Coin Collecting Merit Badge (Boy Scouts)

The Boy Scouts of America program offers a list of requirements and electives that help boys explore things they otherwise may not have had access to. This helps them develop new interests, pursue hobbies they enjoy and learn valuable life-long skills. Often times what starts out as a boy working towards earning a merit badge ends up with a young man with a passion for something he previously knew nothing about.

Coin collecting is one such merit badge that Boy Scouts can earn. There is a booklet of requirements used to track the boy’s progress as he works towards earning his patch. The latest edition was introduced in January 2003 and reflects several changes that were made to the program, including joining a coin collecting club and going to a US Mint via the Web.

To earn the coin collecting merit badge, Boy Scouts have 10 steps they must achieve.

1. Discover where and how coins are made in the US, and be able to identify the US Mint’s facilities and know where they are located.
2. Give definitions for coin collecting terms and demonstrate that you know their meaning.
3. Explain grading terms and be able to differentiate between a proof coin and a circulating coin; demonstrate examples of each grade of coin; learn about proof sets and encapsulated coins
4. Find out about how to properly store coins and choose one way in which to hold your own collection.
5. Be able to name the US Presidents and other important people that are featured on our money, including paper money.
6. Become familiar with a reference book for coins and other printed resources
7. Be able to tell about the 50 State Quarters program and collect a minimum of five of these coins.
8. Create your own collection of current US coins with one coin from each year in circulation.
9. Learn about foreign currency by collect either 50 foreign coins, 20 bank notes, 15 tokens or a collection of coins from the year you were born.
10. Lastly, you’ll need to tour a mint facility, got o a coin show or visit an online gallery or coin dealer.

Troops and councils sometimes offer coin-collecting clinics with specialists to help the boys complete the requirements of the program, and you can easily find a number of helpful resources on the Internet. In fact many troops have posted websites dedicated to this merit badge, with lots of great ideas.

The National Museum of American History’s National Numismatic Collection has an online site that offers some excellent background material that scouts will find helpful in completing this merit badge. The site includes information on the history of money, as well as a peek at some of the more famous and collectible US coins. You can find them at www.americanhistory.si.edu/collections/numismatics.

Another great place to find information is the website of the American Numismatic Society, found at http://www.numismatics.org. This site has a searchable library on coin collecting, as well as an online bookstore and coin gallery. The site also offers links to an enormous amount of other resources.

You’ll also want to visit the website of the American Numismatic Association, at www.money.org. This non-profit organization offers a ton of well-organized information and links to help you learn anything you need to know about this topic.

Finally, be sure to check out Camp Coin, a fun website designed just for kids, sponsored by the United States Mint. You can find games, cartoons, and fun news about coins and collecting at Camp Coin’s site at http://www.usmint.gov/kids/index.cfm?fileContents=campCoin. The site offers some great ideas for teachers as well, sure to get your kids excited and involved in coin collecting.