Why don't more people collect coins today? Is something wrong with our hobby?

There's nothing inherently wrong with numismatics. Coin collecting is still a great hobby, offering a matchless blend of history, art, nostalgia, romance - and yes, potential profit - to those who pursue it.

The problem is, not as many people are pursuing it today, and discovering all its pleasures, as in years gone by. And one of the biggest reasons for this disconcerting decline in participation, membership and overall activity is the lack of something new in Americans' pocket change - the decades-long absence of brand-new coins or at least substantial revisions in the existing ones.

The current U.S. coins have been around so long that people take them for granted and hardly even look at them, except to make sure that they have the right ones - the right denominations - to feed that parking meter, insert in the slot in that vending machine or toss into the basket at that tollbooth. Many would be hard-pressed to say which U.S. presidents appear on which U.S. coins; all five of our current coins are simply monotonous disks imbedded in the nation's collective subconscious.

The solution is coinage redesign.

We need something fresh, exciting and different to catch the public's eye, capture its attention and, most of all, arouse its imagination. Once people pause to notice the coins that pass through their hands every day, and truly become aware of them as more than just utilitarian objects, we will have an enormous pool of prospective recruits for our hobby and prospective new members for our hobby organizations.

Never has there been such a long, dreary stretch of sameness and sterility in this nation's coinage. Four of our five regular-issue coins have been around for more than half a century - 88 years, in the case of the Lincoln cent, easily the longest run of any single coin in U.S. history. Even the "baby" of the present coinage lineup, the Kennedy half dollar, is now in its 34th year.

The current U.S. coin designs are competent, to be sure, and some are handsome. But while diamonds are forever, coin designs - even good ones - need to be replaced on a regular basis. Otherwise, they lose their dramatic impact.

Coins have tremendous potential to inspire national pride and burnish a nation's image around the world. Like batteries, however, that inspiration needs to be recharged from time to time.

A decade ago, Diane Wolf, an energetic member of the federal Commission of Fine Arts, spearheaded efforts to secure congressional backing and gain support at the Treasury for coinage redesign. Her tireless campaign fell short of achieving its goal, but it did heighten Washington's awareness of the issue and sensitize many hobbyists to the need for redesign.

Ten years later, we still have the same five regular-issue coins, but I sense that our chances for getting them redesigned are better now, and that a renewed campaign to accomplish that objective would meet with greater receptiveness in Washington.

Our most implacable foes from the late 1980s have left the national stage, and some of today's key players have demonstrated a willingness to listen to our views, rather than merely dismiss them out of hand. Mint Director Philip N. Diehl has shown a real interest in hobbyists' concerns, and Congressman Michael Castle, chairman of the House subcommittee that deals with coinage matters, has also given weight to our opinions.

One exciting plan already on the table - with a realistic chance of gaining approval in Congress - would authorize the issuance of 50 circulating commemorative coins over a 10-year period to honor the 50 states in the order of their admission to the Union. Congressman Castle supports this plan, greatly enhancing its prospects, and while Director Diehl has not formally endorsed it, he also has not taken a stand against it.

The special designs honoring the states would appear on one side of the Washington quarter, much as the Colonial drummer boy did on the Bicentennial quarters of 1975-76. "Drummer-boy" quarters turn up in circulation even now, and continue to attract attention and comment whenever they do. That awareness will be magnified - and multiplied by 50 - if the state-coin program is approved. And that, in turn, will stimulate widespread new interest in numismatics.

We need to lend our support, individually and collectively, to the 50-state coin proposal. At the same time, however, we should look upon this program not as the culmination of our quest for redesign, but rather as a major first step.

Our ultimate goal should continue to be the total redesign of all regular-issue U.S. coins. Only through such a comprehensive overhaul can we maximize the benefits and free our coinage system from the artificial shackles that needlessly tie us to the past.

Numismatic News played a pivotal role in the redesign campaign of the 1980s, supporting Ms. Wolf wholeheartedly and mobilizing support among its readers. I am confident it would do likewise in a new push by collectors, and that other publications in the numismatic field would be in the forefront, too.

Hobby organizations also need to get behind this effort, for they will be among the biggest beneficiaries in the event that meaningful redesign is achieved.

The national coin club, the American Numismatic Association, enjoys great influence through its presence in all 50 states and its 26,000-strong membership base - and if it exerts this muscle in behalf of redesign, the outlook for victory will be brightened immeasurably.

I am a member of the ANA Board of Governors and a candidate for vice president of the association. I will use any office I may hold in the ANA, now or in the future, to press for its endorsement of coinage redesign - and, more than that, for its active, aggressive involvement in the effort to attain it at the earliest possible date.

Many Americans look to the year 2000 as a time for basic changes not only in our calendars but also in our lives. Surely the time is propitious for change in our nation's "change" as we enter a new millennium.