Coins and genealogy
pcunix
Posts: 620 ✭
I've related most of this in other threads, but to save you the trouble I'll repeat this quickly:
When I was quite young, I inherited what I now realize was a partial U.S. Type set that my grandfather had. That sparked my interest, and I began collecting coins, a hobby which continued for almost 30 years. At one time I did some small time dealing at local shows. The amount of dishonesty and deception turned me off and I sold everything I owned and gave it all up for another thirty years. I now regret that and am buying the coins that I remember from that type set. Unfortunately some have gone up so much in price that I'll have to settle for lesser grades, but I'm trying to get as close as I can. It's a weird way to collect, because I'll pass over some coins not because they are too expensive but just because they don't match my memory.
So, I've been buying stuff that I can remember and one that I bought is an 1851 Large Cent. That coin is not as nice as the one I sold all those years ago, but my budget is limited, so it will have to do. I realize now that particular cent was significant as it was the year of my great-grandfather's birth. Well, I think so anyway, based on my cousins genealogy work which has him born in 1851. He was a somewhat famous artist (Herbert Myron Lawrence) so Googling him turns up some results and several of those show entirely different dates for his birth, but I think that coin might be evidence in favor of my cousin's date.
I wonder now if old Herbert Myron was actually the one who started that collection.. thinking about it, I'm not sure there were any twentieth century coins in that box my father gave me. I would think there would have been had Beardsley (his son, born 1887) collected.
Sigh.. if only my father had told me where those coins came from. It's possible he didn't know, of course, but I sure wish I had known!
When I was quite young, I inherited what I now realize was a partial U.S. Type set that my grandfather had. That sparked my interest, and I began collecting coins, a hobby which continued for almost 30 years. At one time I did some small time dealing at local shows. The amount of dishonesty and deception turned me off and I sold everything I owned and gave it all up for another thirty years. I now regret that and am buying the coins that I remember from that type set. Unfortunately some have gone up so much in price that I'll have to settle for lesser grades, but I'm trying to get as close as I can. It's a weird way to collect, because I'll pass over some coins not because they are too expensive but just because they don't match my memory.
So, I've been buying stuff that I can remember and one that I bought is an 1851 Large Cent. That coin is not as nice as the one I sold all those years ago, but my budget is limited, so it will have to do. I realize now that particular cent was significant as it was the year of my great-grandfather's birth. Well, I think so anyway, based on my cousins genealogy work which has him born in 1851. He was a somewhat famous artist (Herbert Myron Lawrence) so Googling him turns up some results and several of those show entirely different dates for his birth, but I think that coin might be evidence in favor of my cousin's date.
I wonder now if old Herbert Myron was actually the one who started that collection.. thinking about it, I'm not sure there were any twentieth century coins in that box my father gave me. I would think there would have been had Beardsley (his son, born 1887) collected.
Sigh.. if only my father had told me where those coins came from. It's possible he didn't know, of course, but I sure wish I had known!
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Comments
<< <i>Such a shame that a bad experience led you to dispose of the family collection. Cheers, RickO >>
Yes. But if my father had told me more..
Maybe he didn't know. Maybe he knew and didn't care. Maybe he was angry because his father ran off with a postal gal and left their family not quite desperate but very much diminished. I wish I had thought to ask him about all this while he was alive.
The one that is going to be near impossible is the love token. I know it was a seated liberty dime, but don't know the date. I BET it was old H.M.L.: Herbert Myron Lawrence (1851 Massachusetts – 1937) m. 16 Feb 1882 Anna Raymond Beardsley (1856 Wisconsin – 1949) so it probably had initials related to that on it.
To me, it was just a ruined old dime - holed and defaced. I paid it little attention..
Copper Coins
I'll do the nickel coins next, then the silver.