A Public Service Announcement..

As a long time numismatist,(that's a coin collector,..but you knew that),there's one aspect to the hobby I find particularly aggravating.
..Insulting,even.

Every time something of an historic nature occurs,these greedy,opportunistic cockroaches come crawling out from behind the baseboards,in a mad frenzy to capitalize on the prevailing public sentiment.




'Own a piece of American history!',..an heirloom you can proudly pass on to your children,and grandchildren.

The number of things wrong with that premise are way too numerous to mention.
Follows,..the short list:

• The 'New England Mint'?..sounds all official n' stuff don't it..There are three government authorized United States mints..San Francisco,Denver,and Philadelphia..The New England mint could very well be located in some guy's basement in Connecticut.
• How about that glorious,full color portrait of Barack Obama?..Well,it's clearly not enameled,which would be cheesy at best..My guess is that it's printed on paper,and stuck on like those decals that come with 'Easy Bake' ovens..It's illegal for our government to portray the image of a living person on genuine coin of the realm by the way..This isn't a monarchy,or dictatorship we got goin' on up in here!
• Layered in pure,24 carat gold!!..Layered?..I don't even know what the hell that means..Genuine United States Commemoratives will either be solid,pure .999 fine,or maybe 'clad'..One pure precious metal bonded to another precious metal..This thing is likely cast from lead,and then gold leafed..There's more pure gold in a bucket of seawater.
• Not available in public circulation!..no shit..Neither is Wampum,or Wooden Nickels...There's a reason for that.

All this for the low introductory price of just $9.95!..plus shipping and handling.
Hurry!..this 'Limited Edition' is only being struck for the next 75 days!
..Just enough time to crank out one for every person on the planet.

I can absolutely guarantee you this!
50 years hence,you might be able to sell it at a yard sale to a collector for a buck and change.

..end of pontification.