How/Why/When did you start collecting coins?

1jester

For me, it started about when I was 5 years old, because I thought my older brother, who was 11 at the time, was a wise old man, and he'd gotten into collecting coins. We were a family of very limited means, but he'd bought a few coins from Littleton, I believe, and I was intrigued that pocket change could be worth more than, well, pocket change. He'd also bought a Red Book, and I used to entertain myself by reading through that, and looking for all the key dates, and hoped I'd find something in change. So I started looking carefully at every piece of change that came into my hands. Secretly, I'd also rummage through dad's bowl of change, and (probably) would take out the few Wheat cents I'd find. Technically, I was supposed to exchange them for other change (ie, not steal his change). I remember one of the first things I learned from my brother was how to hold a coin, by the edges. I was diligent about that. Unfortunately, I wasn't careful to not clean the coins back then. I liked the shiny look to copper, and silver too! So a pencil eraser was generally the tool used to effect a nice shiny surface. I think I stopped doing that, though, by the time I was 8-10 years old. A big occasion in my numismatic life happened when I was about 8 years old or so, when my mom divvied up her stash of 4 coins to me and my 3 brothers. She gave me a Monroe Doctrine Half Dollar in about AU grade, and I forgot what my other brothers got, but nothing fancy because she didn't have anything fancy, except for a 1927-S SLQ which she gave to the brother who'd started me into collecting. I wonder how on earth he managed to get first dibs on those coins?!? Another event happened when I was about 11 years old, in 1980, when my dad heard that the mint would stop making copper coins, so he decided to invest in a big mint bag of them, and I had the pleasure of going through every one of them. I found a couple minor errors, but it was fun to do it, and I rolled up every penny. My dad still has that "hoard" until today.

Well, there are a few other small stories, but I'd like to hear how you all caught the collecting disease! It should make for some interesting stories.

CapAnson

Well my great grandmother died when I was 8, and left me a peace dollar and some mercurys.. around then a nice grocery store manager down the street sold my mom (for me) all the foreign coins he had collected over the years (90% canadian) from the tills. I didn't really care about the "strange" non-us coins, and was into collecting baseball cards mostly. But I still obtained now and again a coin for my collection and every year my grandmother would buy me a proof set for christmas. Well eventually, due to growing up, and partly due to the problems in the sports card market (which are many), I sold my 30,000+ baseball card collection and invested in coins, and I've been hooked ever since!

Harpua

I'm new here, but thought this would be a good one to jump in on. I started back in the 70s when we would visit my one uncle who had an awesome collection. Every visit he would give pull out his latest finds to show the family and I would always leave with a butter bowl full of common wheats. I would search through those for days looking them over and over. My father, who ran a service station, and had a large amount of cash pass through his hands would let me search through all the change and pull out any wheaties or silver I found. He also had a large jug filled with silver that he had collected over the years. That was my first look at Peace dollars, franklins and walking halves and mercs. That just fueled the flame that was beginning to burn in me. I was also an avid reader, so my mother subscribed to the monthly mags for me and I would read the cover to cover many times over. There was nothing I enjoyed more than getting rolls of cents, nickles ... whatever and seeing what I could find. Too this day, one of my favorite passtimes has it to buy rolls and search them (and now I'm passing that joy on to my children!) I've come and gone in the hobby but I keep coming back. I still prefer the older lower grade coins with history, but love seeing hi-grade classics that I most likely will never enjoy in my own collection. Thanks to all of you for keeping the fire alive!!

1jester

Welcome to the fray, Harpua! It's a great experience to be a part of this forum.

cladking

Same for me. My older brother collected, so I had to also. He collected cents, so I collected
buffalo nickels. I've always found circulating coinage to be utterly fascinating. Putting dates
on them was pure genius.

Welcome aboard Harpua.

ConstellatioCollector

Mine is an embarrasing story... I was young (6 yrs old) and stupid. I kept going into my dad's drawer where he kept some Indian Head Pennies and using them in gumball machines. I was finally found out and I got the whipping of my life especially since he was a Special Agent in the FBI at the time and did not approve of criminal behavior.

When I was 16 with my first job, I remembered the stealing of coins and slowly purchased Indian Heads over the years for his collection. Found out later that he really didn't have time for coin collecting but he really appreciated me replacing the coins.

KlectorKid

I started about 1 and a half years ago. My grandfather left his collection to me in 1996 and I got my first chance to look at it the same time I started collecting. The first thing I did was sort them all out made piles of each type look for anything rare tried to figure out what they all were cleaned the 1922 peace dollar (au) and the 1882-O morgan (vf) and then hours later regreted it. I started because it was cool. You know like old things with history and that have touhed hands with who knows who (good and bad).

haletj

I was bored one day when I was about 8, and my dad said why don't you go through this jar of pennies and see how many different dates you can find.

DoubleDime

I got started in 1969 with the Boy Scouts Coin Collecting Merit Badge.

cherrypickincoin

It started for me relatively young. My father had been a collector when he was a child and of course, when he was young Indian Head Cents were still very common in change and thus I ended up with a huge hoard of Indian Head Cents that he gave to me, along with quite a few other nice pieces. It really started for me, though, when I was cleaning one day and stumbled upon a box. I opened up the box and there was a violin case inside. Opened up the violin case and obviously, there was a violin. The violin had a letter with it that claimed it was made sometime during the 1830's. I'm unaware of the validty of this claim but to get back on track, there was a small 2x2 manila envelope in with the violin that contained some coins. In a flutter I opened the enveloped and poored the coins out on the counter and there were a couple Mercury Dimes, Indian Head Cents but the one piece that baffled me was an 1870 Half Dime, no, not the 1870-S, I wish, just your average 1870 Half Dime, mildly toned in Fine condition. At the time, being very young, I had no idea such a thing as a Half Dime even existed and it immediately stirred my interest to find what other odd denominations the United States had. I bought all the books I could on coins and immediately grasped an interest in Half Cents, another odd denomination. I guess you can say it was a fluke how it all started with me. Had I not found that envelope I'm not sure I would have ever sparked the interest.

my3cents

I got started by watching the coin auctions on E-bay.

Strange huh?

To think that something so small could have such value to so many people - I was fascinated. After watching all of the auctions for a while -I decided to jump in and buy a few coins on my own - some slabbed - some raw.

I have resold most of what I orignally bought but I have now amassed quite a collection - coins that I just CAN'T sell because they are too rare or because I like them too much!

My wife thinks I am an idiot. Sometimes- when I gothrough my albums - I think she may be right.

wingedliberty

I got started when I was eight years old. My grandfather introduced me to it. He was a serious collector who collected ancients as well as war medals and decorations. I was immediatly fascinated and got bitten by the coin bug and have had this wonderful affliction for the past twenty six years. It was and is very serious and chronic!!! It will never go away and I believe this to be the best hobby ever!
Now I collect everything from ancients to modern bullion and enjoy pure numismatic research and am completely submerged in this hobby.


Best wishes,
Brian.

1jester

3cents, crazy?! Just don't let her call you stupid!

WingedLiberty, I'm the same way. I have a "serious and chronic" affliction! But I think it's incredibly rewarding. For a hobby, it sure is a good way to learn about history, society, money, art, and of course, coins. Not to mention, I don't know of many hobbies where people don't just dump money into a bottomless pit, but where the money spent is actually "invested" in something tangible and valuable and lasting.

Welcome, haletj.

kamehameha00

I starting when last year when my grandpa showed me part of his collection and I was instantly hooked.

billboat

1954--my uncle collected and he took me to a coinshop in Washington D.C. He gave me $2 to spend--which bought about a dozen IHCs and a Whitman folder. By 1964 I had a nice (virtually complete except for the 56, 73, 77 and 09S) FE/IHC set, large cents, half cents, some ancients, and several gold pieces from my great grandmother. Sold it all, along with a 30-30 Winchester, to help finance my senior year in college. Followed the hobby over the years, never lost my love for coins, and picked up a VF35 1886-O Morgan in New Orleans in 1998 at Cohen's on Royale Street. That was my second start-- I'm now working on a complete business strike set of Morgans (as many MS as possible), a year set of bust halves, a US type set, Walkers, War Year Jeffersons, etc. I prefer raw coins but have a number of slabs--if I ever get my 93-S it will be certified.

itsnotjustme

4th grade, around 1974. A classmate brought some of his Whitman folders in for show & tell.

RNCHSN

I was about 8 and found an old stash my mother had put away, with a small, thin book on coin values. BAM! Hook....Line... and sinker!

coppercoins

I started at around 5 with a roll of wheat cents given to me by a friend of my father. I got the little blue folder and started thumb-pressing coins into the slots, hoping that one day I would be able to fill all the slots. By the time I was nine, I was on to bigger and better things, and had a folder for all the series, and was rading change regularly trying to fill them....pretty much the typical story of how a YN gets started.

When I was about 14 I was looking through the Red Book and my Jefferson folder and noticed that there was a listing in the Red Book for a "1939 doubled Monticello" - I checked my 1939, taken from my mother's change purse, and sure enough, there it was - a 1939 doubled die reverse nickel. I began researching into doubled dies and found that a book had been written about the doubled dies of the Lincoln cents, so I ordered it. That's what got me into my specialty. Since that time I have collected nothing but Lincolns. All the silver I had collected as a kid tarnished and turned ugly (people here call it toning) so I dumped it all into a pillow sack and sold it to a local dealer. The money was used to fill slots in my earlier Lincoln book wih higher grade coins.

Here we are some 20 years later and I find myself having published my studies on the internet as well as a few other coin related sites. I have friends from all over the country who follow what I am working on, and have volunteered their time (and money in some cases) to help out with the project. I keep up with all of them and they keep up with me, and we have a great time at it. I currently have a hoard that would take years to inventory, so I don't bother. I know what better stuff I have, but the bags and rolls of more common date material go uncounted for the better part. The store I will be opening next month on my site will be my attempt to free the copper of the world and put it back in someone else's hands. My wife is certain that I am single-handedly causing a penny shortage around the country...I have assured her that I don't even have a small fraction of the number made each year, and that being exposed to so much copper each day won't affect my health. The former I am sure of, the latter was tossed in as reassurance to her. I really have no idea whether copper can hurt me from touching it constantly, every day. I guess time will tell...LOL!

09sVDB

My grandmother got me started in 1968. She had a peeny board that she kept on the dresser in her room. Whenever I would go over she would show it to me.

1jester

Coppercoins, your wife probably means that touching copper will most likely lead to brain damage!

Tootawl

I used to collect as a kid but found it rather boring and no one else that I knew collected. So I stopped. After 4 years ago, I had to stop playing volleyball due to knee problems (gout & arthritis in both). I was looking for something to do. While walking around a local flea market, I found a guy who was selling coins. I bought a common date Morgan. The next thing I know, I'm getting ready to go to my first ANA convention this week.

It's not boring anymore.

Raynman

I originally got started with searching for Statehood Quarters out of my pocket change way back in 1999. Having liked them I decided to start buying proof sets. Like a cancer patient the disease started spreading, I moved on to Commemeratives and Silver Eagles. Then one fateful day in January 2002, I was walking through the local mall and they had a small hobby show going on. I already collect sports cards so I decided to take a look. I was looking at some Sandy Koufax cards when I saw a bright silver object next to them that caught my attention. I was a 1935-S Walking Liberty Half Dollar. My father was born in 1935 so I thought it might make a nice little gift. I bought the coin and the Koufax cards, for how much I do not remember. I got home and was looking at the coin and thought to myself, "This coin is pretty cool, I think I want one for myself." I then proceeded to let my fingers do the walking and looked in the Yellow Pages for coin shops in Oklahoma City. I stopped by one shop and explained my new interest, the gentleman who owned the store. He then proceeded to spend the next 90 minutes explaining to me some of the finer points of the hobby. Grading, raw coins vs. slabbed coins, etc. He even took the time to show me how to properly grade coins and looking at various coins to see which ones I liked. The key words of wisdom he gave to me were, "Collect what you like, not what others like." I walked out of there with no new coins, but a loupe, some books, and a ton more knowledge than I had previously had. Sadly, the gentleman passed away about a year ago. I am forever in his debt for getting me into this hobby.

drsvenghali

The first introduction to coin collecting came from my father. Seems like some of my earliest memories were Saturday morning change searches for silver, indian heads etc.

My dad would take his paycheck and go to the bank on Friday just before close. Friday mornings the city parking meters were emptied of the weeks change. He would take his whole paycheck and get "meter" change for us to search. I'd sit on the floor watching TV and look through the piles of change for anything interesting. With my allowance I'd exchange for coins I wanted to keep.

Now that I think about it, I did all the searching and rarely could afford to keep much of what I found. I think my dad had a good thing going there. Still, one of my fondest memories.

1jester

Great stories, folks! Thank you and keep 'em coming!

Welcome to the boards, Raynman!

LincolnCentMan

I started collecting coins because I quickly realized that collecting cars isnt practical. Even if you can afford the intial cost for each car, the number of stamps to get each car mailed to you is mind boggleing.

David

MapMaker

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU RECEIVED FROM YOUR PARENTS WERE THE VERSES FROM THE BIBLE! AMEN1

LAWMAN

In 1956 I was growing up in and around Boston. One of my older friends went nuts looking for '55 double die Lincoln cents. They were in change there and in Philadelphia, I think. He actually found one and showed it to me. Then he found others. I bought a Redbook, and hit the banks in the town where I lived, toting home rolls and rolls and rolls, spreading them out all over the kitchen table, going through all the coins, re-rolling them and riding my bike back to the banks for more. In those days, EVERYTHING was still in circulation and if you looked diligently you could find all sorts of wonderful things. Later, in my early teens I worked in an Army/Navy store in the North End of Boston and on slow nights I would go through the change, particularly when they announced that silver was not going to be used in circulating coinage anymore. Ever since, I go through hot and cold collecting periods, but I haven't yet succeeded in getting either of my kids (now 17 and 20) to become interested. I tell them that when I'm gone and they inherit my collection that I expect them to read through my numimsmatic library and get familiar with what's there. They tell me that they won't be able to sell anything because it will all be mementos of me. Some descendant of mine, some day, will be happy I guess.