July 26, 2010: "San Francisco 68er"

Author:
J. Agre

Concept:
Since the featured coin in this week’s ad is an extra-deluxe-super-gem-and-a-half coin in a higher grade than we usually offer (in fact, neither Dave nor I can recall ever offering anything better), we felt that the caption should rightly focus on the grade. But not in any sort of really obvious or boring way.

Instead, we latched onto the SF mint origin of this piece and came up with the San Francisco 49er / 68er switcheroo, which did what we wanted it to do in a neat, concise and (we hope) catchy way.

Captions that didn’t make the cut:
As usual, we had all sorts of obtuse Morgan gags at the ready, but none of those felt especially inspiring.

Then, suddenly, we came up with the SF-mint-celebrating-Rice-A-Roni-inspired "It’s a San Francisco Treat."

And while we thought that was a veritable hoot, we ultimately decided it was best to go with the ’68er’ version as it so nicely highlighted the grade.

Which means that we’ll save the ‘Rice-A-Roni’ caption for an especially delicious coin in the future.