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Welcome, Uncle! Great first post. Thanks for the introduction. More lurkers should expose themselves (ahem).

It's uncanny how quickly we get addicted. But the big leap (and enjoyment) comes from learning about the hobby and developing taste and a discerning eye.

Expect some screw-ups. All of us made mistakes early on so try not to punish yourself for them and instead make them valuable learning lessons.

Carry on!
Lance.

Welcome!

Grandma's coins put me in mind of another collector.

A big welcome! Knowledge is King. Read as many books as you can and attend coin shows if there are any close to you. It is probably best to pick a coin series or type to start collecting. You will make mistakes ( we all have ) but learn from them. Again welcome and have fun!

Great post.!.! Welcome aboard

Good to meet you. Hopefully we can continue to help out in meaningful ways.

Welcome to the circle my coin brother. I'm sure you'll enjoy it here

Welcome!
Glad you decided to jump in.

Welcome to the forums!

LOL no--sunny Camp Pendleton, near San Diego.

I have a DANSCO 7070 album filled with coins that were removed from slabs, and just taped the inserts to the insides of the album covers. This is rather common.

Glad you joined us Chris. Your story is very similar to many collectors around here.

Welcome.

Getting in is easy - Getting out is the hard part

@UnclePennyBags... Welcome aboard Chris.... Great story... Hope you enjoy the forum... lots of fantastic people here.... Cheers, RickO

Chris!

Thanks for joining, hope you enjoy your experiences in numismatics.

Welcome UnclePennyBags,
I am fairly new myself, I run a coin business with my brothers, mentored by our father who has over 40+ years experience.
I still have a long way to go, and a lot to learn. Wish I had introduced myself on here as well, an excellent community and a great forum, with an exceptional new addition, looking forward to your input on here.

Welcome, nice intro.

Enjoyed reading your first post. Glad you kept the cigar box of family coins. Welcome to the forum!

Hi Chris! 36 soon to be 37 year old newbie here, big time silver bug that has recently caught a bit of the gold bug. This place is great, and the coins and knowledge, oh my

Welcome have fun, post away....

Another mid-late 30s guy here, returning after a 10-15 year hiatus in metals and college and marriage.

But collecting was always part of me change hunting and roll hunting and metal detecting. My father always took me to shows as a kid. His father and my mother's parents were collectors. I made out about 35k at peak, put 15k back into metals when it slumped.

Started collecting in the 80s. Still lots of silver then. More quarters than dimes. Half dollars were mostly 40% with a few clad but mostly silver. People still had jugs of change around their houses, or jars or ash trays or old coin purses.

I remember making out like a bandit just from collecting for my paper routes. Older customers (whose driveways I also shoveled), would often pay in all silver change. I'd get a lot of dateless buffalos and silver certificates. I only saw one LHN for doing 8 years of two routes (and weekends). Getting an envelope with 8 dollars in halves would at least have a 40% in it. It would be odd in the early/mid 80s to not get silver. I didn't come across many mercs, but they were always there at the end of collection day. I don't remember people really handing me them. Sometimes.

I remember getting 3 cent pieces as "dimes" from the very older crowd. My father and both my grandfathers were collectors and I got in it young, see, so even if people were purposefully or mistakingly using 3 cent pieces, I was all for it. Barbers were also real common. More than mercs, now that I think about it. Someone in a yellow house always paid with old change. She was a weekend only subscriber for the smaller newspaper.

I'm guessing the people who collected or kept rolls and bags around, or had lost someone who did, just started paying in change. The M-F subscription of one paper was 90 cents a week, so I'd either get a dollar as a tip or most denominations. I don't ever remember seeing an SLQ, and I only got paid in silver dollars a couple times, but those were "we know what they are and what they're worth they should cover the newspaper and leaves/snow".

My first roll of peace dollars was doing the driveway of people at 116. They never talked to anybody, but gave huge snickers at halloween, and kept to themselves. They were getting older and needed their driveway done too. They'd heard I was a coin collector and instead of their newspaper fee and money for doing their driveway, they gave me 10 silver dollars.

I remember getting poorly photocopied lists of coins and you'd put a checkmark in the box for date, grade, and mintmark. You'd put this thing called a stamp (which people collected!) on an envelope, slip money or a check inside, and the postman who your family knew by name would come grab it. Wouldn't you know it, you got what you asked for! I'd ride my bike to go check the cases in the local coin shop. I've probably sorted more coins than the oldest dealers and I've got the eyes to prove it. I got in at a really great time, sold numismatic value to turn into silver and gold and suddenly they just skyrocketed. I played around in the 30s range on silver but knew how this was gonna turn out.

The past 2 years I've been whittling down numismatic value more and more, getting rid of 90% here and there, getting my treasures together. Revamped my Whitman folders when grandma died a few years ago.

Filled a couple more cent and nickel books. I send those and uncirculated/proof sets that I got as a kid to my nephew. He's a champ. My brother-in-law married our mutual friend. I hope he gets into it. He's old enough now to get some silver and some other treasures of the family, and I'll write notes about family history and such. I always try to at least get him something when cleaning out part of my collections, something he can keep and say my uncle's grandfather bought it in Italy after the first war.

Whew sorry for the novel and hello to all and to all that are new as well!