change. On the message lists people were offering to trade Ds for Ps depending on who lived where. Plus, there was the involvement and interest of the community at large, with collectors trying to get to their state committees before yet another state map rolled out. (Note that the rules for America the Beautiful specifically prohibited maps.) But I see none of that with these.

The only evidence of serious collectitude is people buying 5-ounce silver rounds from the US Mint. Golly gee, folks ...

I mean the Golden Age of Collecting was when the post-war baby boomers had paper routes that let them look for low-mintage rarities in change. Since then, it has been a very different hobby, today being (dare I say) totally jaded. You can claim to complete a set just by buying them from the Mint? Where is the challenge?

Back in the late 90s, for no special reason, it so happened that I had a good job and saw a lot of cash go by and I kept my eye out for "uncirculated" dollar bills in circulation and built two sets of kinda crispy A-L Federal Reserves. It actually felt like collecting.

Anyway... excuse an old man... But what made me think of it was getting an Admiral Perry Monument in change. A native Clevelander, I have been to Put-in-Bay a few times and knew the story of Perry's victory from grade school classes. Just sayin'...

 

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I'm in California also, and I was surprised reading through everyone's post, because I get them all the time, in change and in rolls. Just last night I cracked open a roll and got at least 5 or 6 Mount Rushmores and Fort McHenrys each