Year of birth of the 1st collecting influence in your life

Manorcourtman

Most of us range in age from teens to 70's on this site. What is the oldest persons birthyear that you recall having an influence on your collecting. They must have been alive and pushed you toward collecting as a young numismatic. I'll start with my example. In the 1970's I was pre-teen and my Greatgrandfather used to give me Indianhead pennies from his coinjar. He was born in 1891. He lived to the grand old age of 89. His early "giveaways" got me interested in coins. I must admit I have no coins from him anymore but I do have my Greatgrandmothers original pocket-piece.....not a coin but an 1879 .22 caliber "Bluejacket" 5 barrel pistol. In the "old" days pocket pieces were not coins!!! Share your story if you will........I'm sure this is going to be interesting thread. Chris

MarineEAS1999

Great thread idea!!!

Grandpa Bob was born in 1904 and died at 75.(see My First Post)
He was a high school shop teacher and a very patient man.

kranky

My dad didn't really push me toward collecting, but when I was young he showed me some old coins he had in a small box. In there was a two-cent piece and it fascinated me - what in the world would be the use of a two-cent coin? A large cent from 1835, well worn and somewhat corroded... how big it was! And those coins were older than my dad! He never mentioned collecting coins, and I never had heard of it, actually, but a few years later when I got a paper route I started setting aside the unusual Indian Head cent and Buffalo nickel I would receive, since I remembered my dad's odd box of coins.

One day we were shopping at the local five-and-dime (now there's an anachronism!) and I saw Whitman folders for the first time. Seemed interesting to see if I could fill one from my paper route money, and that's how I got started.

My dad was born in 1919.

dwssws

My grandmother was born in 1894 and got me interested in coins when I used to stay with them in the summer (rural NY state) as there was an antique store (also sold coins) nearby that we could walk to ( i was interested in the swords but she said i was better off with coins plus she had already given me some) She died in 2001 at the age of 107 and I still miss her! (her sister - my great aunt is still going strong at 109

still have the first coin I ever got from her an 1894 Morgan!

09sVDB

My dear old grandma. She died young at age 78. She was born in 1916. She was one of the best people I've ever known. I was the oldest of nine grandchildren. She tried to get each on of us interested in something but I was the only one who actually stuck to anything.

mozeppa

1935... my mom!

airplanenut

I never really had a mentor start me in collecting--just parents who figured I could do worse and a local dealer who didn't think I was enough of a nuisance to not kick out. That started in 3rd grade (1994-95 I think). It wasn't until I joined these boards in 9th grade (2001) that I had the first "mentor" of sorts. TomB was very influential to me by introducing me to a local coin show, some great dealers, and being very patient as he showed me many beautiful pieces. Since then, many people--mostly board members--have influenced my collecting, but I'm not sure if any are even old enough to qualify for the AARP, so I'm not going to win with the oldest influence.

tsymons

My dad who, was born in 1933, got me interested but my mom, who was born in 1949 gave me some of the first coins that got me hooked. She still surprises me once in a while with a Morgan or SLQ she "finds" in her stuff when she is cleaning.

roadrunner

My grandfather Jeremiah (1884-1980) gave me the push to move from filling in circ lincs/buffs in a 35 cent Whitman album, to the realm of type collecting. One day (around 1966-68) he presented me with a small sack of coins that supposedly came out of an old safe in his garage. I never found out if that was the true story or he salted it. In any case I bought the story and never thought otherwise until decades later.

In that bag were an AU 1822 bust half, an AU 1877-cc dime, an AU 1883 Indian Cent among many others. The bust half and seated dime probably triggered my love for type coins and started to push me away from collecting date sets of the same coin. Unfortunately only the 1877cc dime survives from that group. The 1822 was my "icon" coin for many years. Finding a gem 1822 has been on my mind ever since but have never run across the right one at the right time.

roadrunner

Pistareen

My maternal grandmother was born October 1, 1906 -- she liked to joke about the fact that she was born 9 months to the day after her parents' wedding night. She was a brilliant woman, a world traveler, a Harvard grad (class of '27) who spoke a half dozen languages when she graduated. She spent her retirement years working a register at a thrift store at the local hospital as a volunteer. Her eyes were perfect -- she'd fish every wheat cent out of change for me (this is the early-mid 80s) and usually surrender a small handful every time we got together. My introduction to numismatic Americana was finding a Civil War storecard in her small hoard of wheat cents, long hidden in her kitchen cupboard.

My dad was born in 1939, 33 years after his dad arrived at Ellis Island with no English on a boat from Trieste. His dad, who I never met, carried a polished 1882 Morgan on a keychain. He gave it to me when I bought my first Redbook in 1986, and I promptly pried my prize out of the keychain to put it in a proper 2x2. Today, it lives in an oak coin cabinet, the only silver dollar I have any interest in owning. The rest of my granddad's silver dollars were sold to help me pay my way through college.

TitusFlavius

I've collected many things, from Star Wars figures to comic books, for almost as long as I can remember. It was my Mom (1953) who got me started with coins when she bought me a Whitman album and some cent rolls. The biggest contributor to my current collection though is my Grandmother (1916). She collected c. 1930s to 1980s and put together a nice non-gold US type set, Seated Liberties to moderns. When she heard of my interest she gave me the whole thing! I still have every coin except for a few duplicates from upgrades. She's still doing well and loves to hear about recent additions to the collection and my activities at the coin club.