How did you start collecting?

laxmaster92

I don't remember the last time a thread like this was started, but I thought it would be interesting to see how everyone got started. Here's mine-

Unlike the majority of the people who get involved with numismatics, I was required to get involved by myself. My grandparents didn’t leave me an inheritance of rare coins and my parents are more of the “plastic money” type, so when I told them that I wanted to be a numismatist, they just stared at me with a bewildered expression on their face. I guess they never would have expected their 11 year old son to use such an intricate word.


My journey into numismatics began about seven years ago as I was looking through some of my dad’s change. I noticed that he had a brand new 2003 quarter and although the coin was brand new, the second zero in the date was missing. I quickly ran to my dad to show him the coin and ask why it was like that and the answer he had for me was “it probably just wore off.” Even as a little sixth grader, I knew that there was more going on with the coin than it was just “worn.”

In an effort to figure out the issue with my new discovery, I quickly took to the internet. After countless searches, I stumbled upon a coin forum. I posted about the issue with my coin and someone quickly responded, telling me that what I had was a common grease filled die error, and although the coin wasn’t worth more than face value it was still a cool thing to have. Although I was a little disappointed that I hadn’t found a treasure, the experience left me with a hunger to learn more about coins and a passion to research the history of our currency.

AUandAG

My local priest wanted to get a couple of us 3rd graders into the back room to show
us something. Glad it was coins!!

bob

PS: 1954

AnkurJ

Someone showed me a $50 Gold Buffalo. I was so amazed by it, I had to have one. Snowballed from there.

melvin289

As long as I can remember I have been fasinated by coins. My first recollection that I loved coins was an SLQ that was in my Father's change. I was maybe 7 or 8 years old. This would have been around 1955 or 56. It has been a lifelong love affair.

Ron

Ace

At Christmas 1960, my Uncle Jerry gave me a Whitman Lincoln Cent folder and 2 rolls to look through. I was 8. After a brief instructional about how to identify the date and mint mark, he set me off. I guess I got enough to interest me, and for the next 6-7 years, we looked through change to get what was circulating at the time. Buffalo nickels were not uncommon, and Mercury dimes were common. Even Walkers made an appearance, but for me that was usually when my Dad gave me one to go to the movies. At that time you could get into the movies for a quarter, buy a coke and a popcorn, and have a nickel left over. Silver coins were what were used in everyday trade. I even did a limited type set and a birth yeat set when I bugged my Dad to take me to a local coin show at about age 12, to get the Silver Dollars. Put them in the Whitman, and still have them today.
The Whitmans were put on the shelf in my old room till after college, and for a brief time, I actually bought coins from ads in magazines. I started my business, and the coins went back in the closet.
Midlife crisis time ( after the kids left home) and I was torn between restarting my love of restoring old Mustangs or something else. I figured that coins would be better for me at this point in my life, and went back and dusted off all the old coins folders that I had accumulated, nearly all of them from circulation. That is when I bought the keys for the empty holes in my Indians, Lincolns, Buffs, Mercs, and filled in the Walkers. ( They were hard, the rest was now modern crap??!) . My Washingtons were, I think, stolen by some movers, so I had to restart them. I have now completed all the regular circulated coins sets from my childhood. ( Morgans don't count, but I am getting close). I have not upgraded the old childhood coins that I now have in my Intercept folders.. that is my lifelong journey.
Even though I buy high grade coins now, those coins that I collected , with the help of my family, are some of the ones that keep me close to what it means to collect; the hunt for the prize and the enjoyment of the fullfillment
of that ever elusive dream that might find the next best coin in my quest.

magikbilly

Ahhh...

A coin shop near my father's store...some barber stuff - I wanted to see "18-something" instead of "19-something" for the date - I did. The dimes and quarters - $2.00 or so in what was then called Good. Then my dad bought me a 1781 North American Token in Fine for $12 at our local shop. This would be mid 1970's.

Best,
Eric

silverpop

1992 overseas trip got me interested in coin collecting

RedTiger

What got me interested were silver coins for sale for below melt value. Back in the day, prices weren't adjusted very quickly. Brochures were printed and coins sold at that stated price. Looking back, I would have done much better financially had I stuck strictly to bullion related coins instead of venturing into collector coins. Many of the collector coins I bought as a kid haven't increased much in value. For example, the first collector coin I bought was a 1955-S cent BU for 60 cents. Today, a coin of that quality might retail for a buck. A young kid might could get if for the same 60 cents or perhaps even free in a sweetheart deal from a dealer. Any silver I bought has gone up multiples.

stealer

STATE QUARTERS

Swampboy

I had a friend in grammar school who got me intersted in collecting first stamps and then, when we both had Newsday routes, coins.
We used to meet up on Saturdays before we turned in our collection money and we would swap coins to fill our cent, nickel and dime Whitman folders.
He went on to start a mail order coin and stamp business while still in high school and has been in business since the sixties.
I dropped out of numismatics and only recently came back into the fold.
I'm having pretty much as much fun as I did way back when.

droopyd

My Dad and my Uncle (his oldest brother) were both avid collectors.

Elcontador

I was twelve and went with my younger brother to a Saturday matinee. I received what looked to be a really old quarter in change. Something told me to keep it, which I did, forgoing buying popcorn at the show.

One Saturday, my Dad took me to a local coin shop, because I was curious about this old quarter and he was in a good mood. The dealer was very nice to me, explained how to handle coins. He looked it over, smiled, and gave it back to me. He told me that 1932, the date of the coin, was the first year the Washington Quarter was made, and my coin looked like it had gone through many hands since then.

He asked me to turn it over, and asked whether I saw anything underneath the perched eagle. I said there was an 'S.' He smiled again, and told me to pick up a Redbook on the shelf, so I could get an idea of what it was worth. I asked him the condition, and he said it was 'fine.' That coin I found was worth $20, which was a lot of money to a twelve year old at the time. He suggested I buy the Redbook so I could see what the coins I found were worth, and get an idea of how to grade them.

At that time, later dated Mercs, Buffs, and Walkers were common. I actually found a 42 S Dime in Unc. and some Unc. Lincoln cents from the 30s. This sort of thing kept my interest, as I was able to find almost all Buffs, Mercs and Lincoln cents in change.

Bayard1908

My mom worked as a waitress when she was a teenager in the early 1950s and accumulated a hoard of several thousand coins in the process. I was fascinated by these coins when I was a kid. They were squirreled away in various parts of the house in a denim bag made from a jeans leg, a large vitamin bottle, a green leather wallet, and a metal bank that was also a globe.

I remember that she gave me a Mercury dime and a 1946 dime when I was about age 7 to start my own collection. I found a 1915D cent in my father's change at around the same time.

jhdfla

I think I've told this story before, but here goes.

My grandfather was the one who first got me interested in coins, and my mother to a lesser degree who saved tokens when she operated a trolley in Philadelphia during the war. Grandpa Al was a tailor for Rochester formal wear in Pennsauken NJ, and he worked for Myron (Pep) Levin. Before the changeover to clad coinage in 1964, there were people starting to redeem silver certificates for silver dollars and Pep Levin was one of the largest engaged in this endeavour, my grandfather also but on a far smaller scale. He would give me interesting silver coins he came across for my Whitman albums, and the occasional Morgan or Peace dollar. He passed away of a heart attack in 1965 at a fairly young age, and I still miss him. Pep Levin went on to become one of the largest silver dealers in the country (as well as still operating the formal wear "front"), later indicted for melting silver coins and trafficking in food stamps.

Silver King

ricko

As an eight year old paper boy, I would get IHC's and other coins in payment. The first IHC got me interested, and it was followed by others, plus V nickels, SLQ's, (Walkers and Mercs were standard in channge) and even a Columbian half. Been hooked ever since - with the occasional hiatus. Cheers, RickO

TwoSides2aCoin

My late father inspired me about 48 years ago. He said , " ... if you find a 1943 copper penny ... "

johnny9434

my uncle got me started on the hobby. i got started with some canadian whichi still have and still love. the rest is history

Lakesammman

My brother got me into it in the early 1960's.

He recently asked me to sell his collection - not much there but great memories.

DorkGirl

My grampa and dad were both collectors.

stockergreen

<< <i>STATE QUARTERS >>



Same Here

Mistercoinman

1977 Vince Zinolli local coin dealer. Walked into his store one day seen a large cent and was hooked.

RB1026

For me it was 1980 and I was in the 6th grade. My grandmother passed away and among her personal property a stash of coins was discovered. Apparently she had been setting aside silver coins from circulation for years and had a good number of Peace dollars, Franklin & Kennedy haves, Standing Liberty & Washington qtrs., Mercury & Roosevelt dimes as well as some Buffalo nickels (maybe a couple hundred). Anyway, my grandfather sold all of the silver as the price was high then (as it is now) and gave me the Buffalos. A coin collector was created. Unfortunately there wasn't anything of real value among the Buffs but I have most of them to this day.

Roger

rxer

My grandmother was a collector in the late 50's. My grandfather was the manager at a local dairy processing plant
and once a week he would bring home the money from the coffee and candy vending machines for us to wrap.
Remember these were back in the days of milk cans and the farmers bringing in their own milk- no haulers.
Gave me a nice start for a low budget coin collection - those farmers would spend anything.