Really great post on several levels. It captures some of the very basic elements that make this such a great hobby.
Sharing with your son and sparking his interest is beautiful.
Here’s to keeping that spark alive!
And, as a footnote. I bet Santa Barbara really was close to paradise on earth back then!
Happy, humble, honored and proud recipient of the “You Suck” award 10/22/2014
Does this bring back memories. My story is much the same. Grew up in the late 50s, early 60s. Paper route, mowed lawns, got coins from the bank to look through them. One of my customers for mowing lawns was Charles Ruby, who I later learned had one of the best coin collections in the United States at the time. He got me interested in coins. Another neighbor, John Stoppleworth also had a very significant coin collection. He would take me to the local coin club which met one night a month in Brea, California. Didn't have a lot of money, but would buy coins to fill up holes in the old blue Whitman folders. i STILL HAVE THEM. Unlike my 1950s baseball cards which my mother threw away. High school, girls, sports, college, service, marriage, kids, grandkids, diverted attention. Trying to get one of my grandkids to get interested in coins, but no luck yet. Hopefully, one will take up the hobby.
Thank you for sharing and my story is very similar. You are absolutely spot on about the satisfaction being priceless.
My coin and stamp collection had been sitting on the backburner for quite a while because "life happened" and it got dusted off during the initial phase of lockdown. My youngest was fourteen years old at that time sat with me to sort out the loose change jars and managed to fill his very own State quarters album (and most of the ATB set) from the coins in there.
His fave past time though is searching for silver in the boxes of Kennedy halves and so got him a Half Dollar folder by H.E. Harris & Co./Whitman publishing from Hobby Lobby which he completed and proudly showed it to the bank teller.
The activities then stretched on to separating the wheaties, nickels etc. and he was hooked to the hobby/
But lately at almost seventeen years of age, other interestes are slowly overshadowing and relegating numismatics to the very bottom of his priority list.
After the bad taste of the recent experience with the PCGS encapsulated coin that got returned as counterfeit glad to hear the thrill of collecting has not been tarnished.
Brings back memories of the coffee can that my grandfather tossed IHCs into during the Depression. I started collecting when I was 8 and filling my Whitman folders from that can is what got me started.
Collecting: Dansco 7070; Middle Date Large Cents (VF-AU); Box of 20;
Great post! I saw a fair amount of me there when I was young except that my interests have always been draw to obsolete coins instead of what you might find in rolls. My family was more affluent than your’s was when I was young.
The passion is still there for me, but it’s much more about learning more about what I have and getting into new topics than filling holes. I’ve largely moved away from U.S. coins, but not completely for reasons already stated.
Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
Dang I just liked a comment that was made 15 years ago! This may have been originally posted before I joined here, and I missed it the first time around. Nice story, did it ever make it to publication in Coin World?
The thrill comes and goes for me. When this post came out, I had dropped off the forum (with my old username) as my interests went elsewhere. The thrill was gone. It took until 2019 for it to come back. It's fading back a little now as prices are going up and getting coins in my series is more challenging. What has kept the interest for me lately is buying some of the coins I had as a kid again, foreign and domestic, but in better grades.
Excellent post!
I recently began filling folders again and it has really reinvigorated my interest in coins. I have Aspergers or Level 1 autism and for me it is very immensely entertaining and satisfying working with my collection.
I think it is awesome that you were able to bond over filling folders and it was really cool to seed the bags with the key dates.
Ah, nice there Utah. Must have missed it the first time around. Actually there were TWO coin stores on Figueroa if you remember, the one closer to State had a rascal or so up in there....LOL. The other further down the street was much more collector-friendly.
Wonder if we ever crossed paths as all of us used to ride bikes everywhere?
Love that Milled British (1830-1960) Well, just Love coins, period.
My childhood was different, but coins were involved. Funny, the initial post was about two months before I joined here, and that was the time, around the time this thread started that I really got back into coins.
The thrill is still very much here, but unfortunately it takes more expensive purchases lately to get the excitement there...
Comments
A wonderful story! Thank you for sharing! It took me back many years ago and brought back many fond memories.
So, @UtahCoin, 15 years have passed. Your boy is 28. Are you both still into coins? How have things changed?
Really great post on several levels. It captures some of the very basic elements that make this such a great hobby.
Sharing with your son and sparking his interest is beautiful.
Here’s to keeping that spark alive!
And, as a footnote. I bet Santa Barbara really was close to paradise on earth back then!
Happy, humble, honored and proud recipient of the “You Suck” award 10/22/2014
Does this bring back memories. My story is much the same. Grew up in the late 50s, early 60s. Paper route, mowed lawns, got coins from the bank to look through them. One of my customers for mowing lawns was Charles Ruby, who I later learned had one of the best coin collections in the United States at the time. He got me interested in coins. Another neighbor, John Stoppleworth also had a very significant coin collection. He would take me to the local coin club which met one night a month in Brea, California. Didn't have a lot of money, but would buy coins to fill up holes in the old blue Whitman folders. i STILL HAVE THEM. Unlike my 1950s baseball cards which my mother threw away. High school, girls, sports, college, service, marriage, kids, grandkids, diverted attention. Trying to get one of my grandkids to get interested in coins, but no luck yet. Hopefully, one will take up the hobby.
Thank you for sharing and my story is very similar. You are absolutely spot on about the satisfaction being priceless.
My coin and stamp collection had been sitting on the backburner for quite a while because "life happened" and it got dusted off during the initial phase of lockdown. My youngest was fourteen years old at that time sat with me to sort out the loose change jars and managed to fill his very own State quarters album (and most of the ATB set) from the coins in there.
His fave past time though is searching for silver in the boxes of Kennedy halves and so got him a Half Dollar folder by H.E. Harris & Co./Whitman publishing from Hobby Lobby which he completed and proudly showed it to the bank teller.
The activities then stretched on to separating the wheaties, nickels etc. and he was hooked to the hobby/
But lately at almost seventeen years of age, other interestes are slowly overshadowing and relegating numismatics to the very bottom of his priority list.
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/u-s-coins/quarters/PCGS-2020-quarter-quest/album/247091
After the bad taste of the recent experience with the PCGS encapsulated coin that got returned as counterfeit glad to hear the thrill of collecting has not been tarnished.
Brings back memories of the coffee can that my grandfather tossed IHCs into during the Depression. I started collecting when I was 8 and filling my Whitman folders from that can is what got me started.
Successful BST transactions with: SilverEagles92; Ahrensdad; Smitty; GregHansen; Lablade; Mercury10c; copperflopper; whatsup; KISHU1; scrapman1077, crispy, canadanz, smallchange, robkool, Mission16, ranshdow, ibzman350, Fallguy, Collectorcoins, SurfinxHI, jwitten, Walkerguy21D, dsessom.
Great post, thanks for bringing it back. A lot of truth in that one.
LIBERTY SEATED DIMES WITH MAJOR VARIETIES CIRCULATION STRIKES (1837-1891) digital album
Great post! I saw a fair amount of me there when I was young except that my interests have always been draw to obsolete coins instead of what you might find in rolls. My family was more affluent than your’s was when I was young.
The passion is still there for me, but it’s much more about learning more about what I have and getting into new topics than filling holes. I’ve largely moved away from U.S. coins, but not completely for reasons already stated.
Dang I just liked a comment that was made 15 years ago! This may have been originally posted before I joined here, and I missed it the first time around. Nice story, did it ever make it to publication in Coin World?
The thrill comes and goes for me. When this post came out, I had dropped off the forum (with my old username) as my interests went elsewhere. The thrill was gone. It took until 2019 for it to come back. It's fading back a little now as prices are going up and getting coins in my series is more challenging. What has kept the interest for me lately is buying some of the coins I had as a kid again, foreign and domestic, but in better grades.
TurtleCat Gold Dollars
Excellent post!
I recently began filling folders again and it has really reinvigorated my interest in coins. I have Aspergers or Level 1 autism and for me it is very immensely entertaining and satisfying working with my collection.
I think it is awesome that you were able to bond over filling folders and it was really cool to seed the bags with the key dates.
http://www.pcgs.com/SetRegistry/publishedset.aspx?s=142753
https://www.autismforums.com/media/albums/acrylic-colors-by-rocco.291/
Ah, nice there Utah. Must have missed it the first time around. Actually there were TWO coin stores on Figueroa if you remember, the one closer to State had a rascal or so up in there....LOL. The other further down the street was much more collector-friendly.
Wonder if we ever crossed paths as all of us used to ride bikes everywhere?
Well, just Love coins, period.
My childhood was different, but coins were involved. Funny, the initial post was about two months before I joined here, and that was the time, around the time this thread started that I really got back into coins.
The thrill is still very much here, but unfortunately it takes more expensive purchases lately to get the excitement there...
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Not what I was expecting when I read the thread title, but a pleasant read!
Thanks for sharing !
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