Coin of the Issue: Dr. Seuss Coins for Grinches, Whos, and Youse, Too!

Oh, the places Dr. Seuss will go… The iconic characters of children’s author Theodor Seuss Geisel – known as “Dr. Seuss” for generations – will soon be appearing on coins offered by Kevin Lipton Rare Coins. It’s an exciting venture for the Beverly Hills, California, coin dealer who will proceed in collaboration with Dr. Seuss Enterprises, with the coins being struck by The Commonwealth Mint & Philatelic Bureau in the United Kingdom. Royalties paid for the use of the Dr. Seuss characters on planned limited-edition gold, silver, and base-metal commemorative coins will go to the philanthropic Dr. Seuss Enterprises, whose profits benefit charitable organizations in education, health, animal conservation, and the arts.

“Our collaboration with Dr. Seuss is a natural fit in the custom coin and collectibles category,” says Lipton, who has operated his wholesale rare coin firm since 1977. “We're planning to make a series of coins featuring many of the fun characters. There are countless opportunities to tie into the popular characters – from The Grinch and The Cat in the Hat all the way through to Horton and Sam I Am.”

But why would Lipton choose Dr. Seuss characters as the colorful faces of a limited-edition coin series? “Kevin Lipton Rare Coins has a reputation for thinking outside the box,” says the entrepreneurial dealer. “And in this case we are also looking to the future of numismatics with a deliberate focus and appeal to the next generation. The Dr. Seuss brand transcends generations. It's safe to say that a majority of today's coin collectors have read Dr. Seuss books, and the interest has carried on to the next generation.”

The legal-tender coins will carry a 2025 date and depict a diverse range of popular and beloved characters from the Dr. Seuss canon such as The Cat in the Hat, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, and Green Eggs and Ham. “While these coins will mimic U.S. coins by including dates and mintmarks, they will also be unique by including friendly numismatic features like the phrase ‘E Pluribus Fun 'Em,’” explains Louis Melamed, the employee at Kevin Lipton Rare Coins who came up with the idea to put Dr. Seuss characters on coins nearly a year ago. “Everything we do for this coin series will be done in the spirit of fun which embodies the essence of Dr. Seuss books and the characters.”

The new coins will be encapsulated by PCGS with fun labels denoting each coin type, its grade, and other vital statistics. “We are thrilled to enter into this partnership with Kevin Lipton Rare Coins for this exciting Dr. Seuss coin program,” remarks PCGS President Stephanie Sabin. “So many of us grew up with Dr. Seuss books on our shelves, and now we get to include a little bit of the colorful world of Dr. Seuss and his cavalcade of zany and cherished characters in our coin collections.”

Perhaps one of the wildest things about all of this is that numismatics has long had a place in the Dr. Seuss universe. “I’m The Cat in the Hat and you know something funny? We’re about to have fun learning all about money!” …Those are opening lines straight from One Cent. Two Cents. Old Cent. New Cent, a 2008 entry by author Bonnie Worth with illustrations by Aristides Ruiz in The Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library Series from Random House Children’s Books. It’s one of the many ways the Dr. Seuss name lives on long after Geisel, who authored and illustrated more than 60 books and won a Pulitzer Prize for his work, passed away in 1991 at the age of 87.

So, too, will the new coins issued by Kevin Lipton Rare Coins help share a piece of the Dr. Seuss legacy with coin collectors of today and tomorrow. “We are excited that this new series of coins will attract the next generations of young numismatists to coin collecting,” Lipton says. “We see this as a great way to introduce coin collecting to the next generation.” The 2025 1 Oz Silver Grinch will be available from Rare Collectibles Television just in time for the 2024 holiday season.