Who here was born in the 30's? 40's? 50's? 60's? 70's? 80's? 90's?

braddick

What decade was your birth and please tell us the significant changes you've become aware in the field of coin collecting?

The start of the new year, right around the corner has made me a bit nostalgic.

I was born in the late 1950's and I recall as a child putting together a date set of worn large cents (had three coin shops within a bike ride distance from my home- a small suburb of San Jose).
I remember too trading coins with other kids in the neighborhood and also collecting stamps. No real haggling over grades, just dates! I do remember though if a large cent had been cleaned/scrubbed with a Brillo pad we were savvy enough to know it was much less
desirable than one that had not.



Your memories?

MGLICKER

Born in the 1950's as well. No real interest in coins until my adult years as all my money went to Matchbox cars and tropical fish.

Do recall my father picking up a coin price book at the supermarket in 1963 or so. He removed my grandmothers 60 or so circulated morgan dollars from the cedar chest and gave them a good scrubbing with paste silver polish before we assessed the value.

All were common but one had an $8 value in 1963. Probably a better Carson City.

Coins have long vanished from the family trust......would be nice to still own them.

Shamika

Born in the 60's.

I remember attending coin shows as a kid and seeing other kids going from dealer to dealer looking for affordable wheat cents. That's something you don't see so much anymore.

pitboss

Born in the 30's and EVERYTHING has changed in coin collecting.

I used to get my coins from Woolworth's and that doesn't even exist anymore.

johnny9434

<< <i>Born in the 30's and EVERYTHING has changed in coin collecting.

I used to get my coins from Woolworth's and that doesn't even exist anymore. >>

born in the 50s here and did the same thing. g fox as well and wt grants. all gone noe

Type2

In the 1966 camp, What got me start in collecting was when my dad went off on how he gave what he thought was .75 cents to the gas station and it turned out they where 3 SBA Dollar's and back then i think gas was .29 or .39 cents a gal so i asked him if i can see how they looked and i was hooked. So the ugliest coin got me hooked.

pcunix

I was born in 1948 and began collecting when I was six.

The saddest change for me was the loss of silver coins, the happiest was making gold legal again.

DeepCoin

I was born in 1948 as well. The major change I have seen that brought me back into the hobby was 3rd party grading. No longer is my coin AU, while your same coin is BU. Also, I can get a reasonable price for anything I want to sell on the internet. No more losing 50% just because I am a collector. I recognize the need for dealers to make a living and have no issue paying the value for a coin. I just objected to being taken advantage of unduly as was often the past in the 60s and 70s that drove me out of the hobby until services like PCGS and NGC became available.

AUandAG

Born in the 40's and I remember my local dealer offering to clean my purchases professionally, for free.

Never went for it....still laugh at it today.

bob

PS: Unsearched silver dollars were a buck a piece at the bank. Any quantity you wanted.

Overdate

Born in the 1940s, started collecting in the early 1960s.

Everything is exactly the same as it was 50 years ago.

LindeDad

Born in the 40's also and the only thing about coins I remember is trading Buffalo Nickels for Mercury Dimes with my sister convinced her they were BIGGER.
Did not get into coin collecting till the 1970's.

MGLICKER

<< <i>Born in the 30's and EVERYTHING has changed in coin collecting.

I used to get my coins from Woolworth's and that doesn't even exist anymore. >>



Well heck, that's why they called it a Dime Store!

goodmoney4badmoney

I was born in the late 70's and didn't start collecting until 2003, so not much has changed from my perspective.

mercurydimeguy

Born in 69. Started collecting at 13 by accident. My first kind of job was working at a local coin store to help out (didn't get paid by the benefits were priceless). By 14 was working with a local vest pocket coin dealer who was losing his sight. At the age of 14 I was going to shows and grading coins for him. Of course I got to pick whatever I wanted (for myself) with my small budget. Kind of had an eye for grading at a young age, don't know why. Collected until abiut 17 avidly then took a break for 5 years. Collected for a year then stopped for another 8. Stared again for about 4 years, then stopped for 8. Started again about 2 years ago and going strong

NumisOxide

I was born in Dec 1988 but didn't start collecting until around 2003. Before that my father use to take me to a few local coin stores to buy common date barber coins. They were the first old type of coins I had contact with. My first NGC graded coin was a 1937 MS65 buffalo nickel I paid around $35 on eBay. My first PCGS coin was a 2002-s PR69 DCAM Sacajawea dollar. I sold that but still have the buff! The only significant change I really notice is the stickering of slabs such as CAC.

3keepSECRETif2rDEAD

Born in 1980 for me...very much enjoyed the mid-to-late 80's and all the 90's living life...Coins came in around 2006 Thanks to my late Gramps for getting the ball rolling around then

Merry Christmas gentlemen and lady,
Erik

19Lyds

Born in 1948 and remember my sister coming home with these.



While the brand may not have been correct, it was still the way that potato chips were sold at the time.

I remember sitting down with the Whitman Blue Folders and trying to fill each hole with "pennies" from a jar. Things have come a long way since then.
I used to buy my needed IKE's at coin shows and even bought what I was told was a good investment Peace Dollar. (It turned out to be not so hot but wud I know?)

I suppose the MOST significant change that has occurred in Coin Collecting is the widespread acceptance of TPG Grading. There was a time when a lot of dealers turned their noses up at it and poopooed it for some of the very reasons which are still talked about today. Grading Consistency and favoritism.

However, with the advent of the internet, eBay and online US Mint ordering, coin collecting has forever changed.

joebb21

I remember one of the biggest catalysts for my collecting was a teacher (7th grade) in my elementary school that used to give out coins as prizes.

prizes were given out for accomplishing certain learning.

First time= 1 wheat cent
2nd time= 2 wheat cents
3rd time= 3 wheat cents
etc.... etc..
steel cent->wheat cent->buffalo nickel->liberty nickel-> Roosevelt dime->merc dime->barber dime etc... etc..
the year was capped off with getting a peace dollar and then a morgan dollar (back in the mid 90's when circ's were $4-$5)

Each of the 25-30 kids per class ended their year with the collecting bug and a very respectable g-vg type set.

I still thank him any time I see him around.

VanHalen

Born in '64, the last year of 90% silver coinage was struck for circulation. I remember my Dad pulling 90% dimes and quarters from circulation when I was very young. Mom said he and a neighbor use to buy bags from the bank and sort out the silver on the kitchen table. There were dozens of tubes of silver dimes/quarters in a cabinet in their bedroom. $100s of dollars in FV were sold at 3X face.

I filled Whitman penny boards in the early 1970s. Still have a couple of them to this day. Wheat cents were everywhere in circulation, there were likely billions of wheat cents in circulation in the early 1970s. This was at the time of the moon walks. Many moons ago.

LogPotato

Born in 83.

As far as coin collecting changes, I don't have a large pool to sample from. I only became interested in coins about 5 years ago.

rkfish

'62---we got our coins in change and the banks. Would sort, put in books, and duplicates were recycled back through the bank. Incredibly cheap collecting and entertainment which was all we could do. lots of memories......

Boosibri

80's... The preference towards original surfaces and stickers in the past 5 years

gonzer

'58. I remember when Tarn-X© was the original coin doctor.

Tibor

1957. Put together Lincoln book 1 and Buffalo's with my dad.
Great memories. Collected off/on with baseball cards thru the
80's. Dropped cards eventually and coins since. The best change
to come along is third party grading. Thank you Mr. Hall and gang!!!

scubafuel

1982. The biggest change for me was ebay. I was able to find things that my B&M dealer had never seen before!

He still does not go online to my knowledge, but is definitely still in business.

morgansforever

I was born in the year Rollie Fingers shut down the Big Red Machine in the 9th, winning the World Series in game 7

2ltdjorn

1985

Bodin

1980's

ricko

Early 40's, started collecting late 40's..... silver everywhere.... IHC's, Barbers, Columbian halves and Morgans/Peace dollars available at any bank, even trade. Two really big changes... TPG's/FPG's and internet.... Cheers, RickO

winky

1947 and collecting since '59 but sold everything. Duh how dumb was I.

derryb

50's. Remember using the Raleigh shopping book to pick out Christmas presents, both parents smoked Raleighs because of the coupon on each pack.

crypto79

1979 and I remember how in the early 90s raw coins and other TPG holders all had active markets, now it seems that the market has evolved into a (preferred) and everything else dynamic with huge spreads between them. People would be wise to note this when purchasing as the spreads are continuing to grow in my opinion which is one of the things giving the perception of a softening market as much of "collectors" stuff would fall into the non-preferred group.

Cameonut

50's here. I remember going through bags of cents and nickels collected from parking meters in Racine Wisconsin. All we were trying to do was fill our Whitman folders. Couldn't afford to collect dimes and quarters from change.

nwcoast

50's here.
Biggest change is TPG and proportional price spikes for high quality materials.
Back in the day though, I didn't have an eye for high quality materials, so nothing lost there.
Collected coins as a kid and worked on Whitman albums. Didn't have the money or sense to search bank rolls...
I was more interested on spending what little I had on Matchbox cars...
I sure MISS the silver though!

ProofArtworkonCircs

Mid 30's here. By the time I got married in the mid 50's I had picked out of circulation 10 different dates Newfoundland halves plus 3 obverses plus two rolls of duplicates.Those rolls were soon turned into the local bank.

silverpop

1975

BG

Born in 1957, a great year by the way.


I was fairly late to collecting. I had a full time job plus worked at a convenience store part time. Someone brought in a dime roll which felt light to me. After the customer left, I opened the end of the roll and, low and behold, the entire roll were Mercury Dimes. I did pay the $5 for the roll.

I started doing some research on the series and have been hooked every since.

I guess it was about 1984 or so.


Here is the Mercury Dime in my Type Set:


PF67 FB

joeykoins

Yep, I'm in the 1957 club! I find a lot of us here are born in this year. The closest I became a coin collector was when I was about 7 or 8 when my father gave each of us (five kids) a silver Morgan dollar with our names and birth dates "carved" in each one. Yes, you read correctly, carved in these beautiful Morgan dollars. The Morgans were of various dates but no significant date. All common. I think I'm the only one who still has the Morgan? Everyone of my siblings either lost it or turned it in for $. Mine is a 1921s. It's on my avatar for Twitter.

koynekwest

Born in 1949. Biggest changes? The demise of silver and the establishment of the slab.

curly

No idea...I just consider myself a planetary enzyme.

BillJones

<< <i>50's. Remember using the Raleigh shopping book to pick out Christmas presents, both parents smoked Raleighs because of the coupon on each pack.

>>



Yes, my mother used to smoke those things in part because of the coupons. You got one with each package and four bonus coupons in a carton. She complained though that they "outlawed them too soon." The coupons had expiration dates on them.

Later as a "smart Alex" I thought of a Mad Magazine piece where they could have offered a lung cancer operation as one of the prizes in their catalog. My father and I were always after her to quit, but she won't. Finally a doctor told her that it didn't make any sense for her to continue coming to him if she kept on smoking because it would be a waste of his time. She called him an "impertinent kid," but that afternoon she came home, cut up and threw out all of the cigarettes she had in the house and quit cold turkey. That was probably the reason she lived to be 95.

I was born in 1949. As for the Brillo pads I had a 6th grade teacher who gave each student a 1943 steel cent and piece of steel wool to use to clean them. He claimed that steel wool would shine up the coins without damaging them.

ColonelJessup

Before MrEureka can attempt to perform elder-abuse upon me along the lines of suggesting my birth certificate as being in cuneiform, be warned that such items purported as original on Ebay are fake. Not only wasn't papyrus invented yet, but that's not Gilgamesh's handwriting on it. . . .

Someone can post a link to a 1944 Steelie? That would be a lot closer. . .

joeykoins

We should take a poll on who and how many are born in a particular era or year for that matter. Just curious?

WoodenJefferson

40's

I was nothing to get a buffalo nickle in change and Memorial Cents weren't even invented yet, so it was fun looking through wheat cents and then go spend the duplicates on penny candy.

Out of a handful of cents, half would be from the WWII era.

There were only 2 nickles to look for, a 1939-D and a 1950-D

My March of Dimes card would have Mercury dimes in it!

Quarters were for cigarettes and 5 plays on the juke box (I did not smoke, but my Mom would give me a note telling the clerk OK to give this kid a pack of Kents)

Half dollars were seldom seen

I did see Peace dollars in the till drawers at times...people would spend them when times got tough.

There were about 100 coins in existence that were worth more than 4 decimal points back then, now coins sell for 10's of thousands on a regular basis.

pocketpiececommems

1948 My brother and sister and I collected pennies. Dad would bring home the $50 bags from the bank and we would set around a card table and look through them. Sometimes we would put a big magnet in the bag to see how many steel cents we could pull out. I remember when the Memorial cents came out and everyone wanted one. I traded an Indian cent to a girl at church that had some. I also remember when clad quarters first came out ant everyone thought they were neat looking. That sure changed quick. Also everyone want the Kennedy halves.

pf70collector

Born in 1962. My first coin was from the U.S. Mint, a 1976 Bicentennial Silver Set. I still have the set.

The oldest coin I had seen was a 1898 Morgan Silver Dollar that my grandmother had when I was around 9 years old.

I was collecting stamps also at the time in my early teens. I would frequent Hutzlers in Towson, MD for the stamps.

Before I joined this forum in 2004, I was very green as far as coin collecting. I had no idea what TPGs were. It was in 2004 that I seriously started to collect coins and also sell coins on ebay.

Never went into a B&M coin store to purchase a coin to this day. Closest I came was the U.S. Mint Kiosk in Union Station in D.C. which is no longer there. Most of my coin purchases have been made on the internet. Stacks (ANR), Heritage, ebay, etc.

BillJones

<< <i>I also remember when clad quarters first came out ant everyone thought they were neat looking. >>



Everyone has a different perspective. When my uncle saw them, he was convinced that the country was headed to hell. I was 16 years old and got my license !!!!

TwoSides2aCoin

My brother said I was hatched. It really upset me when people called me a chicken. That led me to do a lot of crazy _____ in my life.

Now I find myself walking on eggshells , afraid to hurt any relatives.

UtahCoin

Early 1950's

JJSingleton

Late 50s

crazyhounddog

Born in 1951. The REALLY BIG change was silver to the crap we have today.