Pop Culture Coins Good for Hobby
Pop culture coin designs will draw the attention of a different and likely younger group of people to coin collecting.
The non-collecting public’s attitude towards circulation coinage, as well as commemoratives, may soon be changing. The alliance between Warner Brothers and the U.S. Mint gives coin collecting an entirely new dynamic toward non-circulating legal tender commemoratives. Pop culture coin designs will draw the attention of a different and likely younger group of people to coin collecting. Consider the San Diego Comic-Con International attendance has been about 130,000. No coin show gets that large a turnout. How many of these pop culture fans will advance from buying these intriguing new commemorative issues now being planned to collecting coins that have been used to buy those commemoratives is the bigger question.
The general public may have just gotten a lesson in appreciating circulation coins (and bank notes) courtesy of the recent worldwide IT meltdown caused by a faulty software update provided by CrowdStrike. This IT failure impacted not only airlines, banks, and gas pumps but the capabilities of functioning within the so-called cashless society as well. In the past, we’ve learned checks, credit cards, and debit cards have proved to be tools to be used in addition to rather than in lieu of physical money. The recent software failure that prevented people from buying groceries and other things (including getting paid) without physical cash supports the same scenario for electronic payments.
The market for coins, be they to be used in circulation, to be a way to hold bullion, or minted for collector consumption is going to expand, not contract. A decline in the use of physical cash in circulation is to be expected, but the complete demise of coins after several millennia isn’t about to happen.
