numa numa numismatics yay!

Tomorrow will be a big day for coin collectors. The United States Mint will reveal the proposed designs for the first four $1 Presidential Coins. Four presidents will be honored each year starting in 2007 and continuing for 10 or 11 years. I don't consider myself a hardcore coin collector, but I do treasure our collection of state quarters from the Postal Commemorative Society. We received a gift subscription a few years ago from my grandmother.

One of the things I like best about the state quarters is the knowledge that in a couple of years we will have a complete collection, unless the country starts adding states again. By design, the presidential coin set will never be complete, which will drive me crazy. Any ex-presidents who are still alive (or who have been dead less than two years) in 2016 will not get a coin. The series will end when all the eligible dead presidents have been honored. This means it is unlikely that Bill Clinton or George W. Bush will get coins in their honor. Both men will be only 70 years old or so when it's their turn for a coin. By comparison, Gerald Ford will turn 103 while Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush will both be 92 in the year 2016.

Perhaps Congressman Mike Castle or Senator John Sununu can amend their legislation to make provisions for a new coin following the death of each ex-president. I would hate to be deprived of all the truck stop vending machine comedy that Clinton and Bush coins would eventually provide.