Coin stories
PTVETTER
Posts: 5,990 ✭✭✭✭✭
I though I would share one with the forum. When I first collecting Mercury dime I was far from picky.
In fact I was just happy to fill holes. And then I cleaned them with either baking soda or a pencil eraser.
I also had some without dates so maybe it was a key date.
Now to the more recent time, I would pick up better looking in junk bins, that was step one.
Next step happened after I was a part time dealer at a state show, someone sold me some graded mercury dimes in old rattlers.
Not a complete short but more than half of the set. Just as in fishing I got hooked. So now I wanted to do a graded short set.
A good friend that was a wholesale dealer sold me some Mercury dimes before the short set. So now I had to try to complete the set.
I haven't posted this to admit how short sighted I was when I was much younger
PS I meet a registry set member at a FUN show and he told me I did the same thing when he started collecting Merc dimes, that made me feel better.
Still working on my set may be I will be able to completely the set in Mint state. 
Comments
Might be more interesting to show some pics along w/the stories.
Ahhhh yes, the early days.....paid my dues.
Bought cleaned sliders for MS money.
Bought third world slabs in almost any grade from AU 50-MS 64.
Purchased raw and all different series across the board.
Finally got my focus and a plan about 12 years ago....I am continually learning and evolving.
Mentored by many great board members, too.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
For some reason, when I started with the Lincoln Blue folder [50+ years ago].......my mother told me to never ever clean coins, that it would ruin the value. Even though they were common cents from circulation, I listened to her.
Thanks Mom
Successful transactions with : MICHAELDIXON, Manorcourtman, Bochiman, bolivarshagnasty, AUandAG, onlyroosies, chumley, Weiss, jdimmick, BAJJERFAN, gene1978, TJM965, Smittys, GRANDAM, JTHawaii, mainejoe, softparade, derryb
Bad transactions with : nobody to date
PS
We didn't have a car but I remember her taking me on the bus, then the subway, then the trolley so that I could go to the Coin Show at the Staedler Hotel in Boston when I was 8 or 9 years old. She didn't collect coins [as a single working mom she could barely buy food for us four kids], but she knew that I liked coins.
Thanks again Mom
Successful transactions with : MICHAELDIXON, Manorcourtman, Bochiman, bolivarshagnasty, AUandAG, onlyroosies, chumley, Weiss, jdimmick, BAJJERFAN, gene1978, TJM965, Smittys, GRANDAM, JTHawaii, mainejoe, softparade, derryb
Bad transactions with : nobody to date
I cleaned all my Lincolns with copper cleaner. My sister-in-law introduced me to the technique.
Man, it did a nice job. Shiny new pennies, just the way collectors like them.
Dave
As a youngster with a paper route in the late 50s / early 60s between the change collected from customers and searching through rolls from a local bank the only Lincolns I never found were the 14-D, 22 Plain and 55 DDO. A friend of mine did find the 55 but for some reason I was never able to talk him out of it. Jefferson nickels, found them all (up to 65). Mercury dimes, all but a 16-D and the overdates.
it's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide
I had more trouble cleaning my room than coins. Guess that's why I stayed grounded for like 18 years.
I was born in 1960.
At age 8 I decided to collect Jefferson Nickels (I was a paperboy and also stashed away ALL pre-65 silver).
I had a huge flip open steel tackle box, all of the trays were lined with flat cork strips to absorb moisture when a wet lure was placed in it's slot...
SO, I thought it would be a good place to stash my nickels......
Checked them a few days later and they all were as black coal.
Grandmother had about 80 circulated Morgan's. In 1963 or so my dad bought the pocket price guide for a quarter and decided to check the values.
Before starting though he got out the silver polish paste and worked them over real good.
Never saw the coins after that and that was probably a good thing.
Lots of ex-paperboys here.
Do any of you ex-paperboy coin collectors also have the 3c paperboy stamp?
I have a nice sheet.....it's a cheap sheet...as most of them are.
A former paper boy here.... early fifties.... when SLQ'S, V nickels, Columbian halves and all silver was common change....had a collection then, kept in a drawer with socks and other things. Most of those disappeared after I joined the Navy...even my '55DDO'S.... A few other coins survived that 'clean up' by my well meaning Mom.... in a band aid can. Sure wish I had those DDO's... Cheers, RickO
I used a pencil eraser to make all my Lincolns look good. Nice and shiny!
Pete
About 20 years ago, I was working in this liquor store in Jersey. We ran out of quarters in the register, so I grabbed a new roll out of the cash box. When I cracked it against the counter, a brilliant white quarter fell into the till amongst its dark stepsisters. It was from the 50's and it looked like it was damned near minted yesterday! I dug it out and wrapped it in the cellophane from a pack of cigarettes, replacing it with another coin from my pocket.
Later on the quarters ran down again, and into the cash box I went. I struck the roll in half like an ivory soap commercial and out came another bright coin, dripping luster and boasting a date from the 40's. NOW I'M INTRIGUED... So I carefully unwrap another roll.
This is where it gets strange... In the middle of the roll, directly in the middle, like $5 on the mark in the middle, was a pre-1965 mint quarter. Another roll opened revealed the same scenario; mint state silver quarter placed directly in the middle of the roll, as if someone was hiding it from the bank like some worthless steel slug. So now I have thirty dollars of quarters in the register, and it's almost closing time. I have some explaining to do to the boss. But this doesn't stop me from throwing a twenty dollar bill in and leaving with two rolls to look through at home.
I cracked open a beer, and prepared to crack open another roll at my dining room table. I picked at the wrapper slowly until the milk white of silver again graced me with its moonlight from the roll's equator! I lifted her from darkness and BAMM! 1932! And before you call, "bull$hit!" I will tell you upfront it had neither a D or S mintmark. Nor was it mintstate, but lightly circulated with a ding on the nose that made George Washington resemble Geraldo Rivera. Still a beauty for a 65 year coin in circulation, and again mysteriously placed precisely in the middle of the roll.
With one more roll left, and five Samuel Adams, I start to ponder. It's just too strange, these old silver quarters popping up so well preserved surrounded by modern clad. Was someone THAT ignorant to believe that they were no longer legal tender, and had to be buried in with the "real" coins? Was someone's collection stolen, and the thieves decided to dump them for face value? Maybe some old timer passed on, and the quarters he'd been carefully saving for all of those years went to estranged relatives who couldn't be bothered inventorying their inheritance. Far fetched, I know. But possiblities in this crazy world we share.
The last roll. Right about then, I wished I had thrown in a fifty and cleaned my boss right out of his supply. But, that's youth for you. So, I unwrap my last roll and find the scenario has changed. THIS ONE HAS ABOUT A DOZEN, glittering like a school of mackeral! I dug my hooks in and pulled out a GOREGEOUS 1934-D, a semi-key that would later grade MS-64 by our host! The reverse looks even better, the details of the eagle's feathers so detailed and crisp, its wings sharp and seemingly poised for flight. To this day, this is my biggest circulation find. Astonishing to see such old coins coming up in original condition.
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
i hear stories. Wish I could retell them.
Cool story DCW.
Here ya go.....
Sometimes my wife says she thinks I have one of everything.
it's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide
Lots of old paperboys....and I mean OLD....lol
The only thing the stamp designer forgot to include was the loose Doberman chewing on his (my) ankle.....
Yep...'old' paperboy here... as I have often mentioned. I do not have one of those stamps...did not know about them.. Was a great job, though cold in the winter here in the mountains. Cheers, RickO
No paper route, but sure shined a lot of shoes..........spit shine was extra.:)
I did the paperboy thing as a kid.
I'm at over 50 years in the hobby. At age 13, I had a paper route, mowed yards and picked up coke bottles. I thought I was rich. After school I would ride by bike to the local coin shop. It was only about 2 miles away. The owner was really kind to me. We were friends for about 40 years before he passed. He brought me behind the counter when the shop was busy and put me at his desk in the back to sort out large collections. In return, I got first shot at some really cool coins. I miss the guy. We built a trust that I'll never forget.
Back in the '70's and 80's, several of us would drive to Dallas to one of the coin shops. One guy would buy anywhere from 1 to 5 Unc. Morgans Dollars, usually 1881-S. For some reason he liked the 1881-S Morgans. They could, today, grade MS63 to MS65. The first thing he would do when arrived home was to take silver polish and polish each one of the Unc. Morgans to where they were bright and shiny. We ask why did he do this as he ruined the value and they were only now worth silver content, he said, these belong to me and I will never sell them and I like them shiny.
I tried ....selling.... "improved" coat hangers.
Also Kool Aid
I never had a dealer take me under their wing.
Still learning and still making mistakes and loosing $$$$
However slowly getting better!
I have learned one thing Eye appeal is SOOOOOO important!