Clatsop Coin celebrates numismatics, the “hobby of kings”
Published 5:00 pm Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Clatsop Coin owner Scott McClaine has so many interesting stories to tell about currency, its history, and coin collecting that even people who have never thought twice about coins (except to spend them) will get intrigued after chatting with him in his new storefront in downtown Astoria.
McClaine is following a passion he’s enjoyed since childhood, a hobby called numismatics. After retiring a few years ago from a career in the Coast Guard, where he was a medic, he decided to turn his hobby into a business.
| Clatsop Coin owner Scott McClaine offers a wealth of information and expertise to interested collectors and hobbyists. Photo: Joanne Rideout |
Since his brick and mortar location opened on Commercial Street in early February, business has been good. McClaine operated his business independently before that, but decided to put down roots in a storefront because, “I was doing too much business.”
“I’ve been a coin collector all of my life,” he said. “I want to share the joy of coin collecting and make myself available to the general public.”
Customers often contact him looking to fill in the gaps in their collections of statehood quarters. Others are trying to find out the value of coin collections they inherited from relatives.
McClaine described a man who came in recently with a box of French coins that he had gotten from a grandparent, and got tired of “stubbing his toes on it in the closet.” Sometimes collections can be worth real money.
But what’s a coin worth?
McClaine pulls out a collector’s guidebook and a recent trade newsletter, using the wheat penny as an example. Depending on rarity and condition, wheat pennies can range in price from 20 cents to a whopping $600, with gradients of value in between.
Extremely rare coins can fetch way more than that, depending on their condition. McClaine evaluates pieces and collections on an individual basis to determine their value.
One of the things he enjoys most is learning about the history of currency. He has a very unusual $20 bill dated 1929 from “The National Bank of Commerce of Astoria.” The bill, issued locally, was used as legal tender.
He also has examples of U.S. currency printed during World War II, stamped with big capital letters reading “HAWAII.” Officials labeled such currency, distributed in Hawaii, that way so that if the island state fell to an enemy invasion, the federal government could quickly devalue the marked currency and it would be worthless.
What jazzes McClaine most is the opportunity the business gives him to educate people about coins and their historical connections. He hopes to offer his expertise to kids who might want to study coins for a school project, or just learn about collecting.
He’s also interested in helping people get the most value for their coin collecting purchases. McClaine said many ads in newspapers and on television purport to sell collectible coins.
He vows to match or beat national prices, and said consumers need to know how to read ads carefully to get the best deals.
“I want to be open to customer needs, and I can give them what I think is fair,” he said, adding that coin collecting was once called the “hobby of kings.”
It’s also worth noting that in today’s less-than-kingly economy, selling an overlooked collection of collectible coins and bills to a dealer like McClaine might even help a family out of a financial bind.
“Come in and let’s talk,” he said.
Clatsop Coin Address: 1008 Commercial St., Astoria Phone: (503) 298-3898
Hours: Monday 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.; Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesday by appointment only; closed Sunday.
