Although, about the idea with newbies earning these coins I don't think that's what purpose these coins are suppose to represent. I think the plaque idea of earned merit could be more suitable for that.
I did not mean about real newbies who are at newbie rank. I consider myself as a newbie compare to older users. Newbies in my post above are users who stay at high ranks, maybe from Senior member and above ranks, and have good contributions that partially shown via their earned merits. They have long period in the forum, long enough to see how they contributed over years (around 2 years, like me, is long enough).