September 3, 2007: "Heck of a Mule"

Author:
D. Wnuck

Concept:
We thought we’d go in a new direction for this ad, and try to relate the coin back to the time it was issued. It seemed logical, therefore, to think about what the coin could have been used to buy back then, which then lead to this juxtaposition idea.

To date, this was our most popular ad and resulted in more calls and emails than any other (which Dave has reminded me approximately 11,325 times).

Captions that didn’t make the cut:
"In the last auction, a commemorative half dollar sold for more." was designed to show the relative values represented by classic coins vs some of the prices more modern, more common and far less interesting coins are bringing. But we decided this is not the notion we want to be known for.

We’ve always felt that collectors should buy and collect coins that they like, not what someone else tells them to collect. And we believe we are far better served to highlight the virtues of our coins, rather than denigrate others.

So we killed this idea. Dead.