A modest proposal to help stamp, coin, and currency collecting.

[edmerlr]

A day or two ago across the sreet at the other forum a question was asked: "What ever happened to stamp collecting?"

 

Typical responses came in: "It's dead." were many responses - in so many words. "It's still around." were other responses - in so many words. ...and there were the people who confessed that they lost interest when the post office started printing stamps one after the other - not for use a postage - but to sell to stamp collectors for the P.O. to make a profit.

 

I responded with an idea.

 

The more I think about it, the better my idea sounds. I wanted to share this idea with the members of this forum.

 

Please use your imagination as you read my proposal. Sometimes the best ideas seem to be - at a casual glance - to be absurd. ...but are they? Think again. (Columbus believing the world was round. The Wright Brothers believing man could fly.)

 

There is a simple way to bring millions of people in the post office to buy stamps. Of these millions of people, many, many of them will be inpired to get back in to stamp collecting, in earnest.

 

But this IS STILL a "Numismatic Tanget," because my modest proposal can again do to coin collecting what the state quarters did to coin collecting.

 

And this goes beyond just coins. We can help the Bureau of Engraving and Printing recover some of the costs incurred with the printing of the one dollar bill.

 

All of this can be done so simply.

 

Think 50 states. Think $50 bills and the need to keep changing them to thwart the counterfeiters. Think 50 cent pieces. Think 50 cent stamps. Think of the state birds of all 50 states. Combine all of these in one simple program.

 

First, I am sure that it has been at least a couple of months since the post office has issued stamps with the state birds on them. They need to do this again, with the birds on 50 cent stamps. What an obvious connection: 50 states, 50 birds, 50 cent stamps. With the postage only at 41 cents, the extra proceeds could be used on noble projects such as “Save the Birds.” People will be flocking (no pun intended) to buy the stamps. Birds will be saved.

 

Next, to get the public more involved collecting 50 cent pieces (just like they did state quarters), the Mint needs to put a different state bird on the reverse of a half dollar every 3 months. No, I would never suggest replacing our American eagle on the reverse. We can combine the birds. Imagine the eagle sitting on a branch next to a wise old owl, or the industrious hummingbird hovering next to the eagle’s head.

 

The 50 dollar bill: Nobody truly appreciates the 50 dollar bill. $20’s and $100’s are all over the place. Who ever goes to the bank and asks for $50 bills? If you do ask for one, it usually takes the teller 10 minutes to find one.

 

In my proposal it would be so simple to bring life into the $50 bill and put a spark into Paper Money collecting. We do this through what I would call the “Bird Bill.” You see, we would use the same theme of the state birds. Every 3 months the BEP would print a new $50 bill with a different state bird on the back. And to keep the counterfeiters guessing on which Bird Bill will be next, we don’t have to print the bills in order of each state’s acceptance into the Union. We could start with the largest bird first, or the smallest bird, or the fastest bird. Or we could mix up the birds and print them in no logical order.

 

With this simple proposal we have changed the negative phrase of “This is for the birds” to a positive phrase. "He gave me the bird," now becomes a symbol of of stamp, coin, or currency collecting pride.

 

Here is what we have accomplished:

 

(1) Millions of new stamp collectors will not only be buying “Bird Stamps,” but they will be running to the bank to pick up the latest 50 cent piece with the birds on the reverse and the new $50 “Bird Bill.”

 

With each stamp sold, 9 cents will be put into our “Save the Birds” project. 9 cents times millions of new collectors is a lot of healthy birds.

 

(2) Coin collectors and paper money collectors will now be going to the post office to buy the “Bird Stamps.”

 

(3) With the gathering up of millions of never-to-be-used, only-to-be-saved $50 Bird Bills, the BEP will have additional funds to off-set the cost of the printing of the $1 bills. No longer will the BEP have to be concerned about eliminating the $1 bill, because they will over-all - off-set by the Bird Bill profits - no longer be a negative on the BEP's bottom line.

 

(4) Our coin and stamp collecting accessory suppliers would have a boost in sales. New 50 page albums would be produced with each page allowing for the presentation of each state’s bird stamp at the top of the page, the 50 cent piece would be in the middle of the page showing the coin’s reverse with that state’s bird next to the eagle, and at the bottom of the page would be the back of the $50 Bird Bill proudly displaying that state’s bird.

 

(5) Upon completing each album, a parent, with one album for each of their children – complete with ALL of the Bird Stamps, Bird Coins, Bird Bills – would have instantly, in the face value of the Bird Coins and Bird Bills alone, $2,525 put aside of each of their children’s education.

 

What a easy, fun way to save for your child’s education.

 

This simple, modest proposal WILL WORK.

 

I am POSITIVE other good things will come out of this project - they are yet to be discovered in the future.

 

Write your Congressman. ...ask them to propose the Bird Project.

 

Regards,

 

Ed R

[pendragon1998]

What I've never understood is why so many of the state birds are the same species. There's something like a dozen states with the Northern Cardinal or Eastern/Western Meadowlark as their state bird. There's over 750 species of birds that are present within the US. For pete's sake.

 

I don't think your idea would work. First off, I doubt the mainstream is going to go for collecting $2500 worth of $50 bills just because they have birds on them. Secondly, I suspect that the coin collectors might collect the coins, the 5 remaining stamp collectors on earth will collect the stamps, and the bill collectors...and so on, but you're not going to see a stampede of people collecting outside their zone.

 

I'm in a rather grouchy mood, but what's the purpose of manufacturing collectables for collectable's sake (besides enriching the maker)? Maybe you shouldn't listen to me. I'm feeling a little jaded at the moment.

[TomB]

I actually like the idea more than I had anticipated and think it is quite cool. If it would work, however, I have no clue.

[cpm9ball]

I agree with Michael that most people cannot afford to collect $50 notes. I also think that there is another major flaw in your rationale. You suggest that creating a new $50 note every three months would help to thwart counterfeiters. It is my belief that your proposal would only help the scam artist get away with passing counterfeit notes simply because the vast majority of the public doesn't know and doesn't really care what their paper money looks like. Do you really think John Q. Public would say, "Hey, this isn't a yellow-bellied sapsucker!" A counterfeiter could move into an area and flood it with fake bills, then take off for greener pastures before anyone knew the difference. If you don't think this could happen, you only have to go back to an event in Baltimore in 2005. A man was arrested for passing what a McDonalds manager and Baltimore Police thought were counterfeit bills simply because they didn't believe that the U. S. Government printed a $2 bill. My God, if people don't think a bill that has been in use for 140+ years is real, what do you think would happen if it changed every three months.

 

Scam artist: "Hey, have you seen the latest bird bill the BEP issued?"

 

Stranger: "Bird bill?"

 

Scam artist: "Yeah, they started this program last year, and I've been collecting every one of the different birds. The latest one is the ivory-billed woodpecker. You know, they thought this bird was extinct until one was spotted a couple of years ago. I was able to get one hundred of them at face value, and numismatic dealers are selling these like hot cakes for $75 each. Heck, even if I sell them for $60 each, I'm still going to make a good profit."

 

Stranger: "Yeah, that is a neat looking bill. I'll take ten of them if you sell them to me for $55 each."

 

Scam artist: "I'll tell you what, my tab is about $10. If you pay it for me, you've got a deal."

 

Stranger: "Sounds fair to me!"

 

Sayonara, sucker!

 

If this sounds a tad pessimistic, it's probably due to the fact that I'm currently being "scrooged" by my siblings over our Mom's estate. If you can't trust them, who in the heck are you supposed to trust?

 

Besides, if the caldera near Yellowstone erupts, you're not going to have to worry about saving birds. You'll be up to your in ash..................OR............if we don't do something to stave off global warming, the Rockies will become islands.

 

Chris

 

 

[Dcoin]

It's the same idea behind SBA, Sac and prez coins. Just because you change the design AND make a ton of them does not mean people will take to it.

 

The concept sounds terrific, but I think the result will be the same as the 1$ coin only magnified across three different collecting disciplines.

[carson city]

Why not write to Sen. Byrd (D-WV) with your bird-brained idea ?

[okbustchaser]

One word about the "proposal"....

 

And one icon for those of you who don't know Ed and think he might be serious...

[just-john]

This sounds like it should be a move staring Mickey Rooney where all the gang bla bla bla

Governments are not A Business or do they need to make a profit.When the BEP can print/make $400,000,000.00 Thats 400 Million Dollars per HR -Why not just run a 3rd shift

or buy another press///////Better Yet subcontract the printing of our money to that awhole

in North Korea he's already printing it anyway

Government making a profit you do know that comes out of your pocket and I give enough already.Thank you very much Sen. Byrd (D-WV) old klansmen never die they just go to the Senate

[Keleum]

Ed is really the cover name for a secret Royal Candian Mint agency, dedicated to forwarding the unification of North American currencies to the Amero. The whole bird on a coin idea is just a ruse, as the canadians already have a bird on a coin series.

 

Now that the canadian dollar is on par with US dollar, I expect the govenments to make their move any day now.

 

....dunh-dunh-dunh....

 

 

[cpm9ball]

Now that the canadian dollar is on par with US dollar, I expect the govenments to make their move any day now.

 

That is just plain loonie-cy !

 

Chris

[James_OldeTowne]

Personally, I think Ed's proposal has a lot of merit. I happen to like birds, and birds on stamps, but my particular favorite is the "duck stamps" popular back in the 1950s and 1960s. I think what we need is those $50 notes to be issued with a closeup of the bill of a different kind of duck every three months. It will give real meaning to the word "fifty dollar bill".

[Keleum]

, good one chris... I got a good chuckle out of that one.

[MikeKing]

Gosh, I have so many replies.

 

My first reply is :

 

lol ... you're funny Ed!

 

But a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

And:

What is the name of the new herpes virus affecting canaries in New Jersey?

 

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.

.

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Answer: Chirpies.

 

Maybe a %age can go to the canaries in New Jersey?

 

 

 

But seriously, As a stamp collector, I have to say that stamp collecting is not dead at all...when it comes to the rare and very scarce issues. Mega money and escaliting prices are the norm. But not for those issues that used to be so popular, so I think your plan actually has merit. Would need a really good advertising campaign, you know, television, radio and google and yahoo popups.

 

[edmerlr]

Can you imagine what the Home Shopping Network could do with my proposal.

 

...they would do very well, indeed.

 

Ed R.

[Conder101]

The BEP will love you for the 50 years of man hours needed to create the fifty dollar plates then they only get to use each of them for three months.

 

I think the few stamp collectors,a nd probably some of the tree hugger types will buy the stamps. The coins, not being in general circulation, will be a little less popular than the Sac and dead president dollars.