MCDONALD’S ISSUES 50TH ANNIVERSARY BIG MAC COINS

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V21 2018 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 21, Number 31, August 5, 2018, Article 40

Last Sunday night I apparently missed the chance to be among the first in the numismatic press to cover the breaking story of the new McDonald's Big Mac good-for tokens. John Mutch forwarded this USA Today story about 9pm my time, as I was working on finishing the week's E-Sylum issue. The supposed discovery of an unknown 1894-S dime was one of those stop-the-presses moments, but Burger tokens? No so much. I decided to press on without the Big Mac news, but I'm actually glad I waited - now we have more than just a company media blitz to go on. Here's an excerpt from that initial article, followed by some of the week's coverage in the numismatic community. Thanks, John! -Editor

It's not exactly pennies from heaven, but McDonald’s is planning to make it rain coins to celebrate the Big Mac’s 50th anniversary.

Starting at the lunch rush on Thursday, customers can receive a MacCoin with the purchase of a Big Mac at 14,000 participating restaurants across the United States, McDonald's announced Sunday.

Customers can redeem the new currency for a free Big Mac starting Friday and running throughout the rest of 2018.

In an Interview with USA TODAY, McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook explained Thursday was selected as the release date for the brass-colored coins because it would’ve been the 100th birthday of Jim Delligatti, a McDonald’s franchisee in western Pennsylvania who invented the Big Mac.

MacCoins will feature five unique designs, each representing a decade of the Big Mac.

Here's an excerpt from Coin World's take, in an article by Paul Gilkes. He notes that the tokens were struck at Cincinnati's Osborne Coinage Co., the oldest private mint in the U.S. -Editor

The sandwich that inspired the jingle “two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun” was invented in 1967 in the kitchen of Jim Delligatti’s first McDonald’s franchise, located on McKnight Road in suburban Pittsburgh’s Ross Township. The sandwich was introduced at that location first, and then went nationwide in 1968.

Each MacCoin token has no cash value and is redeemable only for one free Big Mac at participating McDonald’s restaurants through 2018.

The commemorative tokens feature five unique reverse designs, one representing each decade of the Big Mac.

As a Pittsburgh native it's a point of local pride that the iconic sandwich was born there, and I probably consumed a few in my teenage visits to the McKnight Road location and elsewhere with my family in later years. -Editor

Dave Harper of Numismatic News is excited about the opportunity to promote token collecting and numismatics in general. Here's an excerpt of his August 3, 2018 article. -Editor

They were issued by McDonald’s to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Big Mac. Hooray.

You can bet I will be at my local McDonald’s repeatedly to buy a Big Mac and receive my coin.

It looks like I will have to return again and again to collect the whole set. There will be five designs. Each of them honors one decade in the 50-year run of this tasty burger.

The question is, will this promotion appeal to younger generations? Will many of them discover when they receive and use these MacCoins that they have an interest in coin collecting? I hope so.

The coin collecting hobby could not ask for a greater promotional gift. There are millions of customers of the Golden Arches. This is a 50-country promotion.

The most critical aspect to this promotion is that MacCoins are intended to be used. They will be redeemable for the rest of 2018. Technically, this makes them a good-for token. They have value because they are good for a Big Mac. They are spendable only with the issuer, which is the historic purpose of a good-for token.

Who would have thought in the age of Bitcoin that we would see a national chain of restaurants revert to something so familiar to coin collectors as a new promotion?

To read the complete article, see:
Who has hunger for the new MacCoins? (http://www.numismaticnews.net/article/who-has-hunger-for-the-new-maccoins)

I think I agree with Dave - with video arcade tokens largely a thing of the past, this is an opportunity to introduce a new generation to the use of tokens. And in a sign of how fast the hobby moves today, Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) announced on August 2, 2018 that it was certifying the tokens. -Editor

NGC, the world's largest third-party grading service for coins, medals and tokens, has already begun to receive MacCoins for certification.

NGC examined a MacCoin in its X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometer, and determined it to be brass — or, more precisely, 70 percent copper and 30 percent zinc. The MacCoin has a diameter of 32 mm and weighs 10.9 grams, making it slightly wider and lighter than a Kennedy Half Dollar.

OK, so the tokens have hit the streets by the time you're reading this. Have you or any of your friends spotted one? Had one slabbed? Or making plans to cash one in on a juicy Big Mac? -Editor

After getting Big Macs for my wife and I on Thursday just to get a couple of the pieces, I stopped by a McDonalds on Friday and was told the McCoins were all gone.