Was there one coin that got you started?

blacksmoke

I would go up to Viginia City, just about a half hour out of Reno, and spend the day goofing around up there. There was a little casino that had a machine I loved to play as it took and payed out in silver dollars (Ikes). I left one day with about 50 of them and after that, each time I would go to my bank, I would always ask if they had any silver dollars and I would buy them. One day, they had a roll of 25 in and of course, I bought it. I went out to my truck and started looking through them. Half way down, I found this coin. A 1900 P Morgan. I was hooked from that moment on. After learning and researching, I discovered VAMworld. I always thought a Vam was an overpaid, under qualified actor. This is a VAM-18, which is on the hot 50 list. Note the second "ghost olive" and the doubling in the wing. Was there one coin that drew you in to collecting?

CoinJunkie

I was playing poker at The Mirage in Las Vegas about 15 years ago. Some guy at the table was
using a Silver Eagle in a plastic capsule as a card weight. I thought to myself: what a gorgeous
coin! That was the spark that got me back into a hobby I had abandoned shortly after high
school when I sold my silver dollar collection for mad money (which lasted about a week or two
as I recall).

HoledandCreative

I found a 1793 LC Cent in a quarter junk box. That started me on a type set and still working on it to some degree.

blacksmoke

Oh the stupid things we did when we were younger. My mom worked at a bank and she brought home some 1928 2$ bills and some 1936 silver certs.. Along with a bunch of wheats and I distinctly remember having a 1909 but I think I blocked out weather or not it had an "s" on it. Got used for candy money....

blacksmoke

A 1793 is a hell of a find out loose like that. That's cool.

Bossman88

On my 6th birthday way back in 1955 my uncle gave me a "big dollar" as I use to call it.
My mother had me save it. Still have it today. That got me started on my goal of having a complete BU set of every coin issued from the year I was born to the present day.
Been working on that collection ever since.
Oh by the way it was a BU Silver 1921 Peace dollar.

Regards, Larry

georgiacop50

A Pine Tree Shilling was found in my schoolyard in 1966.

Turned out to be counterfeit, but that was what got me going.

Barndog

this one got me started on a "date set" of capped bust half dimes that has expanded well beyond collecting a date set

silverpop

oddly enough it wasn't a coin that got me started it was a banknote I got in change overseas

ricko

It was actually a darkside coin my Father had... a large silver coin from Germany.. still have that coin.... Cheers, RickO

mr1931S

Yes,an 1899 IHC that I found while hoeing in the family garden,1956.Unfortunately,I don't have this coin anymore.I traded it,with some other coins,to the owner of the local grocery store for a few baseball card/gum packs.

I never did try to get all of the dirt off my 1899 penny so when it left my possession it was in original condition as found.

OKbustchaser

I've told the story before, but as an 11 yo boy I found (what I later learned was) a Type 1 1917 quarter. OOO WEEE, naked boob.


I've been a bustchaser ever since.

SaorAlba

No pics, but a 1968 10 Dong coin from Viet-Nam that my dad brought back from there in 1973 when his tour ended. I also have a Japanese 50 Sen coin from 1897 that he got in Japan but has no memory of where or how he got it.

lostincoins

My grand father gave me a hand full of coins when I was 6 years old. These coins were U.S. and world coins he had collected during the war. I still have them and to this day I marvel at them because of what he went through to get them.

zas107

A fake 1793 liberty cap cent got me started. After that my dad and I went around to lots of shows buying real ones. (57 were obtained at the peak)

johnny9434

the 1776-1976 bicentenial proof set from the mint got me started.

blacksmoke

Sounds like a lot of dads involved.

LanceNewmanOCC

.
despite having a diverse but modest collection as a teen, the mid-grade circ 1872 2c that a friend bought from a local pawn shop when i was 29/30 is really what put the fire under me.
.

MacCrimmon

This coin cemented the deal. My grandfather was turning sod for crops in 1925 when he found it.

coinkat

great story Mac

good image too

ajaan

A brand new 1964 Kennedy half in 1964 given to me by my godfather who was a collector.

JRocco

I remember being a little kid and hearing about this coin. I looked at every cent for years, positive I would eventually find one.
Never found one.
Took me years before I bought my first and many more years till I got this one.

MidLifeCrisis

Two coins actually...an 1878-CC Morgan Dollar and a 1926-S Peace Dollar, which my grandparents gave me when I was 10 years old.

keyman64

My Father gave me his Mercury Dime collection when I was about 8 so that would be it.

ProofArtworkonCircs

A dateless silver 3 cent piece my aunt gave me when I was very young - around 5 or less.

MilkmanDan

When I was younger it was a christmas gift from my grandfather, his collection of lincoln cents in the blue whitman folders. Earlier in life he had broken his leg and while laid up on the couch he would sort through boxes of penny rolls my grandma would bring home for him from the bank. I still have the entire collection in tact.

More recently, the coin pictured below got me started on the series I focus on and enjoy. The coin also kicked off a friendship with a fellow collector that continues to this day. The coin isn't anything all that special but it embodies what I enjoy about the series, a connection between mining in the wild west and trade with the east, both important historically. More importantly the coin reminds me of the great conversation, study and fun I've had collecting this series along side some really great people.

mrearlygold

1833 dime, last 3 high, xf/au found in pocket change.

Neat-o it was it was I tell ya

OldEastside

My Dad gave my three brothers and I, a brand new 64 Kennedy and told us to keep em
he also gave us a brand new Redbook...........I still have mine and its a TDO

Steve

TwoSides2aCoin

A hope of one finding one led me on the path, yes. The 1943 copper cent, followed closely by the one that was minted for my birth year… so my dad let me think (1955) "Lucky Strike".

ElmerFusterpuck

For me there was one coin, which I unfortunately can't find now. When I was 10 back in '72, a classmate of mine brought a couple Whitman penny folders to school, #1 (1909-40) and #2 (1941 to date). Both were partially filled and I thought it was kinda cool. He then offered me to pick a couple of extra cents so I can also get started. One was a 1953-S and the other was the oldest, a 1929. For me, that cent was very old and made me want to call the local hobby store that same day to see if they had any Whitman folders for sale. They did and the rest was history. I still have both folders (#1 and #2) somewhere, but the 1929 cent and the classmate is MIA. No doubt the 1929 would grade a 92 Genuine due to all the pencil erasings to make it look 'newer' (come on, we all did that!), but it would be priceless to me if it showed up again.

Now counting down until the FUN show!

jmski52

1909 vdb, in Good.

Baley

I've told this story before, briefly, there was a coffee cup of old coins in the high cabinet above the refrigerator when I was about 8, saved by my grandparents and given to my dad.
I found that cup in my explorations, and was fascinated with the different coins, most are junk silver long ago sold, did keep a couple of the silver dollars and still have them.
There were 33 silver roosies, a couple of silver washingtons, one each slick SLQ, WLH, and indian cent, a 1959 british half penny, and one morgan and 3 peace dollars.

My interest in those coins caused other relatives to give me their odds and ends, and I started to get a redbook and coin magazines, and later my dad would take me to the coin shop on Saturdays.

Also in that high cabinet were some bottles of liquor, some nudie magazines, and the spare keys to the '65 mustang, but I didn't take an interest in those for a few more years..

410a

1859 Indian cent. Found under the bottom drawer of an old 150 year house l grew up in. Albany, NY. Beautiful AU cent. Hooked, saddened, hooked, disappointed and now I know that I will never stop collecting. I try to put back what once was..... I. Try

If wishes were horses beggars would ride.

TwoSides2aCoin

Left coins in '73. The '95 DDO Lincoln cent made main stream news near the end of the millennium and I have to say that coin actually "re-ignited" my interest in numismatics, again.

erickso1

This one got me really into collecting and building my first set. Before that I was just farting around.

CharlotteDude

The one that got me started down the Charlotte gold road is this coin. I'd always been intrigued with the Charlotte mint's history, as it is my home state. I didn't think to really start pursuing a collection of the mint's product until I walked into a anitque/coin shop in Pacific Grove, CA in 1991 and found this in the case. It immediately drew my attention, so I purchased it raw. It's now in a PCGS XF-45 holder.

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'dude

DIMEMAN

Actually 2 coins. When I was 15 (1962) an older gentleman gave me a 1905-O half AG and a 1882-O dollar VF-XF.

I don't collect either series, but still have those coins.