It's sobering to realize
topstuf
Posts: 14,803 ✭✭✭✭✭
that EVERY coin you grew up with is not only not a "modern" but also now considered "classic."
Or very dang close!
Perhaps "sobering" is wrong, too. 
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Insert witicism here. [ xxx ]
When I started collecting coins, collectors who were then as old as I am now considered 1907 High Relief $20's more modern than I now consider 1964 Kennedy half dollars. And in 1965, those same collectors were probably saying the same thing about High Reliefs and Civil War Tokens!
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
Time marches on, my friend,
Pete
I just realized a few days ago that the state quarters will be 20 years old next year. Hard to believe.
Well, I am not sure that a Franklin Half Dollar is "a classic." I suppose it is to some people.
Oddly enough I have arranged my coin photos into three large categories, Early Coin (1792 to say 1809 or so), 19th century coins (1810 to 1899) and Modern coins 1900 to date. The colonial era, commemoratives, political and British pieces are in other categories.
What is considered modern by area is interesting.
For example, modern art runs from the 1860s to 1970s while modern coins run from 1964 to present. In other areas like houses, movies, music, cars, etc. anything from the 1860s to the 1970s and even later isn’t modern.
What makes you think I am talking about FRANKLINS ?
In "my day"....whippersnappers.... we were using Walking Lib Half Dollars.
Bright shiny NEW ones.
I can REMEMBER being disappointed (even though a kid) with the Roosevelt Dime when it replaced that PURDY Merc.
I won't even mention what I thought about..... FrANKlins....
I used to get rid of SILVER DOLLARS as fast as I got them.
They weighed down my Levis.
And .....PEACE dollars? UGH !!! PFFAAAFFF....aaaghhh... NO !!
Not even OLD.
IHCs were still to be found although not many. SLQ? Sure.....LOTS..... SPEND EM !!
Not the case with me. It would be interesting to see what collectors in their 20s think, but '60s and '70s clad is modern in my book, and always will be.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
Wow!
Time don't fly, it leaps and bounds. -John Prine
I was born in the time of the Zincoln. Can wait till those aren’t classics
Latin American Collection
At one time I was modern...now I'm a classic
When I was getting started, the 20th century type set was filled with modern coins. Now that a fair number of them are a century old, they are "classics." I guess that influences my perceptions.
Get off my lawn!
What is now proved was once only imagined. - William Blake
I am in total agreement with @topstuf....WLH's were common change... SLQ's I would get on my paper route... along with IHC's and V nickels....Now, a few months ago, I found a WLH in a roll of halves (the rest were Kennedy's) and danced around the room for ten minutes....
Sobering indeed... I try never to think about this when enjoying a bottle of Cabernet....Cheers, RickO
I'm 48 and started collecting in 1977. I actually started collecting after finding a Franklin half my mom had left out as my lunch money, and thinking it was cool. I went through a Sparkletts bottle my dad kept his change in and found tons of wheats and a decent amount of silver, but only a few obsolete designs. My kids today roll search and are excited to find a wheat cent or a nickel older than 1960, so things have changed. I still have the mindset that "modern" means The Clad Era.
Some of them will be.