When I was a kid I collected everything...today

saintguru

I collect Saints. No...I BUY Saints.

In the early-mid 1960's you could find ALL kinds of stuff in bank rolls and pocket change. Buffalo Nickels, Merc's, Frankies, SLQ's...even a Barber or IHC once in a while. I had like 15 Whitman books and I'd work them like a fiend. Take a $20 bill to the bank, 40 rolls of pennies...re-roll, 10 rolls of nickels, please...re-roll, 4 rolls of dimes, please....re-roll, 2 rolls of quarters, please....re-roll, 2 rolls of Halves, please..all in one day!! When they knew you they'd even save any silver dollars that trickled in and you would show up one day and the teller would say, "Hey Jay...want these?" And she would slide 3 Libs or Morgans towards me.

And you know what? THAT was fun!! Really fun. And when you had 75% of the folder filled, you'ld go to a little coinshop and buy a 1949-S VG Jeff. for $2.45....run home with 4 or 5 "key" dates and when you would pop them into those untouched holes it was like solving the riddle of the sphinx. I think I kept the 1916-D Mercury "blank" for 20 years, just as a reminder of the fun I had, because it said "RARE" on it!

I miss "coin collecting". Those were the days.

Jcarney

<< <i>I miss "coin collecting >>



So......collect coins. It is fun!

Let me expand a bit. A few years ago, I found myself in a similar situation. I was closing in on completing my MS65 Franklin set and was finding it to be more chore than enjoyable. I bought a cheap Whitman album for State quarters with the goal of filling them with change I received in circulation. What a blast! I got my son involved and it reminded me so much of collecting when I was a kid. No worries about value, condition, possible doctoring...just plugging dates into an album.

JrGMan2004

Poor Jay

HTubbs

sell your saints,try to put together a complete set of almost all US coins in a low circ grade.G-VF Now that's collecting fun!

drjules

Hey I still have fun

Oh and I notice you didn't say please for the pennies

Dr J

Leiana

So if you just buy Saints, then do the Saints collect you?

-Amanda

mgoodm3

all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy
all work and no play makes jay a dull boy

frankieboywonder

<< <i>sell your saints,try to put together a complete set of almost all US coins in a low circ grade.G-VF Now that's collecting fun! >>




I agree!!! My slabbed MS65 Mercs, Buffs, Walkers, Frankies, and etc. have not given me the pure pleasure of putting together circ sets of the same. I did this as a young boy and enjoyed it immensely!

Now, I find I am getting the same pleasure as before by putting low-grade circ sets together. Perhaps it is the desire to complete something along with a touch of nostalga to repeat the great times of my youth.

partagas

Jay, I agree the hobby is getting costly. And we want to have fun again. I plan on collecting the new presidential dollars. I will buy rolls and save the best one for my album.

Then spend the rest. Why, not for money or but for pure pleasure. Forget the worth, get back to the basics.

P.S. I still will collect the big $$$ coins to finish my mint set of 1866 , but I just need a mind numbing diversion I can enjoy with the kids. And most of all be a kid again.

saintguru

<< <i>So if you just buy Saints, then do the Saints collect you?

-Amanda >>



Well, that's an interesting philosophical point. Whether it's coins, art or antiques...do we OWN them? Of course we don't. We "lease" them and are their caretakers, but there will be generations upon generations that will have the same collectibles watch them after we are gone.

So I guess in the macro sense they do collect us.


To others: You just can't find the exciting stuff you could back then. To be able to have two different series of everything except pennies to work on...that was cool. And I forgot to add Walkers to the list. They were actually quite plentiful.

GoldenEyeNumismatics

Those were the days to be a coin collector.

Best bank roll find I had recently was 19 circulated frankies I picked up in $100 worth of halves at the bank.

cladking

I collect more and more stuff all the time but most has to be kept in bank
vaults which I don't get to see often enough.

In '96 I started collections of the clad dimes and quarters from circulation
and these have been a hoot. Upgrades are getting few and far between
but I still add varieties and the new coins as they are issued. They make
great reference sets and they can be kept at home since they have so lit-
tle "value". Many of the post-'93 issues are gems so even these may end
up in the bank before too much longer.

Go figure.

Conder101

<< <i>Jay, I agree the hobby is getting costly. And we want to have fun again. I plan on collecting the new presidential dollars. I will buy rolls and save the best one for my album >>


But how much fun will that really be? You might be able to get a few rolls at the bank and may eventually be able to put together the 2007 presidents together, but more likely you will have to break down and buy the rolls from dealers. Then for 2008 and beyond you'll probably have to buy a roll set or bags from the mint at a premium. Look through them and add it to the set. Wait three monthss and do it again. Whoopie. You're buying direct from the manufacturer and putting it into a holder, now THAT'S coin collecting! NOT! Not much different than being a Franklin Mint silver bar collector back in the 1970's.

carl

I too collected everything in site when I was a kid. Problem is I never grew up. I continued collecting everything until recently. With safe deposit boxes spilling over and vaults at home loaded with just to much stuff and then it must all end someday. Not long ago I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. 4 operations and 2 bouts of Chemo made me realize it is time to start thinning out my inventory. I had 25 giveaways on this forum and since then have given away numerous coins. I even just put a bunch of Wheat Cents in the bank thinking how that will make someones day when they see their change. With no one to leave coins to that would want them, it is slowly becoming difficult to maintain a coin collection. However, I still go to every coin show I can find. Just can't stop.

lkenefic

I did the same thing when I was a kid!! I still have the Whitman folder of 1909-1940 Lincolns I pulled from Bank rolls...all very well circulated. I had about 9 Whitman folders in progress at one point: Indian Head Cents, three Lincoln folders, Buffalo Nickels, Jeff. Nickels, Merc dimes, Washington quarters, and Walking Lib Halves... only three of them complete: Jefferson Nickels and two of the Lincoln folders. The others wern't more than half way complete. I also had the odd type coins as well.

After a long coin collecting hiatus, I re-discovered the hobby. As an adult, I started off being more directed. In some respects, I find coin collecting MORE satisfying now than as a kid. The thought of how many lawns I'd have had to mow to fill the 1909-S VDB hole for my Lincoln collection was daunting. It's an attainable coin for me these days. I still don't have one, but that's because I'm much more discriminating today than I was 35 years ago. Back in the day, anything with a readable date went into the folder.

As far as collecting from circulating change again, I agree with the sentiments of the other collectors on this thread. I've started two State Quarter folders. Sometimes I feel I'm digressing back into the "collect everything" mentality, especially now that I've started a Dansco 7070 Type Set; however, I see a much more directed and concerted effort to find coins that match in terms of grade and eye appeal when I look at my current collection.

I like collecting coins...

BTW...I also use the half filled 1909-1940 Lincoln folder as a monument to youth and a reminder of a by-gone era.

Barndog

if you feel you have lost your way in the collecting hobby, give bust coins a try. Completing a set of bust coins by die marriage in like grade is challenging and enjoyable. Granted, you won't be filling an album from spare change, but it is so much more rewarding that date/mint accumulation.

OKbustchaser

What Barndog said...and on that note...

Am I the only one around who did not collect from circulation as a kid? I started with large cents at the age of ten, moved to bust half dimes in my teens, and have been chasing bust halves since the 70's. I have just never understood the urge to collect that which I see every day.

MikeInFL

<< <i>I did the same thing when I was a kid!! I still have the Whitman folder of 1909-1940 Lincolns I pulled from Bank rolls...all very well circulated. I had about 9 Whitman folders in progress at one point: Indian Head Cents, three Lincoln folders, Buffalo Nickels, Jeff. Nickels, Merc dimes, Washington quarters, and Walking Lib Halves... only three of them complete: Jefferson Nickels and two of the Lincoln folders. The others wern't more than half way complete. I also had the odd type coins as well.

After a long coin collecting hiatus, I re-discovered the hobby. As an adult, I started off being more directed. In some respects, I find coin collecting MORE satisfying now than as a kid. The thought of how many lawns I'd have had to mow to fill the 1909-S VDB hole for my Lincoln collection was daunting. It's an attainable coin for me these days. I still don't have one, but that's because I'm much more discriminating today than I was 35 years ago. Back in the day, anything with a readable date went into the folder.

As far as collecting from circulating change again, I agree with the sentiments of the other collectors on this thread. I've started two State Quarter folders. Sometimes I feel I'm digressing back into the "collect everything" mentality, especially now that I've started a Dansco 7070 Type Set; however, I see a much more directed and concerted effort to find coins that match in terms of grade and eye appeal when I look at my current collection.

I like collecting coins... >>



Our collecting stories are very smilar, only you have me by about 15 years.

My reintroduction to coins centered around filling the holes of my childhood folders, and it is an ongoing seach -- I need about 5 key/semi-key dates. To add a photo to this thread, here's the latest addition:



I have learned a great deal in studying and purchasing these coins, and enjoyed it immensely. For me, even more than in the good old days.

Have fun...Mike

mirabela

There is still fun to be had that way. I have some "grown-up" coins now, sure, but the most recent addition to my collection (Tuesday) was a really cool blue & green toned AU 2001-P Sackie dollar that I got from a roll at the bank. Marvelously pretty, and it cost less than a cup of coffee.

saintguru

**yawn**

Conder101

<< <i>Am I the only one around who did not collect from circulation as a kid? I started with large cents at the age of ten, >>


Where did you get your money to buy the large cents? When I was ten my allowance was 25 cents a week, and I didn't always get that. Like most "kid" collectors I collected what was available in change because that was the only thing I could afford.

OKbustchaser

Allowance???. What's that? But someone in the neighborhood always had a lawn to mow, weeds to pull, or groceries to deliver. There were pop bottles to return for the deposit, etc. It would take me a month or two to gather enough money together to buy a coin but I managed. By the time I was in my early teens I had a job pumping gas (imagine that--someone actually put the gas in your car for you!) plus assorted paper routes, more lawns to mow, etc.

Edited to add...Of course, it helped that I didn't "discover" girls or cars until I was in college.

elwood

<< <i>To others: You just can't find the exciting stuff you could back then. >>



Jay, most would consider what you collected back then not as exciting as the Saints you are collecting today.

It sounds like you are coming to the end of your coin collecting carrer....been there done that....the thrill is over...yawn...time to move on.

We're like addicts or spoiled little children, we always need more or we always need better. Everytime we reach one level we have to move up to the next. When you're at the top there is no next level. Then withdrawls set in.

(I will also assume that you are weathly but not weathy enough to acquire those last couple keys you need to complete the set. Or not willing to expend a large percent of your net worth to get them??)

lkenefic

<< <i>

<< <i>Am I the only one around who did not collect from circulation as a kid? I started with large cents at the age of ten, >>


Where did you get your money to buy the large cents? When I was ten my allowance was 25 cents a week, and I didn't always get that. Like most "kid" collectors I collected what was available in change because that was the only thing I could afford. >>



I didn't get my first Large Cents until I was in high school and had graduated from mowing lawns to washing dishes in a local Italian restaurant ....at minimum wage ...$2.15 per hour... "under the table". At 15 years old, I didn't realise getting paid in cash wasn't the norm

AHHHHHHH.... the good 'ole days

IGWT

Can't buy me love, everybody tells me so
Can't buy me love, no no no, no