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Early coin collecting experiences

ZoinsZoins Posts: 34,113 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited October 2, 2018 8:37PM in U.S. Coin Forum

What are some of your very early coin collecting experiences?

One of mine was looking for wheat cents in change. I would find them on occasion and they would be brown. It was pretty fun to find them. Then I got a coin magazine and a Whitman folder full of red, BU wheat cents and it forever changed the way I thought about collecting, both in abundance and in condition.

Comments

  • CoinstartledCoinstartled Posts: 10,135 ✭✭✭✭✭

    More of an investor than a collector as a kid. In 1966 or so I would go bowling on Saturdays. As a couple of the kids would head to the Chinese restaurant afterwards, I went to the bank where they usually had Franklin Halves. I would hand over a buck for two.

    Melt on the two coins is about $11.50. Lunch at the restaurant is probably about the same.

    Back then though, we didn't worry about salt, MSG, cholesterol or trans fat.

    I should have gone with the Egg Foo Young instead.

    :'(

  • mannie graymannie gray Posts: 7,259 ✭✭✭✭✭

    This may come across as kind of weird, but I remember being very intrigued and excited in late 1969.
    I was anticipating how the new date and decade "1970" would look on the newly minted coins.
    It was the first time for me to see a decade rollover (that I could remember, the first time I was too young to realize what was going on) and I was eagerly awaiting it.
    Was I a weird kid or what?
    Fast forward to 1971 when the Ike's came out.
    I was in heaven.
    My great uncle had a proof in the brown box and I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen.

  • ZoinsZoins Posts: 34,113 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Paradisefound said:
    I looked at 2 circulated Morgans my Mom gave me and thought ...... hmmm I want something BETTER :)

    My Dad gave me a heavily circulated Morgan and I thought the same thing! Of course, I'll always treasure that one.

  • ZoinsZoins Posts: 34,113 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @mannie gray said:
    This may come across as kind of weird, but I remember being very intrigued and excited in late 1969.
    I was anticipating how the new date and decade "1970" would look on the newly minted coins.
    It was the first time for me to see a decade rollover (that I could remember, the first time I was too young to realize what was going on) and I was eagerly awaiting it.
    Was I a weird kid or what?
    Fast forward to 1971 when the Ike's came out.
    I was in heaven.
    My great uncle had a proof in the brown box and I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen.

    Ike's were great coins for me. Mine was a blue envelope Ike.

  • ParadisefoundParadisefound Posts: 8,588 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2, 2018 9:16PM

    :s I dipped them in jewelry solution and came out blasting white ... :D:#

    @Zoins said:

    @Paradisefound said:
    I looked at 2 circulated Morgans my Mom gave me and thought ...... hmmm I want something BETTER :)

    My Dad gave me a heavily circulated Morgan and I thought the same thing! Of course, I'll always treasure that one.

  • WalkerfanWalkerfan Posts: 9,287 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2, 2018 9:04PM

    My dad gave me Walkers that he had pulled from circulation, when he was a young man, and a blue Whitman folder to put them in. I was completely fascinated, when I later discovered the early dates from 1916 to 1933 and read about Golden West numismatics in Coin World. After that it was all over.....I was hooked.

    Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍

    My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):

    https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/

  • jtlee321jtlee321 Posts: 2,363 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I remember as a kid around 7 or 8 years old, I was playing in the bath tub with a silver Roosevelt dime. I wanted to clean it up by giving it a bath as well. While I was playing with it I was trying to see if it would fit through the small grate on the drain. It did, but as I tried to pull it back out, an edge caught and the dime fell out of my grip, right down the drain.

  • Timbuk3Timbuk3 Posts: 11,658 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Great stories, thanks all for sharing !!! :)

    Timbuk3
  • CameonutCameonut Posts: 7,290 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Early 60s, I was a kid in Racine Wisconsin.
    During the cold winters, two buddies and I would look through bags of cents from the parking meters. We would get one bag a week and sit at the kitchen table hoping to fill holes in our Whitman albums.
    We ultimately also looked at bags of nickels, but we sure had fun with some of our finds. Even found a number of Indian Cents and the occasional V nickel.

    “In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson

    My digital cameo album 1950-64 Cameos - take a look!

  • privatecoinprivatecoin Posts: 3,363 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Mine started as a kid when I found a few buffalo nickels underneath our old fridge. I was then ecstatic about the chance to find more under the floor planks when we tore down our old garage.

    Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value. Zero. Voltaire. Ebay coinbowlllc

  • WaterSportWaterSport Posts: 6,764 ✭✭✭✭✭

    4-5 13-14 year olds cracking cent rolls on the floor looking for anything pre 1934. Occasionally we would pull an Indian head and then as we repacked the rolls, we lamented having to take them back to the nasty bank tellers we had to deal with.

    WS

    Proud recipient of the coveted PCGS Forum "You Suck" Award Thursday July 19, 2007 11:33 PM and December 30th, 2011 at 8:50 PM.
  • ElmhurstElmhurst Posts: 784 ✭✭✭

    @Insider2 said:
    I was kicked out of a coin shop for telling the dealer his coins were cleaned!

    I think he was right in doing so, as the coins were probably whizzed rather than cleaned

  • mannie graymannie gray Posts: 7,259 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @WaterSport said:
    4-5 13-14 year olds cracking cent rolls on the floor looking for anything pre 1934. Occasionally we would pull an Indian head and then as we repacked the rolls, we lamented having to take them back to the nasty bank tellers we had to deal with.

    WS

    I was lucky, I guess. Most of the tellers were very nice to me.
    They would even save coins for me to look at.

  • TommyTypeTommyType Posts: 4,586 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 4, 2018 9:40AM

    I was a "stamp guy" when I was a kid, so have no real coin memories....except:

    My brother had a Lincoln Cent folder. I would go through my cents looking for "S" mint coins, because they were tough to find in Minnesota (apparently). Then I would sell them to my brother for 2cents each. :)

    Added: Oh my God! That means I was a slimy dealer! :anguished:

    Easily distracted Type Collector
  • johnny9434johnny9434 Posts: 28,270 ✭✭✭✭✭

    my uncle got me started on canadian halfs t the time which i still like and thats what got me stArted. of course we branched out to the us side

  • Dave99BDave99B Posts: 8,523 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 4, 2018 9:48AM

    Many years ago my older sister bought me a Lincoln Cent folder, which she helped me fill with pennies from circulation. Very fun project. Until that time, I hadn't even noticed that coins had dates and mint marks. Of course, I dipped them ALL in Mom's copper cleaner to give them that 'fresh, newly minted look' collectors demand! :smiley:

    Dave

    Always looking for original, better date VF20-VF35 Barber quarters and halves, and a quality beer.
  • PhillyJoePhillyJoe Posts: 2,699 ✭✭✭✭

    Indiana State Fair - 1966

    As an 11 year old from the country, I amazed at the rides, food, and vendors. Found a 1 1/2" medal dated 1816 and the dealer only wanted $5! It looked like it was just minted! Looked like this:

    https://www.etsy.com/listing/490493992/vintage-1816-1966-indiana?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_c-art_and_collectibles-collectibles-coins&utm_custom1=13d985d8-5e83-49b1-9867-5ae2c81b5cf5&gclid=Cj0KCQjw9NbdBRCwARIsAPLsnFaNDXLyIdftSCXgcKqcl4x5q44hK1ClvB9_mJ3TVSXn22mnSavGTkMaAsXxEALw_wcB

    Not just one, but he had dozens! Better buy one before he realizes his mistake.

    When I got home, I flipped it over and saw "1816-1966",

    It was just minted.

    The Philadelphia Mint: making coins since 1792. We make money by making money. Now in our 225th year thanks to no competition. image
  • ashelandasheland Posts: 23,175 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Good stories in here!

  • BryceMBryceM Posts: 11,793 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I remeber plenty of Ike’s in circulation in Idaho in the 1970s and 80s. SBAs and Kennedys actually circulated quite a bit too.

    I bought a mint set of SBAs after having no luck finding a 1980 in circulation, LOL. That was the first of maybe 6 things I’ve ever purchased from the mint.

  • SaorAlbaSaorAlba Posts: 7,536 ✭✭✭✭✭

    State fair in about 1976 they had vendors there and I found someone selling large cents for $6 each. I bought the oldest one I could find in the tray - an 1822. I was just thrilled to own a coin 154 years old. I had started collecting when I was about 5-6 when my dad came back from SE Asia in the military - the seeds of my collection are a handful of Viet-Namese coins and paper money and some MPC's that missed a C-Day when my dad was out in the field.

    Roughly about that same time, ca. 1976 my grandfather gave me a coin he was given when he was six years old and had saved until he gave it to me when he was 85 - an 1867 2 cent piece that his brother had given him in 1897 when he came back home after having his finger amputated in a corn shucker. I still have the coin and it is one of my most precious pieces.

    In memory of my kitty Seryozha 14.2.1996 ~ 13.9.2016 and Shadow 3.4.2015 - 16.4.21
  • SmudgeSmudge Posts: 9,497 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Dad took me to a coin shop when I was a kid to shut me up. I saw an ancient Roman coin in my limited budget and wanted it. Dad said are you real sure, I said yes and bought it. I was feeling pretty good about it and bragging. Dad didn't collect, but said turn it over and look closely. I saw copy stamped on it and was crushed. I asked Dad why he didn't stop me from buying it. He said, to teach you a lesson. Well I learned. Still have it to remind me to be careful.

  • pocketpiececommemspocketpiececommems Posts: 5,850 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Our science teacher in the 60's would take a half dollar and dip it in Mercury and presto make it uncirculated or so he said. Guess he didn't know about Mercury.

  • mannie graymannie gray Posts: 7,259 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Insider2 said:
    I was kicked out of a coin shop for telling the dealer his coins were cleaned!

    .....and I'll bet you were right!

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