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How did you get bitten by the coin bug?

I used to go through all of my change to fill penny and nickel Whitman folders as a kid. Similar start for many of you?

As an adult I occasionally go through boxes of nickels trying to fill all of my holes for 1938 to 1961. Still missing 19, so a long way off, but am always surprised about how excited I get to start a new box :-) most recent find was a 1951s.

Anyway, as you can see by my other posts I recently inherited a collection and am starting to realize how cool a hobby it is. Enjoy having examples of many old American coins, even if some of them are cleaned and/or not in the best shape.

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Answers

  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Coinman999....Welcome aboard.... I got started as young lad with a paper route....often got old coins.. IHC's, SLQ's, Mercs were still common as were WLH's. Great hobby...Cheers, RickO

  • thisistheshowthisistheshow Posts: 9,386 ✭✭✭✭✭

    My grandmother was a collector of sorts. I sat with her as a kid and looked at them at her dining room table. I forgot about coins for another 30 years, and then the dormant big rekindled.

  • oldabeintxoldabeintx Posts: 1,579 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I'm a collector by nature it seems. Not limited to coins but coins have endured for me when stamps, baseball cards, comic books, beer cans, you-name-it have fallen by the wayside. Coins were a "free" thing to collect a kid, stayed with it for a variety of reasons.

  • RayboRaybo Posts: 5,273 ✭✭✭✭✭

  • CCGGGCCGGG Posts: 1,267 ✭✭✭✭✭

    This question has been asked a number of times just in the past year
    (here one of the links https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/comment/12161822#Comment_12161822 )

    And here's my last answer.

    I'm sure I've posted this before on related threads, but my interest in coin collecting started when I was in the second grade in 1959. The front page of the Weekly Reader had an article about the new Lincoln Memorial penny. (I can still see the front page in my mind)

    The new cents, must have made sense to me since I was hooked instantly. :)

    Edit: I found a picture of the front page on the Internet (amazing). Almost exactly as I remember it.

    !

  • WalkerfanWalkerfan Posts: 8,897 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Influenced mostly by my father but also to a lesser extent by my uncle, grandfather and by being in the Cub Scouts. Dad gave me all of his silver and blue Whitman folders to fill. He also gave me some really cool foreign coins, too, and he bought me a GSA Morgan CC dollar in the mid-1970s.

    “I may not believe in myself but I believe in what I’m doing” ~Jimmy Page~

    My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947)

    https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/

  • oldabeintxoldabeintx Posts: 1,579 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I had forgotten all about the Weekly Reader. Thanks for the post.

  • @joeykoins said:
    Hi and Welcome To School! I say school because of learning you will experience in the future. Here on our forum, you'll learn manners, ethics and business. People here are pretty knowledgeable in many areas. Always post any questions you have and don't be a stranger. The most important thing is to have FUN! My first time of being bitten was when I found some coins at my job in a vacant apartment, under a shortly to be replaced carpet. About 6 coins. The best among the 6 was a 1843 Large Cent that excited me and got me going to collect and hunt out other coins. Your story is interesting as well. Once again, Welcome to our Forum!- Joey :)

    That's awesome!

  • yosclimberyosclimber Posts: 4,572 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited April 16, 2019 3:12PM

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmXWVOcTt3c
    "I've been bitten by the love bug, ..." - the first thing I thought of when I saw the title.

  • ColonelJessupColonelJessup Posts: 6,442 ✭✭✭✭✭

    After I saw my mercury-coated dimes turn gray, I decided that their natural state was more aesthetically pleasing. Still have my erasered set of Lincolns :o

    "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." - Geo. Orwell
  • perkdogperkdog Posts: 29,356 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I just got the bug myself, for me it’s a combination of history and design. As I start on my collection I want coins that have character, for me that means circulated with true wear on the surfaces, I’m probably in the minority but for me that gives the coin character rather than an uncirculated piece that rarely saw the light of day over the decades. The designs are really pieces of art in my opinion and that drew me in as well

  • matt_dacmatt_dac Posts: 959 ✭✭✭✭✭

    An Uncle into coins inspired my interest. He also gave me a few Wheat pennies to get started as did a friend of my Dad who collected.

  • Eric_BabulaEric_Babula Posts: 413 ✭✭✭✭

    I also began as a kid. My dad got my brother and me into it, as something fun to do together! We often sifted through pocket change for cents, nickels, dimes, quarters to put into our albums (I still have those same albums to this day, some 40+ years later!). It was a lot of fun to find pre-1964 dimes and quarters - all we knew was that they were silver, and more rare! Then, my dad took us to a coin show, and we were allowed to look at the multitude of coins! Oh my! I fell in love with Mercury Dimes, Franklin Halves and Morgan Dollars. Of course, I was too young (and had no money) to buy anything but one Merc and one Franklin. My mom gave each of us a Morgan Dollar (well circulated), a few years later. I still love Mercs and Morgans!

    Rocking my "shiny-object-syndrome"!!!

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