Oklahoma's Statehood Quarter Gets Added Value

If you have an Oklahoma quarter in your pocket, you may not want to spend it.  Our state coin is now a hot commodity for coin collectors.  News On 6 anchor Jennifer Loren reports one Tulsa collector is adding more Oklahoma quarters to his collection and says now is a perfect time to begin your own collection.

Tulsa's Mickey Goodin knows a lot about money.  Not only is he a banker, he's a currency collector.

"This little booger here is the oldest item on the table. This was printed in May of 1775, before we became a nation," said Mickey Goodin.

His collection and historical knowledge are extensive.  He has everything from Native American wampum beads, used for trading among tribes to coins made only for collectors.  Even some rare bills made in the 1800s when metals were scarce in the United States.

"So they printed what we would call fractional currency, 50 cent, 25 cent, 10 cent, nickel, in paper instead of coins," said Mickey Goodin.

But of all these coins and currency, it's the newly-minted Oklahoma quarter that has this collector going crazy.  An article in this week's Coin World is circulating some good news:  the U.S. Mint has stopped production of our state quarter at 416.6 million coins.

"Oklahoma is the lowest minted state quarter since they started the program nine years ago," said Mickey Goodin.

That means it's the most valuable of all the state quarters.

"And, they chose Oklahoma for it. Why? I don't know. But, they did and I'm really excited about that," said Mickey Goodin.

Goodin says now is a good time for you or your kids to begin collecting coins.  Not for the quantity of the investment, but for the quality of the hobby itself.

"One thing about our coins is they never get younger. They always get older and as they get older they go up in value," said Mickey Goodin.

Anyone with coin collecting questions for Mr. Goodin can post them in the Topix section below and he will answer them on Six in the Morning on Thursday.