I've written numerous times on the need for redesign of our nation's coinage. And many in the hobby appear to share my view that America is overdue -- way, way overdue -- for a change in its pocket change.

We will, of course, have partial redesign on the Washington quarter starting in 1999, when the U.S. Mint begins a 10-year program to honor the 50 states. But what we really need is a top-to-bottom, obverse-and-reverse overhaul of every single circulating coin.

The arguments are familiar after all these futile years of trying to get someone -- anyone with influence -- to give this plea a fair and thorough hearing at the Treasury and/or Congress:

• Our current coins are boring.
• They've been around too long and have lost the emotional impact they may have possessed at one time.
• Exciting new coins would stir Americans' pride and lift the nation's spirit as we enter the 21st century.
• And looking far beyond that, our culture will seem puny to future civilizations if we're judged on the basis of the uninspiring coins we use today -- and continue to produce, in monotonous profusion, decade after decade after decade.

There are selfish reasons, too, why collectors in particular should embrace the idea of coinage redesign -- and although these may carry little or no weight with the people in Washington, they merit consideration by those in our hobby who have balked at redesign up to now.

One of these reasons came into sharp perspective for me as I was preparing an article on Liberty Head nickels. This series was marked by singular blandness for most of its 30- year run, but there was great excitement -- and numismatic appeal -- bunched at the beginning and the end.

It struck me that the 1883 "racketeer" nickel and the coveted 1913 "V" nickel both were made possible by -- you guessed it! -- coinage redesign.

There never would have been a no-CENTS nickel for confidence men to gold-plate in 1883 if the Mint hadn't dropped the Shield nickel design and replaced it with the Liberty Head version. And instead of being a rarity with just five pieces known, the 1913 Liberty nickel would have been made by the millions if the series had just gone on (as the Jefferson nickel does now) and never given way to the Buffalo design in 1913.

A disproportionate number of the rarest, most valuable and most eagerly collected U.S. coins in this century came into being in either the FIRST year of a series or the LAST.

Consider these examples:

• The 1909-S Indian Head cent, a final-year issue, is the lowest-mintage coin in its series, and one of the most valuable.
• The 1909-S VDB cent, a first-year issue, has long been regarded as the king of Lincolns. It has the lowest mintage and one of the highest price tags.
• The 1909-S Lincoln cent without the VDB is also a low- mintage, high-octane collectible.
• The 1916-D Mercury dime, another first-year issue, is the lowest-mintage coin in THAT series and ranks right up with the S VDB cent at the top of many collectors' all-time wish lists.
• The 1916 Standing Liberty quarter, also a first-year issue, is one of the greatest rarities of this century, with a mintage of only 52,000.

There are numerous other coins of somewhat lesser rarity -- but more than passing interest -- from the first and last years of various series.

These include the two Buffalo nickel varieties of 1913 ... the low-mintage 1915 Barber half dollar ... the 1916 Walking Liberty half dollars with mint marks on the obverse ... the low-mintage 1921 Peace dollar ... and the scarce 1932-D and S Washington quarters and 1938-D and S Jefferson nickels.

Even the much-scorned Susan B. Anthony dollar gave us two first-year coins of special note: the 1979 "near-date" (or "wide-rim") variety and the 1979-S proof with a clear mint mark.

There are good reasons why mintages tend to be lower in the first and last years of a series, and why interesting varieties tend to occur when a coin is new.

In some cases, two different coin types of the same denomination are made in the same year, and that holds down the mintages for both. That's what happened with cents in 1909, dimes and quarters in 1916, silver dollars in 1921 and nickels in 1938.

Sometimes the new coins don't get on the presses until very late in the year, and that curtails mintages even more -- as happened with the 1916 Standing Liberty quarter and 1921 Peace dollar.

Collectible varieties occur more frequently in a coin's first year because adjustments often must be made as unexpected problems come to light.

The Buffalo nickel's mound was leveled, for example, because the words FIVE CENTS -- stamped atop the mound -- proved to be too exposed and susceptible to wear. And the letters VDB were removed from the Lincoln cent, creating the rare variety, because of public outcry against this "self- promotion" by designer Victor D. Brenner.

Redesign is marvelous for the hobby. It recharges collectors' batteries, stimulates public interest and attracts new recruits.