TOLEDO -- The rare coin investment scandal involving prominent republican Tom Noe captured the attention of one of America's top newspapers. The New York Times featured a story on Noe and his involvement in the rare coin investments made by the State of Ohio on its front page Saturday.
How do Toledoans feel about one of their own making this kind of front page news on The Times? "It's pretty big for Toledo. I think it's a little case blown up for not a lot of reason," said Lindsay Uhler. "I do think it's a relatively small story to go national, but if he did something bad, he deserves to be punished, so maybe it needs that kind of attention to get the proper authorities involved," said Heather Pilewski. "It's a black mark on the city of Toledo. Unfortunately it happened and it's national news now," said Craig Gurney.
Has the Tom Noe rare coin investigation tarnished the hobby and business of coin collecting? "There might be at the top end, but not the average collector," said Royce Hutchinson. Hutchinson serves as a leader in many local, regional and national coin collecting organizations. "We don't preach investment. It's an enjoyment, it's a hobby. Sitting down with the kids and putting state quarters in a map. We try to teach the kids history," said Hutchinson.
The collector says very few coin enthusiasts try to make money off what they collect. "You invest money in the stock market or a mutual fund. It's an investment. It can go up as quickly as it goes down," said Hutchinson.
Hutchinson says state legislators in Columbus are considering a bill to tax sales at coin shows and auctions as a "knee jerk" reaction to the Noe investigation. Hutchinson says this will hurt coin collecting in Ohio and send trade shows and auctions to neighboring states like Michigan. He feels the Noe scandal has little bearing on coin collecting as a hobby.
