An Effective Way to Reach New Numismatists

It seems like most new numismatists get started by their association with a relative or friend who is one and shares their passion. However, there are alternative ways to spark an interest in numismatics among children. Here’s one example.

Coin-collecting kids at the U.S. Mint Sharon McPike

From 2015 to 2019, I taught a class on Coin Collecting at the annual 4-H Exploration Days camp on the Michigan State University campus (just over a mile from where I work). Most years, I co-taught this class with Brett Irick, who is the current vice president of the Central States Numismatic Society and has been the American Numismatic Association deputy chief exhibit judge.

The class ran for five hours over two sessions, and attendees typically ranged in age from 8 to 15. Few attendees had significant numismatic experience.

Among the items given to attendees at the start were a copper-nickel Bicentennial Eisenhower dollar and a two- to three-year-old “Red Book” (kindly donated by Whitman Publishing to the Michigan State Numismatic Society).

After introductions, the first activity was to go around the room, asking each attendee to identify a feature of the Eisenhower dollar on any of the three sides. Features included the nation of issue, date, mintmark, denomination, designs, mottos, edge reeding, round shape, metallic content, and initials.

Then, each attendee was asked to peruse the Red Book to read aloud to the class the introductory section of a category they found of interest.

In the second session, each attendee was given Whitman folders for Lincoln Cents #1 and #2. Each of them was given groups of unsorted Lincoln Cents to sort and find coins they could insert into the corresponding holes in their folders. When finished with each group, they passed the leftovers to the attendee next to them. Several filled as many as 30 slots in their folders. They then got to take these folders home.

Last, a bag of inexpensive foreign coins was spread out on a table. Each attendee was allowed to select six coins that they could take home, so long as they could identify the issuing nation of each piece. World coin catalogs were available to help them with identification.

This class received one of the highest ratings from attendees of the more than 100 different programs offered in the camp.

Unfortunately, the camp was canceled in 2020 because of the COVID pandemic. When resurrected in 2021, it was conducted only online. Since attendees would no longer be able to personally handle coins in the online format, I have not since conducted this program.

Why would these attendees enjoy such a program so much? In my judgment, it was that they actually got to be numismatists in the class rather than only listening to lectures or viewing videos. The first event had them looking at a coin in their hand to glean the wide variety of information it provided. As I recall, 15-16 features on the Bicentennial Eisenhower dollar were found. The second exercise had them use a catalog to find information about a category they found of interest.

Searching through Lincoln cents to find dates and mintmarks for them to put in their folders, meaning that once again, they had to look at the coins for information, engaged them in a treasure hunt just like all numismatists do. Last, they were exposed to the world of numismatics and additional reference materials.

These activities got the participants, almost all of whom were strangers to each other, to engage with the subject and discover that there is a lot more to coins and currency than spending them and also with each other. It is my hope that several of them went home and continued to search for more Lincoln cents to fill the empty slots in their folders.

Update on precious metals bullion, coin, and currency sales tax exemption efforts

On March 21, Wisconsin’s governor signed into law, effective March 22, 2024, a sales and use tax exemption on the retail sales of precious metals, bullion, and coins that have at least a 35 percent content of gold, silver, copper, platinum, or palladium. While this would include most legal tender coins ever issued, the exemption would not cover U.S. 1943 steel cents, the current U.S. copper-clad zinc Lincoln cents, or current Canadian circulating coins made of nickel.

In Kentucky, the language of the precious metals bullion, coin, and currency sales tax exemption bill was amended to be added to the annual revenue bill, HR8. It passed the State House. The State Senate passed its own version of HR8 that did not include this exemption language. In the joint committee meeting to resolve differences between the two versions, the exemption language was restored to the bill and sent to the governor for signature.

The Kentucky governor announced a line-item veto of this exemption language and for one other provision in the bill. Late last week, the legislature met a final time to consider whether to override any of the governor’s vetoes. The leadership of the legislature decided not to override the governor on the bullion/coin/currency sales and use tax exemption. However, apparently, someone in the House (almost certainly with help from the lobbyist hired by coin dealers) uncovered a previous Attorney General letter that said the governor only had line-item veto authority over appropriations bills. Since HR8 was a revenue bill, the Attorney General's letter means that the governor could not line-item veto any provisions of it. So, the bill was transmitted to the Secretary of State to sign into law without the governor’s signature. The effective date of the exemption will be Aug. 1, 2024.

In New Jersey, a precious metals bullion and coins sales and use tax exemption bill unanimously passed both chambers of the legislature last year, only to be vetoed by the governor. However, there may be a meeting before the end of this month with the governor’s staff to determine if the language of the failed exemption bill will be added to a budget bill that needs to be adopted by June 30. If that effort does not succeed, the exemption bill has been reintroduced this year and has already passed the full Assembly.

Alaska does not have a state sales tax. However, some boroughs within the state do impose their own sales tax. Anchorage, the largest city in the state, does not charge a sales tax, but about 10 other boroughs do. House Bill 3 would establish an exemption from local sales and use taxes for “specie,” which would include any legal tender issued by the U.S. government or any foreign government. This bill is currently in committee.

In Vermont, H.295, to establish a sales and use tax exemption on the retail sales only for amounts in excess of $1,000 of gold and silver coins and bullion was introduced in 2023 and carried over to 2024. It has not yet had any action.

In Maine, Legislative Document 1051 would create a sales and use tax exemption on the retail sales of gold and silver coins and bullion. It has passed the State House and is currently in a State Senate Committee.

Once Kentucky’s exemption becomes effective, the only jurisdictions that will not have at least a partial sales and use tax exemption on the retail sales of precious metals bullion, coins, and currency will be the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Vermont. By regulation and not by legislation, Nevada has a sales and use tax exemption on bullion and on coins that sell for no more than 50 percent above face value.

Answer to the Previous Trivia Question

Last week, I asked: How did the U.S. government in 1928 come to reduce the physical size of the paper money it issued?

The process for this change effectively began when the U.S. gained dominion over the Philippines during the Spanish-American War of 1898. The U.S. government needed to print currency to circulate there and came up with a standard paper size that was smaller than U.S. paper money that was then circulating. Later, the U.S. government conducted studies on how to standardize the appearance of its paper money and reduce the costs of printing it. The result was the introduction in 1928 of smaller-sized U.S. paper money with the same general design themes (George Washington as the central vignette on the $1 denomination, for example) ever since.