When did you start collecting?

Sylvestius

I was introduced to the hobby in 1990, so this year marks my 15th anniversary!


Not a particularly long time compared to some who have been in the hobby since the late 50s and early 60s but i hope i've learned something in my brief decade and a half.

SYRACUSIAN

Mid seventies but with a long break during the entire 80s decade. Became serious (started spending serious) in the beginning of 90s, when I could afford to do so.

Cladiator

Started buying bullion in 2001 and that progressed into full blown coin collecting in 2002.

weresteve

Mid seventies but with a long break from the mid 80s thru the early 90s. Became serious (started spending serious) in the middle of the 90s, when I regained interest once more and could afford to budget the extra funds.

cladking

I started collecting buffalo nickels from pocket change in the sping of 1957. I started
with darkside coins in 1976 though I had played around with them a little much earlier.

The first I remember was a Phillipine silver coin from WWII back around 1959. My init-
ial interest in world coins was to find cheap silver in dealer stock.

Numismatics

Around 2002.

tbirde56

I collected cents, nickels and dimes (silver) from my parents pocket change when I was 5 or 6 and later got some Mexican and Brazilian coins and notes from their friends. I knew of no way to get more so kept on collecting U.S. minors until I saw a Littleton Coins ad about 1966. After that 99% of my collecting was of world coins (& paper money) but I have kept my 'dusty' U.S. set as well.

elverno

The odd coin or medal starting about 1974 then relatively serious from 1980 on. Funds became more available in the last ten years so a graph would sharply upturn from there...

1jester

When I was about 5-6 years old, in 1975.

Bailathacl

I started in the late sixties as a boy when my Grandfather would give me a different coin every time I saw him... an odd Buffalo, Mercury dime, maybe one of those newfangled Kennedy halves.... as an adolescent I stopped collecting, either because my Grandfather passed away or because I discovered girls.... I came back to the hobby when I moved and discovered my old collection, nothing fancy, just a basic U.S. type set.... and I became almost exclusively darkside after coming in here a few years ago to ask about a couple of stray foreign coins in that collection.... Needless to say, my chance encounter here has greatly expanded my collection and my enjoyment of it!

coinrookie

Mid 70`s. But I did not get serious about it until the late 90`s.

Steve

AuldFartte

Mid '50's when I was a little kid, then a long hiatus when I discovered girls, cars, etc., then back to it at about 24 years old or so, then another long term "off" while raising kids, paying the mortgage, all that other good stuff, then back active with some decent money to spend in the summer of 2000 and I've been at it ever since.

ajaan

1964 when my collecting uncle gave me a 'new' Kennedy half. I lost the coin flipping it on my front lawn.

lordmarcovan

<< <i>When did you start collecting? >>









<< <i>I lost the coin flipping it on my front lawn. >>


You should get a friendly detectorist to retrieve it.

(I started detecting the same year I started collecting coins, but the detector I had then was a plastic $20 special- primitive even by the standards of the day.)

ajaan

I flipped it and it went into a big blue spruce tree my parents had in their front lawn.

Aethelred

I also started in 1976 when I was a wee pup.

Spiffy469

Mid 90's around the age of 11 or 12.
Started out with circ collections in books that were passed down to me from my father.
Still have all the books most of which are completed minus the key dates.

jeff

wybrit

I was filling Whitman folders for British minors in the dying days of £sd with mostly well worn pieces. I also had a fair number of nice UNC decimal bits that turned green in the then-popular and subsequently forgotten about PVC holder albums.

1960NYGiants

Officially ... May 13, 1967 ... when I received a Whitman folder with a 1909vdb cent for my 7th birthday. Back then you could return soda bottles for their 2c deposit. Used to scour the neighborhood looking for those bottles to cash in for cents for my folder.

Took some time off from mid 80s to mid 90s (missed the big bang of 89) then rediscovered my passion when I joined the on-line world and found on-line auctions. It's been a blast since!

Gene

cacheman

May, 2003 (I don't count my first stint with Morgans because I didn't know I was depraved)

Aethelred

<< <i>(I don't count my first stint with Morgans because I didn't know I was depraved) >>



I'm sure everyone around you did!

Conder101

Started studying numismatics in 1966, began collecting coins in Fedruary 1972. Never stoppd either one.

Stork

It all started, back in the dark ages, when I was at some age under 10 and a family friend let me buy 100 wheaties for a dollar. With that great hoard I also started pulling 'old nickels' (anything 1964 or older) out of whatever change I could get my hands on (mostly my mothers) because I was convinced California was going to fall into the ocean and I needed a way to pay for college somewhere else (um, I did mention I was under the age of 10 right???).

The funny thing is that I really haven't ever quite stopped with the nickels...I have a little pile of them still. In fact, I once spotted a guy looking at a couple nickels he'd just taken out of his pocket and I asked him what he was doing. He admitted to a perpetual hunt for nickels 1964 and older. Naturally we got married.

My next step was like Cladiator's--I was starting to look for bullion in 1998/1999 which led me to world bullion. I eventually branched out to world coins and medals when I was stationed in Japan (2002).


Cathy

JZrarities

Mid 70's,,, But I remember that FANTASTIC DAY during the SUMMER of 1978 when:

I traded my Indian Head cent collection for my first piece of GOLD:

An 1843 $5 Liberty Head AU

I was only 14. Oh (sigh), I wish I had that coin back.

cacheman

<< <i>

<< <i>(I don't count my first stint with Morgans because I didn't know I was depraved) >>



I'm sure everyone around you did! >>

coinkat

Well, good question... and it does not appear that this is a deposition so that helps. My collecting interests date back to the Nixon Administration (first term). I would rather put it in those terms (no pun intended...) than say it was over 34 years ago.

ormandh

I started collecting as my found foreign coins started to grow in 1992. As soon as I had about twenty common modern coins I started to get serious and began to try to make complete sets. If I could only pick a country to focus on maybe I will complete one of those sets. -Dan

BigAlan

The late 50s. I still have some of the walkers I collected from circulation. Of course I spent some of them, 50¢ was a lot of money.

WhiteTornado

I started collecting sometime in the early to mid 70s when I was a kid. My mom gave me some “pocket change” coins she had saved down through the years. In fact, those very coins are some of the U.S. series I still actively collect: Indian Head Cents, Liberty Nickels, and all of the Barber series. Nothing extremely rare or valuable, but they’ll always be worth millions to me.

I stopped actively collecting in the mid 80s during high school, and didn’t get serious about it again until about 2000. I now collect both Lite and Dark. Still learning all the time, some of it the hard way!

coachleonard

1972 (with a break from around mid 1977 to mid 1981). My original coin collecting goal: find a coin older than 1940!

rhound1977

My Father gave me his wheat penny collection when I was about 7 or so years old, I continued with that and other U.S. coins through High School. I went on Hiattus for many years and even sold much of that collection when I was in my 20's. In 2000 when I moved to NC, I removed what was left of that collection from a safety deposit box in VA and got the bug again. (State Quarters Probably had something to do with it) I assembled a U.S. type set (1800s to present) from 2000-2003 and dabled in World Coins. In 2003 I got very interested in GB coins through some fellow collectors. In 2003 and 2004 I sold most of my U.S. coins except for the type set. In 2005 I have gotten into all GB territories, mandates, colonies etc.. I am liquidating my U.S. type set and much of my World Coins inorder to keep feeding the GB craze I am suffering..... ,

Philip

I became interested in coins in April 1997, but had to wait until 2000 to get my first Krause and start collecting seriously.

mojoman

Age 4 1964 , I was given a 1964 bu kennedy half ,my grandparents traveled the world ,we would alway get coins and bills as a souvenier , then not a whole lot until 2003 started buying bullion and now I buy,sell, trade , almost a full time job lol ,when I was a newbiee here everyone treated my with kindness, with information,helpfull ideas ,and I even became freinds with a few of you so .............................................................have a. on me and THANKS, Mojoman

mrearlygold

1969


Man I'm old


Tom