Which Coin Do You Think Has Brought Most Collectors into to the Hobby?
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I would choose the 1943 Cent.
Because before I started collecting years ago, friends would tell me they owned a rare and valuable penny from 1943. Over the years, this got me really intrigued that I decided to learn more about coins. Then I started collecting soon after. I wonder how many other people it enticed.
Over the years I have heard other collectors have similar stories, on how their relative has a rare 1943 penny worth alot of money.
Which coin do you think has drawn the most collectors into the hobby?
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Lincoln Cents in general. So many collectors over the years have told me they became interested at early ages putting them in folders and it grew from that point.
I started with stacking Silver Eagles.
I agree with Lincoln Cents.
Almost every kid knew about these. At least they used to. Don't forget the 1943 Copper Cent.
Probably Lincoln Wheat cents for the younger begining collector. For the older more affluent collector, I'd say Morgan's !!!
1909 S V.D.B., the holy grail coin, for every kid who started collecting pennies by putting them in a Whitman blue Lincoln folder 1909-1940 after Jan 1, 1960.
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Lincoln cents. That's what did it for me. Hours searching bags with my grandma at the kitchen table to find 1995 ddo's. Still have a few we found!
Lincoln cents. I started out with those.
In recent times I think that the 1999 Delaware Quarter and the beginning of the SHQ series started a wave that brought in many new collectors.
Hard to believe that was almost 20 years ago.
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I got started on half dollars when I roll hunted!
Dang! I graduated high school in Delaware in 1999. It does feel hard to believe it has been that long.
I also think Lincolns probably pull in the most people, not where I started but seems very common.
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Definitely Lincoln Wheatbacks. Indian Head cents and Buffalo nickels are probably 2 and 3.
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Agree with the Lincoln cent crowd. I remember always looking for wheat cents and buffalo nickels were always a neat find. I can even remember thinking silver dollars were rare
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For one single coin bringing the most people to the hobby at once, 1909 VDB plain, at the time of issue. Everybody wanted one, and everybody saved one. Lines were long, and immediately they sold at a premium. Second to that would be the 1955 DDO. There are no two coins that have brought more sheer numbers of ordinary collectors to the hobby than those two. After Lincoln cents, affordability of collecting "money" always became an issue.
I would say Lincolns lure the most but a little of everything lures the rest. Morgans, buffaloes, Mercs, walkers and anything gold. If you break it down in metals I would say copper, silver, gold, platinum, palladium.
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For a long time it was Lincolns, and wheats as they had been phased out so they were rarer in circulation and something to hoard. But I'm thinking in recent years it was the state quarters. They are accessible and the goal (collect each state instead of by year and mint mark) is intuitive.
My strategy is about collecting what I intend to keep, not investing in what I plan to sell.
There was a surge in coin collecting in 1857 when the mint stopped production of the large cent and the small cent was introduced. People scrambled to save large cents since they were no longer being produced.
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1909 VDB
The '33 double eagle probably brought more in than Israel Switt wanted.
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Lincoln cents likely started more collectors than any other coin - in modern times. Certainly there were collectors before that, however, I am not old enough to tell you what inspired collectors back that far.
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Indian Cents, Barber Coinage, Classic Commems, American Eagles
Lincoln Memorial cents (1959) I still remember reading about the new design in my elementary school "Weekly Reader". I've been hooked ever since then.
Once I learned a little more about collecting, I wanted a 1909S vdb and looked through countless coins for one. (my mom worked for a gumball vending company and would bring home a $50 bag of pennies about once a week for me to look through.) I probably built ~90% of a Lincoln set looking for that coin but I never did find one.
Later it was a 50D nickel. Never found one of those in change either.
For me...any coin made of silver, with an attractive design. Wow, that was over 55 years ago.
In the past 40 years, I'd say the Statehood Quarter program. From what I've heard though, the 1955 Doubled Die pennies caused a massive amount of interest from the public.
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Did any 1950-D nickels make it into circulation?
Yes, I found three in the early 1960s, all XF or lower, two from roll searches and one in change from a vending machine. At the time I heard estimates that 1/3 to 1/2 of the mintage made it into circulation. At the price peak in 1964 circulated specimens were selling for about half the price of uncirculated ones.
The coin that famously did not make it into circulation was the 1960 Philadelphia small date cent. Circulated specimens rarely turn up to this day.
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For folks my age, it was the bicentennial coins and then the Suzie B dollars a couple years later.
Probably each generation has its hooks, many seniors have mentioned the 55DD, 1959 memorial cents and the 1965 clads, and our younger members had the 1986 ASE/AGE coins or the state quarters.
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Yes, I knew someone that got one in change but it looked like it had been shot with a BB gun on the rev.
For me, it was a 1909 vdb Lincoln. In Good condition.
I knew it would happen.
That's why I think the demise of the 1 cent coin can't come soon enough for this hobby! You will suddenly have half of America hoarding Lincoln Cents, of every date and type, just because they think they might have something "rare" someday. (Don't tell them they are wrong.) But once you spark that interest, and maybe they get interested in Buffalo Nickels, and Mercury Dimes, (and so on), too!
Rupees and it always been rupees.
If the mint ever stops producing cents for general circulation due to the high cost of production relative to the cent's face value, they could always produce them for inclusion in mint sets and proof sets for collectors perhaps even using copper planchets rather than zinc. They could also produce and sell rolls of these copper cents to collectors at what they cost to manufacture and market them and even include a small profit.
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Personally, I have been “collecting” coin and currency for several decades but most of this has been electronically deposited into financial institutions.
It was not until the State Quarters came out and and a family member got one of those State Quarter maps. We then started to randomly plug the holes with pocket change. So the map is complete and collecting dust (this was back around 2010).
Still “collecting” into the financial institutions but have now started collecting as a hobby; and it is wife approved! I just do not mention how much over FV it costs.
Wasn't any particular coin at all, it was the Red Book, when I was 5 my Dad brought home a brand new 1964 Red Book, and for years we had a nightly routine of going through Dad's change when he came home from work, my 3 brothers and I almost memorized the book, in fact I can say that it was my first introduction to a reference manual/book..........However I was quite intrigued with the 1894 S Barber Dime and it's whopping Mintage.
Steve
1943 bronze and 1955 DDO cents were very important to hooking the older collectors. But don't overlook just the plain ol' 1950-D nickel either.
Younger collectors were enticed by the Delaware quarter and those which followed.
You can tell the age of the posters based on what coin they think gets collectors today started. While Lincolns are probably a good starter (cheap and plentiful), what person in the last 40 years has hoped to find a 1909 S-VDB in change, let alone a wheat cent which are today fairly uncommon. Designs for the most part are stagnant (Lincoln obverse is 109 years old, Washington 86, Jefferson 80, Roosevelt 72).
I'd say State quarters got some people collecting today, but I'm guessing that the interest level generated by that has pretty much worn off. Most state quarter collections have wound up deposited in the bank once the series was over and there was no real value to the set except face value.
I would say the Lincoln cent.
For me, it was the Lincoln Cent, but that was more than 50 years ago. More recently I think that it has been, in chronological order, Morgan Dollars, American Silver Eagles, State Quarters.
For me, it was silver of the 1930s and 40s. Roosevelts, Washingtons, Walkers and Franklins. This was from my father's influence. I was about 8 or 9 years old. Around that time; I had a childhood friend that was collecting Lincoln cents and that was the first time that I had heard of the 1909-S VDB and the 1960 large and small date. His encouragement came from his own father and from his older brother.
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I too started with silver eagles. Franklin halves where the 1st non bullion coin that attracted me.
My first non bullion series was silver Ike’s
Lincolns when you could find 15-20 wheaties in bank rolls (1960s). Then started buying silver dollars (Peace or Morgans) from classmates in Jr High -- for $2 ea. Realize now they were likely lifted from parents collections...
For me: Morgan dollar in MS condition and original proof sets in cellophane flat pack such as 1955 and 1960
Trying to fill in the Lincoln series was the driving force for us kids. When the Memorial Reverse came out it just fanned the flames. Who would be first to find a Memorial Cent with the "D" mint mark? Not easy in a small town east of the Mississippi.
Lincoln cents and coin books. That is the starting point for most young collectors.
I found a Philly small date in circulation back in 1963. It's the one and only I ever found so yes-they were very hard to find.
Lincoln cent for me (age 54) back in early 70's
Washington quarters for my little nephew (age 8)
We both started at around age 6
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