Numismatics needs more young collectors like this

http://www.lovelandfyi.com/communityrh/news.asp?ID=411

"stonej" wrote in message
ups.com...
http://www.lovelandfyi.com/communityrh/news.asp?ID=411


Anyone else bothered by this article?

[Ask Russ Bega why the United States minted the 20-cent piece for only
three years. "It was very unpopular," the 13-year-old said. "Kind of
like the Sacajawea dollar." Bega owns an 1875 silver 20-cent piece, a
coin the United States minted for three years, between 1875 and 1878.]

I guess I'm an old timer that can't understand the new math. I could
have sworn that 1875, 1876, 1877, and 1878 were 4 years, not 3. And I
was sure there were only two years "between 1875 and 1878". Those
would be 1876 and 1877.

Later on the author refers to a coin of that denomination as a
"20-cent silver quarter". What is that? A quarter of an 80-cent
piece? Perhaps they should have called it a "20-cent silver fifth".

And three-cent silver nickels?

Also I'm not old enough to remember when "federal agents seized gold
from the American public". Can someone here enlighten me? Did they
kick down your doors to get to them? Did they rip the fillings out of
your mouths and take all your jewelry too?

And I'm still looking for some of those gold $2 coins to fill my type
set.

Of course I'm only mocking the article, but I often wonder if other
collectors are as amused as I am when I see such careless (or is it
"clueless") reporting.

Happy collecting,

jim menning

jim menning wrote:
"stonej" wrote in message
ups.com...
http://www.lovelandfyi.com/communityrh/news.asp?ID=411


Anyone else bothered by this article?

[Ask Russ Bega why the United States minted the 20-cent piece for
only
three years. "It was very unpopular," the 13-year-old said. "Kind of
like the Sacajawea dollar." Bega owns an 1875 silver 20-cent piece, a

coin the United States minted for three years, between 1875 and
1878.]

I guess I'm an old timer that can't understand the new math. I could

have sworn that 1875, 1876, 1877, and 1878 were 4 years, not 3. And
I
was sure there were only two years "between 1875 and 1878". Those
would be 1876 and 1877.

Later on the author refers to a coin of that denomination as a
"20-cent silver quarter". What is that? A quarter of an 80-cent
piece? Perhaps they should have called it a "20-cent silver fifth".

And three-cent silver nickels?

Also I'm not old enough to remember when "federal agents seized gold
from the American public". Can someone here enlighten me? Did they
kick down your doors to get to them? Did they rip the fillings out
of
your mouths and take all your jewelry too?

And I'm still looking for some of those gold $2 coins to fill my type

set.

Of course I'm only mocking the article, but I often wonder if other
collectors are as amused as I am when I see such careless (or is it
"clueless") reporting.

Happy collecting,

jim menning


I would give the kid a break, he is just a beginning collector and
has some things to learn. I'm sure the reporter was not a coin
collector and just took what the kid said at face value. Should the
reporter have been checking the facts more closely? Yes, but unless
you had a reason to suspect something was wrong would you spend a lot
of time checking around? Some might but many wouldn't I would guess.