Cent Collectors - What does it for you?

renomedphys

Enough with the serious discussions. I just want to know what it is about cents of all types that draws you as a collector. Here, I'll start:

1) Copper - this golden-brown metal is just gorgeous, and the myriad of color potential is astounding.
2) Irony - The lowest cost to produce, and the near worthless status of the cent brings disdain from consumers, but they still can posess intricate beauty and bring strong collector intrigue. That, and the fact that they have everything working against them as collectibles. Their perveived common-ness at the time of minting leads to strong use and wear, so an even common date surviving in high grade can be incredibly rare. Every dog has it's day.
3) Dork Factor - You know what I mean

This is just meant to be a fun post, so tell me why you collect cents. What draws you in?

Steve

I don't think I've ever said on these boards WHY I collect Lincoln cents and ONLY Lincoln cents. The reason is that when I started I realized that I wanted to display my coins in albums so that each date and mint mark would be visable without looking at the reverse. Well, as far as twentieth century coinage was concerned only the cent met that criteria. I know there are certain exceptions like the 1909VDB and the 1983 reverse DD, but in general, you can view each date and mint mark of this huge collection (1909 to date) by the obverse and know you have all the coins. As the years have gone by my interest in other denominations never peaked and so here I am today enjoying just this series, and I am happy about it. Steve

ambro51

Because thats what I collected as a little kid. I could afford to stash away a penny....and some quite old ones were circulating then. 1910 1917 1918's pretty common to find them. They were like "ancient" to a 10 year old.

When I got a little older and had a bit more money....the Love of the Lincoln still remained. BUT, I sort of upgraded the collection a tad.

Never having pulled a 1909 out of circulation...I attacked that date with a vengence.

WaterSport

Started when I was akid, still makes me feel like a kid when i look at those sets. I still have original Whitman blue folders, my Withman slide window folder when I became "more advanced" and my beautiful Capital Plastic boards that you can look at the whole collection, front and back. The slabs are merely insurance to get my MS coins so that now I can finish my MS capital board.

WS

ProofCents

I started as a kid collecting pennies since there were (i thought at the time) cheap since they were only face value one cent. I thought that collecting quaters would cost me more. Boy was i wrong.

lasvegasteddy

my wag

as an ex aerospace machinist i find it incredible the details achieved in such small die work

indian's and wheaties were attributed to my first awareness of numismatics

upon retuning to this hobby i now include select examples maybe just to romance my inner child

great post matt

RegistryNut

I, too, started collecting coins when I was a kid. I had a paper route, and when I "collected" on Thursday nights, I became real excited. I liked the change my customers paid me with. I used to wonder where
these coins could've been before I acquired them. Heck, our President may have had one in his pocket, I would think. I saved all the Frankies, WLH, Buffalo's, and all the older Wheaties. I started putting the
Wheaties in an album, and they became my favorite coin to collect. Who knows, if I had bought a different album, that particular series might have become my favorite. But, Lincolns did prevail, and they are the
only coins I collect. Great post Matt! I enjoyed sharing, and even relived a few paper route memories. Being a kid again, what a wonderful dream!

RegistryNut

renomedphys

You guys really touch me with your stories. I too was a kid when I started collecting coins, sometime around 1982. It all started when I got a few wheaties from the teens at a toy store in change for a yo-yo. I was so amazed at the age of the coins, and the fact that all three were about the same age, that I immediately bought the whole drawer full of cents. I remember it like it was yesterday. The man gladly handed me all his "treasure" for face value, and asked if I would like to look in his other rolls for more. I must have spent 20 minutes at his counter sorting wheatbacks, and in all, left with about 40 or so in my pocket. I immediately went out and purchased a Whitman album for the huge sum of $3.50. It wasn't long before I was a regular at the nearest coin shop, bringing in my $2 allowance, or $10 from mowing lawns to see what I could afford to buy. Next thing you know, I had a full set minus the four keys. It stayed that way for years.

After that, I moved onto Type, with my first Dansco album. For a 12 year old, the Dansco CNS Type album was a real challenge. I remember when I filled up the first page how proud I was. I had an 1804 Half Cent in there. And what appeared to be a dirty RB MS Large Cent from the 1850's. The FE cent was very cool, as was the two cent piece. The rest of the collection was also quite tough, and sure enough, the higher the denomination, the harder it was to afford anything old. I never owned a seated dollar, but I did have a couple of bust halves, including my favorite, an 1839-O with a hole in it in XF. I got that coin for $5 from a buddy of mine who couldn't care less.

The coolest coin I ever had back then was an absolute freebie. I actually found, if I remember correctly, an 1801 Dollar in nearly VF condition while digging in my neighbor's garden. It was buried there under a thick layer of rotting dead leaves in a rusted old metal box along with some completely illegible handwritten papers that fell apart when I tried to separate them. I was cleaning out her yard at the time, and she said that I could keep the coin. I ws so stoked. Alas, having no place to put the darn thing in my Dansco, I went and sold the coin to buy some more less cool coins for my set. I really wish that I had kept it. That one coin was probably worth more than everything else I owned at the time, and I let it go for a lowly $300 in trade.

After a few years, the Type set either proved too daunting, or became worth too much. I ended up selling it by the time I got to college for book money. Probably a good trade in retrospect. I kept the Lincolns, as they weren't really worth selling, and I liked them just too much. I'm glad I held onto them. About five years ago, my wife, digging through my things, found the Dansco Lincoln album and figured she'd surprize me with a coin I needed. One Christmas, I opened a small box to find a really PQ XF 1909-s Lincoln. I was amazed and flabbergasted. At the time, I remember thinking: what do I need this for? Dead hobbies should stay that way. But then, I caught the bug all over again.

Here's the kicker: I still have that first set of Lincolns in the blue Whitman album. All those coins from the toy store are still in there. I keep it in my son's room on his bookshelf thinking maybe one day, he'll catch the bug as well.

Mercfan

<< <i>Because thats what I collected as a little kid. I could afford to stash away a penny....and some quite old ones were circulating then. 1910 1917 1918's pretty common to find them. They were like "ancient" to a 10 year old.

When I got a little older and had a bit more money....the Love of the Lincoln still remained. BUT, I sort of upgraded the collection a tad.

Never having pulled a 1909 out of circulation...I attacked that date with a vengence. >>

bosox

Canadian cents. Far lower demand than US cents - true. Far lower mintages than US cents - True. Seriously, US cents are wonderful, but so are Canadian cents plus they are quite under-rated.