mint

Today, banks across America are ready to place the head of yet another president into the hands of its patriotic citizens: the new dollar commemorating 5th President James Monroe. Mostly known for his Monroe Doctrine promising military protection to our hemisphere, adding five states to the nation, and being the third and last president to die on the 4th of July (two is a coincidence; 3 out of 5 is spooky), he led during a time of relative peace and lack of political strife.

As we’ve seen with previous dollars, minting errors are already being discovered in early-release Monroe coins. It appears that up to 140,000 Statehood Quarter blanks were stamped with Monroe instead of the gold dollar blanks, resulting in a large number of silver, smaller-than-usual Monroe Dollars. These were noticed quickly and the majority of these error coins were destroyed, but there’s no telling how many may have slipped through before the error was corrected. Collectors should also expect to see the standard, known-variation in the direction of the edge-text (obverse-up versus reverse-up) , but neither direction is more uncommon. While the Mint seems to have gotten better at printing on the edges of coins without error, the edge-text is the most common place to see errors and collectors should always give their dollars a close look.

This isn’t the first time Monroe has been on the obverse of a coin, although the first time around he had to share the honor with a friend: in 1923, the Mint commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Monroe Doctrine with a special half-dollar, with the heads of Monroe and his Secretary of State John Quincy Adams (who will appear on a dollar himself May 15th). It wasn’t actually the Mint’s idea for the commemorative dollar: the commemorative coin was part of an elaborate plan to clean up and improve the public image of the California film industry. 300,000 of the coins were minted at the San Francisco mint and distributed in California — they are relatively uncommon, but not unobtainably rare. Several have sold on eBay from $20 to $80, depending on condition.

As we saw with Dolly Madison, Monroe’s wife Elizabeth will appear on a commemorative gold piece to be released February 28th. While her husband get the generic ‘eagle’ back on his dollar coin, Mrs. Monroe’s reverse commemorates her appearance at the reopening of the White House. Burned to the ground by the British, it was rebuilt and ready for the public in 1818. Monroe became president the year before, and was thus the first president to occupy the White House we know today. As we’ve seen, the First Spouse coins have a $10 face value, but sell for $429 to $529 direct from the Mint.

Last week, in our usual rummage-sale-excursions, I brought home a factory-sealed model kit. The design didn’t seem too old, so I doubted it would be worth much. I made myself a deal: if it didn’t sell on eBay, I’d open it and assemble it with the help of my stepson. It’s a reasonable deal, because factory-sealed anythings are difficult to find, and I didn’t want to violate the model before it has a chance to get to a loving collector.

Of course, if nobody else wanted it, I’d happily allow the model to fulfill its purpose in life: breaking everything off the sprues, slopping glue on the joints, and ending up with a tiny plastic airplane replica. I’ve never fallen into the ‘factory-sealed’ collector arena. I tend to collect things that fulfill a purpose, and then use them as such. The antique computers work, books are readable, radios recieve signals, and so forth. Even if it turned out to be collectible, this airplane model would’ve been stripped of its protective layer shortly after the non-selling auction closed. It’s just the way I work.

As I listed it, did my research, I found that an older version of this model has a plastic replica of a dead mountain lion in it. Wow, I thought — that rocks, but I wonder if I can put it in the auction listing for this plane? The box didn’t say anything about it, but it does appear in one of the photos on the side of the box. Maybe I should open it and make sure, I thought. I quickly put that thought away; the selling point of the auction would be the factory seal, and I couldn’t risk that. In examining the box, I noticed it rattled a little. Could just be the clear window piece — those are always on a small sprue, and would likely rattle around. I’d hate for the buyer to get a broken item, I schemed, Maybe I could check it somehow… I gave it some thought, considering how to open it with the least cellophane damage, but came up empty. The temptation to open the model was difficult to resist, but I managed, and the buyer who eventually won the auction will happily see that I did not touch even a corner of the box.

That aforementioned stepson has collectibility ingrained in him: when a birthday or Christmas rolls around, his gifts are checked for their status as a collectible before he even thinks about opening the box. If it’s remotely collectible, he sets it aside. Just a plain ‘ol toy: tear it open. While other members of his family feed his collecting nature, I lead toward toys that can be played with. Even if the manufacturer used a huge shocking font on the front to advertise the item’s collectibility, I prefer he’d play with it. It’s what the darn thing is for.

I do have some respect for mint-condition, though. I’ve got a GI Joe #1 in its original sealed bag (some promotional copies were sold this way) that I’ve resisted opening for almost 25 years. Er, well, I used to have two in their original Marvel-sealed bags, but I had to open the other one. How else would I find out what started it all?

You might say I’m beginning to learn my lesson, though. Years ago I bought a bound collection of folk stories for the purpose of reading it. After a dozen pages I found that a printing mishap had left pages un-cut and still attached to their folded neighbors. Producing a pocket knife, I slit the edge and continued reading. After around halfway through the book and past numerous still-attached pages, I dim light began to appear over my head and I set the book aside. As the current Fine Books & Collections will tell you, a book that had not been properly cut (and most often intentionally) is called ‘unopened‘, and can be more valuable than one that had been read. Despite my urge to finish the booktrimming process myself, I have placed the book on the shelf and left it as-is.

The urge to leave collectibles and antiques in their pristine state really is a wise one; I don’t doubt there’s collectors out there gasping in horror at my misdeeds. The more perfect an item, the more desirable, and therefore more valuable, it is. Across the country, thousands of McDonald’s Happy Meal Beanie Babies are still suffocating in their original plastic bags. Throughout Minnesota, Wheaties boxes celebrating the Twins’ World Series victories are stored away uneaten. Billy Beer remains undrunk. Barbie dolls wait quietly, untouched inside ther pink boxes. Baseball cards hide in the dark alongside rock-hard sticks of gum. True collectors wouldn’t dare disturb the perfect, pristine condition of a mint collectible. A collection strives to be complete, which makes those with scuffed paint imperfect, the missing boxes incomplete, non-mint items are flawed. Those collections made up of the most perfect, undamaged and unopened of items are deemed ideal.
Most collectors also realize that, without those vandals who open collectibles and toss out packaging, their mint-condition ones wouldn’t be nearly as valuable. Mint is valuable mostly due to rarity; the combination of rarity and desire add to make for a top-notch collection. Mint conditio airplane models are hard to come by, because most model buyers opened them up and assembled them. A Barbie became the best friend of some little girl, then eventually ended up with chewed feet and a missing head. Action Comics #1 is rare because boys carried them around, passed them to their buddies, left them in the rain and cut out the little Supermen to decorate their walls.

That’s not to say forced rarity is any better; buying up Action Comics #1 and burning all but one might make them more rare, but the lynch mob of comic collectors at your door won’t be very understanding. The users of collectibles and the caretakers of collectibles pivot around a central point of mutual balance. Both desire and value the collectible for different reasons, but together their combined interest can build any item into a true collectible. While a collectible becomes rare through use and wear, it also becomes desirable because of all the hands that it passed through during its lifetime. I promise to be better about leaving mint collectibles in their mint condition. While it’s tempting to open that box, crack that seal, I think I can resist, and leave them as-is.