These are exciting times for our hobby.

After nearly a decade when drift and malaise were all too familiar in the coin market, we've seen a burst of positive activity in 1998. Numismatic News, the Krause Publications weekly, went so far last month as to publish the headline: "Good times return to coins."

In part, this is undoubtedly a matter of cyclical patterns. What goes down must come up - and you can't keep a good hobby down. In large part, however, the excitement we are seeing stems from the wonderful news we've been hearing in recent months from Uncle Sam.

The 10-year program of circulating commemorative coins honoring the 50 states of the Union is sure to give our hobby a major shot in the arm. Five times a year over a full decade, a new Washington quarter will appear in Americans' pocket change - and besides giving our countrymen a capsule history lesson, this program will also provide them with a graphic introduction to our hobby. We need to be certain, however, that the ANA and the Mint use this opportunity to grow the hobby.

By this time next year, two of these 50 coins will already be turning up in circulation. And we'll be well on the way to reaping enormous dividends in the form of new collectors and reawakened interest by many old ones.

Then, in the year 2000, a new dollar coin will enter the channels of commerce, giving us yet another means to draw new people into the hobby - and, in many instances, into our local, state, regional and national hobby organizations.

It is, I think, no accident that these and other initiatives highly beneficial to our hobby have come into being at a time when Philip Diehl is director of the U.S. Mint. Since he assumed this office in June 1994, Mr. Diehl has shown himself to be a willing listener when we have approached him with our concerns. He also has proven to be a powerful ally when he has concluded that those concerns were justified.

As a member of the Citizens Congressional Commemorative Advisory Committee, he has fought hard - and successfully - to bring about limits on the number of new commemorative coins authorized by Congress. He recognized that collectors were being alienated by the previous proliferation of expensive new coins and coin series. He also has sought to enhance the aesthetic quality of our new commemoratives. And he oversaw the creation of new platinum bullion coins with one of the most beautiful designs seen on U.S. coinage in many years.

Initially, the Mint staff resisted the idea of circulating commemoratives. But Philip Diehl was willing to consider the idea - and, in time, he came to be an influential advocate of the 50-state coinage program. In fact, it would be fair to say that without his strong support behind the scenes at the Treasury, this program might never have been authorized. Likewise, his support for the new dollar coin played an important part in its approval.

Over the years, there has been a tradition of close cooperation between the U.S. Mint and our national coin club, the American Numismatic Association. We welcome Mint officials to our national conventions and they, in turn, listen attentively when we take our concerns to the nation's capital. We don't agree on everything; friends can still have differences. But on the whole, we like and respect each other and work together well.

The ANA and the U.S. Mint are working together now more perfectly than ever - thanks, in large measure, to Mint Director Diehl.

Over the next 10 years or so, this bond will grow even closer as the ANA and the Mint join forces to promote the 50-state commemoratives and the new dollar coin. It is in our mutual interest to get the American people to pause and admire these coins and learn about their underlying history. That will help create new collectors for our hobby … new members for our coin clubs … and new customers for the Mint's collector products. It also will make the 50-state program more meaningful for the public - and that, after all, is a fundamental mission of these coins: to serve as handheld signposts along a guided tour of our nation's history.

One of the most appealing aspects of these coins is the fact that they are purely commemorative in nature. Their issuance isn't prompted by the need to raise money for a special-interest group or a special event. And people won't be paying a premium or a surcharge for the right to own these coins. The price is right: Just 25 cents apiece for a 25-cent piece.

I understand and appreciate the fund-raising aspect of most U.S. commemoratives. They serve a useful purpose in this regard, but few collectors accept the added cost as a legitimate expense - even if the coins involved appeal to them as collectibles. It is, therefore, refreshing to have a special coin - or 50 special coins - that we can spend or save for just face value.

I have a suggestion to make in this regard.

Commemorative coinage has always been primarily a fund-raising vehicle in this country, and that may well continue to be the case. Because of this, however, people and events that deserve commemoration are passed over, on occasion, for lack of a sponsoring agency. In other words, the impetus for issuing special coins tends to be provided by a group that needs money to stage a celebration … or build a new monument … or repair a historic shrine … or underwrite expenses … connected with the person or event being commemorated, rather than from the theme itself.

This can be a hit-and-miss approach. Sometimes deserving subjects fall through the cracks because there is no fund-raising activity or special-interest group to trigger the kind of lobbying that leads to the issuance of commemorative coins.

Just this week, an article in USA Today discussed the dramatic Berlin Airlift of 1948, when the U.S. and Great Britain broke Joseph Stalin's blockade by dropping life-saving food into West Berlin. This year marks the 50th anniversary of that truly historic event, and it would make a wonderful coinage subject. But no one is raising funds for this particular anniversary, so no one is promoting the issuance of a coin for the occasion.

This brings me to my suggestion. Why not have the Citizens Congressional Commemorative Advisory Committee draw up a list of subjects that merit special coins strictly on the basis of their aptness and significance, apart from any fund-raising element. I know this flies in the face of the belief that we have too many coin proposals already. The issue here, however, is quality, not quantity. Our nation's commemorative coinage would assume greater stature and enjoy broader acceptance if we had this safety net in place.

As an alternative to using such themes on non-circulating commemoratives, perhaps we might consider placing them instead on our regular-issue half dollar. The Kennedy half dollar plays no important part in the nation's commerce. In fact, there is some speculation that it might be discontinued when the new dollar coin comes into being. So using the half dollar as a circulating commemorative on a regular basis - or even an occasional basis - would cause minimal disruption in the marketplace. And it would reinforce - and broaden - the heightened awareness, and enhanced appreciation, that Americans will be gaining for the coins in their pockets and purses once the 50-state Washington quarters begin to emerge.

Like many hobbies today, coin collecting finds itself at a crossroads. During the 1980s, our hobby enjoyed a period of phenomenal growth and excitement. But during the 1990s, we suffered through years of stagnation and drift before the recent upturn. And as we approach the millennium, there are serious concerns about our future direction.

The downturn in the coin market certainly didn't help. Interest in the hobby is naturally much higher when coins are hot and prices are moving upward. People love to climb aboard a bandwagon that seems to be heading someplace.

But that's just part of our cause for concern today. Prices are not the only thing we've seen decline and falter in recent years. Membership in coin clubs has also been going down.

Most alarmingly of all, we haven't been attracting a large enough pool of junior collectors - Young Numismatists. Unless we plant the seeds for the hobby's future growth in the younger generation today, we will not have the leaders to energize our clubs ... and bring numismatics to even greater heights ... in the 21st century.

The ANA has played a major role in fostering new collectors through its decades-long Young Numismatists program. I can vouch firsthand for the excellence of this program, since I am one of its graduates. Florence Schook, Larry Gentile and other adult advisers made lasting and significant contributions to my development as a rare-coin enthusiast... and they and those who followed them are continuing this excellent and invaluable work today.

Even greater efforts are needed today, however, to draw more young people into our hobby. The 50-state program will give us an unprecedented opportunity to pitch our fantastic hobby to the youngsters of America.

While standing at the crossroads, we need to take particular heed of one very special road that stretches before us. I speak of the Information Superhighway. Computers are playing an ever-more-vital part in Americans' daily lives, and we need to put this powerful new force to work for our hobby.

Some are reluctant to venture down this road. They feel more comfortable with the tools and technology of the past. But here, as elsewhere, tomorrow is arriving at breathtaking speed. And the younger generation - the group we need to cultivate most assiduously - is riding this wave of the future, immersing itself in the Computer Age just as those of us who are older found ourselves, several decades ago, totally at ease with the Television Age during its formative years.

Young people - and other potential recruits for our hobby - surf the Internet regularly. We need to meet them there ... and help them get acquainted with us and with our hobby ... by establishing Web sites where we set forth the story of rare coins and extol the many pleasures of collecting them.

The ANA and the Mint have taken meaningful strides along this path. So have a number of other organizations, as well as individual dealers and collectors. I have established a Web site, for example, for my New York City coin firm, and I find it to be a highly productive way to meet new people who are interested in coins but never took the step of knocking on our door.

We need to provide more doors where non-collectors can knock. And we need to open those doors, when opportunity knocks, and welcome the new arrivals with open arms. Internet sites are one good way to do this.

The future begins right now! We can't afford to wait for the millennium - or even until next year. We don't have a moment to lose! We know where our hobby is ... and we know where we want it to go. But wishing won't make it so. It will take work ... dedication ... and a first-rate selling job to broaden our base.

But it shouldn't be a very hard sell. After all, we have a terrific product. And in Mint Director Diehl, we have a good friend in a very high place.