As much as my wife would prefer me not to be, I’m a huge football fan. I tend to remember my life by World Cups and I know I’m not alone in this. More than 20 million of us will watch the game on Sunday, hoping beyond all hope that we beat Italy.
Whatever happens, we’re about to see a collecting boom and you only need to look back 9 years to understand just how mammoth it could be.
The path to a successful men’s England team has been long and arduous. My first memory is of Gary Lineker, strapping on his left wrist, winning the Golden Boot in 1986.
I remember the pain of 1990, followed by the embarrassment of the next few years, before my love of the game reached fever pitch in 1996.
The European Championships being held in England and us coming so agonisingly close to winning it created a seminal football moment for me and, I’m sure, millions others.
So imagine what it will be like come Sunday. Kids and young adults watching England in a major final for the first time, on home turf as well, will copper-fasten their investment in the game.
It will also create a lot of collectors on top of the collectors already hungry for commemoratives celebrating what will hopefully be our first big win since 1966.
Collecting Boom
You only need to look back 9 years to see what impact this could have on the collecting world.
The 2012 Olympics were held in London. The build-up was long, although not anything like the 55 years we’ve had to wait for England to get to another major final, and the whole nation became invested in the Games.
The Royal Mint released a 50p program that changed collecting forever.
The Olympic 50p issues created a ripple effect that we’re still seeing now and that has culminated in the 50p becoming the UK’s most collectable coin.
But more than that, it created thousands of new collectors and it’s those collectors that are now driving the record sell-outs of 50p coins almost a decade later.
Trying to find the different Olympics 50ps in your change became a catalyst for new collectors entering the coin world.
Will we see the same thing happening with football commemoratives if England win?
I don’t know what coins will be released to mark such a momentous victory, but whatever they are they will be immensely popular and they could be snapped up by brand new collectors that will become part of the future of collecting.
My advice, as always, will be to get ahead of the crowd.
If you’re interested…
Just 295 UK 2021 Sovereigns will be exclusively postmarked on 11 July 2021 by Royal Mail to mark the day the England men’s football team play Italy in the Euro final.
The Sovereigns will be hand-selected to be encapsulated and preserved in this special one-day-only DateStamp™ issue alongside an official 11 July postmark and a patriotic 3 Lions stamp.
And if England win the final, it will be automatically upgraded to a “Winners” issue, with still just 295 authorised. Secure yours here >>