What's the dumbest thing you ever did with a coin as a kid?
RedstoneCoins
Posts: 218 ✭✭✭
I'd like to tell a story. It's not too bad. In fact, it's probably not the worst money-involved mistake I ever made in my life, but anyway this is one of my first memories involving coins:
When I was 8 years old at the local skating rink, after I picked up my skates from the shoe guy behind the counter, I began to walk towards the benches and cubby holes to store our normal walking shoes in. Although the floor was somewhat dark, so as not to distract people skating in the rink (which made it somewhat difficult to put on the shoes), something off the floor caught my eye. It looked gray, and out of curiosity I picked it up. I didn't know what it was, especially in the poor lighting; it was a coin of some kind. Fairly large, I had never seen anything like it before.
Barely did an image of it get traced upon my mind when I placed it inside my regular shoes, stuffed my shoes into the cubby hole, put on the skates and went out to have a good time on the rink.
When I came back 20 minutes later to take a rest from skating, I noticed that my shoes had been yanked out of the cubbyhole by someone. I looked inside and the coin was gone! Somebody must have watched me fiddle with the coin before putting my shoes in there. I didn't even know what to do, but I figured it came to me for free, so it left from me for nothing too. I was kinda sad, but moved on.
Years later, when my grandma was getting worse in health, she decided to give me her coin collection. When I first got to take a look at the collection, I saw many coins I had never seen before. But something stood out. One gray coin. I didn't know why but I got this funny feeling that I had seen this coin before, somehow. I wasn't even really a coin collector at this point, just a kid, and given how many years since that night at the skating rink had passed, I had almost forgotten what happened.
But there it was. This silly little coin.
On the back, it said "Half Dollar", and I thought to myself, 'That doesn't make sense. I've only ever seen quarters, nickels, dimes, pennies. What is this, 'half dollar' coin doing here? Are there 75 cent coins, or 33 cent coins too??" And as bizarre a thought as that may seem to you, I didn't know a damn thing about coins. This was all new to me, even though she had been sending me coins for years I really didn't know much about them. Too busy with school & girls & learning how to shave.
And then it hit me: "This is the coin from the skating rink!" I almost jumped out of my seat when I realized what I had. I figured it might be worth a million dollars. After all, I had never seen anything like it. I figured it must be super rare or something special.
On the front it said "1958" and had a portrait of Benjamin Franklin.
Then I Googled it, and found out it was worth at the time anywhere from $7 to $15 in average to better condition, and if "uncirculated" it could be $25 or $50. The value was mostly in the Silver, which I didn't even know that Silver was valuable. (I guess that's the consequence of growing up in the fiat-money era).
The low value didn't depress me. After all, it came to me for free anyway. I was just glad to finally have what I lost all those years ago to some thief. Probably another 8 year old took it from me. Though the idea that it was an adult would truly bother me. Who knows?
Finally, my little old gray coin was back in my hands. Mine to keep and protect from shoe-thieves!
What's your story?
Comments
Nice story !!!
I still do it
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Putting coins on railroad tracks, of course.
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
Spent it and probably in some hoarders stack.
brillo pad on Cents.
Cleaning my cents with an eraser.
Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value. Zero. Voltaire. Ebay coinbowlllc
Shooting coins with a 22 long rifle that were stuck on the side of a tree. Sometimes they would ricochet back at you and nearly hit you. Mostly nickels and cents.
The dumbest thing I ever did with a coin is buy it.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
I did this too!
Then I decided that I liked brown cents like the older ones and swapped out red ones for brown ones. This way they were all consistent in color.
“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!
My story was 'dumb' from a legal and moral aspect......
My friends and I used to ride our bikes to this little, local amusement park. They had a bay of skee-ball games and we would play for a good part of the afternoon. You received 'tickets' for certain scores and could redeem the tickets for a wall of prizes. The top prize was a little battery operated TV. Of course, impossible to win. The game cost five cents.
Every once in a while you would lose a nickel in the machine. The guy would come over with something in his hand, insert it in the machine, pull it out,and you were good to go. One time he was moving a little slower and we could see the 'thing' he had was like a nickel on a wire. My friend and I looked at each other, jumped on our bikes and headed off to his basement. Onto dads drill press, drilling nickels.We filed a groove on each side and attached stiff wires. I don't think we paid for another game that Summer. You had to be a little sneaky using the gimmick so as to not get seen. It wasn't actually that easy. I was able to save up my tickets and get this.......
Started collecting them...I've been short of spending money ever since.
In the early 1960's I took a US dime and placed it between pieces of leather and started hammering.
The dime grew from it's normal 18 mm size to 22 mm.
Large dime and regular dime
Needless to say I kept it as it was impossible to spend.
The Mysterious Egyptian Magic Coin
Coins in Movies
Coins on Television
I bought a New Kids on the Block cassette....
Collector of randomness. Photographer at PCGS. Lover of Harry Potter.
Growing up just outside of Toronto in the late 1960's, I found an American penny in change (which was not an uncommon occurrence). This particular piece caught my eye, as the obverse lettering was pretty messed up. Showed it to my father and asked if it had any value. He replied that it was still worth a penny, so off to the store I went. Yes indeed, traded that red 1955 ddo in high AU for a couple of jaw breakers.
Putting coins on railroad tracks.
I buried a bunch of 19th Century coins (gift from my Grandfather) as "Pirate Treasure" under a Dogwood tree in our front yard. Decades later, I visited the house and got permission to see if the coins were there. One of my buddies at the time was in on our game and must have dug them up after I moved away. Fortunately he missed a few. I still have the 1770 Pillar Dollar to remember "Pops" and my first coins.
Easy
Not saving the silver
Cleaning a circ 1926-S SLH with baking soda paste.
Here's a warning parable for coin collectors...
Coins on railroad tracks and eraser on cents....definitely part of my young life....Cheers, RickO
using a pencil eraser to clean Indian heads my grandparents gave me
Don't think I qualified as a "kid" since I was 19 or 20....
But we played a drinking game in college simply called "Quarters". The goal was to bounce a quarter into a glass of beer. If you succeeded, an opponent had to drink the beer. (Thinking back now, I'm a bit mortified by the unsanitary nature of this whole thing....)
Well...I once swallowed the quarter.
I kind of assume it passed, and I'm no longer worth $0.25 more than the rest of you....but I was never actually able to confirm that.
Putting Lincoln pennies on railroad tracks. It was fun to do, when you're 19 years old and walking home at 4:00 in the morning after a night of partying.
Selling all my silver for triple face back in 1993, when it was about $3.50 an ounce. I used the money to buy a Morgan that I really wanted and still have it today. But selling at a historically low price is still incredibly foolish. Only excuse that I have is that I was young and didn't know any better.....also over eager to buy that Morgan. Thought that I was being slick by converting raw, junk silver into a rare coin. We had no idea, back then, what prices would do and when they would go up....we still don't.
Storing raw coins in PVC flips and pages. I don't blame myself for that, b/c no one really knew at the time. My dad bought them for me to put my coins in, when I was about 9 or 10, so I thought it was 'OK'.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
Back in the 1970s it was popular among new collectors to clean their silver coins with baking soda and water.
I dutifully cleaned my silver Washington quarters and Roosevelt dimes, but thankfully the dumbest thing I did not do was clean my 1846 SL silver dollar. It is still dark and original to this day.
I was doing the same thing with Lincoln cents until my dad caught me. He wasn’t at all happy about it either. He sat down with me and explained that I was destroying the coins value by doing that. I think I was 8-9 years old and in the cub scouts. Coins at that time was a brand new hobby to me . My dad taught early about cleaning my coins. Or his😂
I used to play quarters all the time!
Imagine all the germs and bacteria that we swallowed.
Apparently the alcohol killed them all, because we're both still here. 
I never heard of anyone actually swallowing the quarter, though, LOL. Good thing that you didn't get a bowel obstruction....that could have easily happened and would have been VERY serious.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
Loaning a dime to Jimmy Mitchell.
.......I know the dumbest thing I did with a coin as an Adult, that's for sure.
Ways to Clean Your Pennies
Pencil Eraser
This technique is extremely easy and involves no liquids that can spill and make a mess.
First, lay your dirty penny on top of a piece of paper or clean cloth. While holding the penny on a flat stable surface with one hand, use the pencil eraser to rub the dirt and brown oxidation off of the penny using a small circular motion. When it is clean and shiny to your liking, flip the penny over and repeat the same process on the other side. Old pencils with erasers that are rock-hard will be difficult to use and may leave deep scratches in the penny.
Materials Needed
One or more new pencils with soft erasers
Paper or clean cloth to work on
Advantages
No liquids to spill
You probably already have everything you need
Disadvantages
Small, physical, and repetitive motions (may be difficult for grandma or grandpa to help)
Eraser crumbs may make a mess
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Bad transactions with : nobody to date
Yep, coins on railroad tracks for me. But just pennies and nickels... Couldn't afford to use dimes, quarters and halves.
mercury on cents
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Leaving my half way decent coin collection insufficiently hidden from my younger siblings when Uncle Sam came and tapped on my shoulder.
Putting a 1955 ddo I found in the beer fund, because I had no idea “why the coin looked funny”.
My Type Set & My Complete Proof Nickel Set!
.
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Dumbest thing is selling the good coins to buy more junk. Or not ? It's not dumb having fun. This I know.
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
Yeah this. 😥
I was collecting pennies by date only. Not wanting to overpower me with too many holes without coins, my dad had written in the dates on a blank Whitman folder. The 1922 space was filled with a 1922-D. One day I found a 1922 plain and realized it was worth more. Thinking I would be able to sell it to a friend I put it on top of my secretary desk and forgot all about it. Later I realized I had spent the 1922 plain!
Storing raw coins in PVC flips and pages. I don't blame myself for that, b/c no one really knew at the time. My dad bought them for me to put my coins in, when I was about 9 or 10, so I thought it was 'OK'.
Yes! Several years ago I came across an old box with coins collected during my childhood in PVC flips........talk about wet, green, gunk! YUK!!!!
In 1961 I was in the 5th grade. Several of us were collecting coins. A friend of mine had used an eraser on all of his Lincoln Cents including a 1931-S that he had gotten in change at our school cafeteria.
X-ray time.
. . . Well? What is it? 'Fess up!
Well, I dunno what I did, but last month my 15 year-old kid put a penny in the cigarette lighter of the Volkswagen “just to see what would happen”. What happened is that both dad and the Volkswagen blew a fuse. The 15 year-old enjoyed a learning experience and now knows how to identify & replace fuses.
It's truly tragic!
Gonna get me a $50 Octagonal someday. Some. Day.
Fred W. once posted that he accidently threw out a $4 gold Stella with the packaging. It now rests in a land fill somewhere. I think Fred wins.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
I was that kid at the end of the driveway, rubbing the obverse or reverse off a coin by moving it across the concrete...you may have seen some of my handiwork in circulation. Most notably a Sacagawea Dollar.
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Have definitely made that mistake a time or three myself.
Yes, it's a well-told story about how I threw away
a PCGS Proof-64 1879 $4 Stella. (back in July 1986)
The fire today, here in the SF Valley, is in the same
general area as the Simi Valley Trash Dump that
contains the PCGS Stella.
That too. I remember putting mercury on steel pennies and dimes. Kids in elementary school played with mercury and coins in the classroom. With the teacher knowing about it. Can you imagine that happening today!?
folding pennies in a sheetmetal brake
Now, 30+ years later, I'm kind of thinking I'm out of the woods.
Plus, I had an abdominal CT scan within the last year or so for unrelated reasons, and nobody frantically tried to contact me about any odd, circular, abnormalities. I think I'm good.
Railroad tracks, ring creating, filing, trying to melt a dime with a cigarette lighter. One summer my fellow coin-collecting buddy and I walked the trail at the Pipestone National Monument and placed pennies on various stone ledges through the trail with the grand intention of locating them on future trips. That was 40 years ago and we still have never found a single one.
One year while passing through Pipestone, MN, on my way out to South Dakota, I placed a Peace Dollar on the railroad tracks in an out-of-the-way spot....again....with the idea of locating the coin on my way back through town several days later. Never found that one either. I suspect somebody found that one before the train came through.