How did you get started collecting coins.
Larrob37
Posts: 218 ✭✭✭
I was just reflecting on my coin collecting days. I know when mine started. I was probably 8 or nine years old and saw a ad from Whitman Coins, probably in a comic book. It was a walker half and the ad said good condition. Being young I took that as meaning it was a nice shiny coin. Got the coin and was I ever disappointed when I received the coin. Could barely read the date but it got me started. I then just collected what I found in circulation, mostly pennies. I used to go to bank and get rolls and rolls of pennies that I checked. Fifty years later still looking at and for coins after I took off a few years where I collected nothing. Tell us your story. Merry Christmas and happy new year to everyone..
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A cool Uncle who gave me some Wheat pennies in the late 70’s. Not to put a downer on this thread, but I found out today he passed away this past week at 92. I last visited him a year ago and brought a Saint Gaudens for him to more easily see. He was still collecting and showed me his most recent buys. It was a nice last visit and we chatted about coins for a couple hours.
My mother was a school teacher. One day in February 1961 I was sick and had to stay home from school. My Grandparents lived next door and kept me that day and any time I was sick. My mother felt guilty leaving me home sick. On the way home she stopped at a store ( probably Woolworth's ) and bought me a blue Whitman (35 cent ) folder for Lincoln Cents. I was instantly hooked.
This is NOT the typical story:
I was in my mid-30's, not sleeping, and stumbled onto a TV coin show. I saw coins I had never heard of before! Benjamin Franklin? On a coin?! The heck you say!
Anyway, it sparked an interest, some searching for some books, and local coin shops, and thankfully, few actual purchases from TV.
Got in late as well. First computer in 2000 and I got on Ebay to buy some rare records. Came across a common Morgan in a PCGS holder and won it for about $45. My grandmother had about a hundred well circulated dollars that were cool, but I had never seen and uncirculated near gem coin. I was blown away by the beauty of the coin and was hooked.
Great investment as well as two decades later the coin has appreciated by about 5 bucks.
As a mostly irrelevant side note. My first Ebay purchase was a Maynard ferguson record. A friend who is a music teacher had been looking for the album for 20 years. Found one listed on Ebay and "won" it for $300. Seller was in japan and i sent the money order to his mom in Florida. He had good feedback and all went well.
Same album from different parts of the world began to pop up every week or so. $300 price held up and then crash. I got one a few years ago for about $20.
I've always had a fascination with mustard, needless to say the first show I walked into and I was hooked!
The whole worlds off its rocker, buy Gold™.
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Wooooha! Did someone just say it's officially "TACO™" Tuesday????
I think this is where I came in....
My best friend and I sort of fed off one another collecting coins from circulation. Pretty popular with kids in the 50's when finding a cent worth $1.50 was really something. My buddy found an SVDB in circulation, a huge deal for a 10 year old.
I was 7 years old. My parents bought a new fridge and a few buffalo nickels were underneath the old one. I was hooked ever since.
Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value. Zero. Voltaire. Ebay coinbowlllc
Cleaning out my grandmothers basement, row home in philly with old school huge boiler etc, we were never allowed down there growing up. She passed and we were cleaning out the house. Found bag after bag of old coins. My uncle went and took them to a pawn shop unbeknownst to me. I found out later and got what the pawn store did not want. She meant those coins for the grandkids so I started 15 years ago rebuilding for the next generation of collectors in the family.
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Picked up a penny in the parking lot of a Chinese restaurant in 1993. I was surprised to see the big words ONE CENT, instead of the familiar "Trolley Car". It was a 1953 S in at best AG-3 condition (the wheat ears were barely discernible). It was the oldest coin I had ever seen! My mom, who had collected US coins, but later specialized in Civil War tokens, picked up a Red Book and some Whitman folders, and I went from there.
my mom when she was alive gave me some old roman coins
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An uncle showed me his modest collection (mostly worn US silver) at a family holiday gathering. I remember sitting on the floor amazed by coins I’d never seen, some with dates starting with an 18. I began with circulation finds like bicentennial quarters and halves, SBAs, wheat pennies, etc. Around the same time my grandparents showed me the Proof ASE and Statue of Liberty commemorative set that they bought me for my birth year. I was fascinated.
Eventually (with the help of my parents) I obtained my first certified coin, an 1892 Barber 10c, heavily toned in an ANACS holder — recently crossed to PCGS. They told me the dealer was a real curmudgeon (LOL) because he looked at my collection of face value finds and said I wasn’t serious about the hobby — I was about 10 years old at the time! Despite his discouragement, I kept at it, and joined eBay in 1999 which became my source of certified coins. I definitely bought the holder, not the coin back then.
When I was in 6th grade I cleaned out my mother’s car, and with it took several cup holders worth of coins into my room to search through. I had a Red Book as well as a good loupe that my father had brought back (stolen?) from his job at a printing plant. Lo and behold, amidst the sticky and tarnished mix of coins, I discovered a 1983 DDR Lincoln cent! It was one of the happiest moments of my childhood.
I built up a modest collection of mostly certified coins and modern US Mint products through high school, and generally lost interest during college (although I did pick up a quirky related hobby — WheresGeorge). I became even less interested after college, and it was many years until I finally picked up my old collection from the closet in my parent’s house. Even then I went years between new purchases.
Only recently — this year — have I become fully engrossed in the hobby again. I attended my first coin show, and then several more. I bought books besides the Red Book and started a State Quarters album (a decade later than most, I know!). I set a personal record for most expensive coin ever bought, then again a few weeks later. I learned what a Registry set was, and about CAC (no off-topic haters!). And I discovered this forum.
You see, despite getting started just once, it’s been a series of beginnings, as I suspect it has for most of us. That’s what makes this hobby so great. The almost infinite depth of knowledge and discovery and enjoyment and rediscovery. No doubt I’ll have more beginnings in my numismatic journey before it’s all said and done.
Nothing is as expensive as free money.
I was a paperboy, 10 or so, and got a Santa Fe Trail 50¢ piece as a tip. My father actually put me in the car and drove me to that man's home to return it as that was an absurd amount for a tip (1956). He walked me up to the door and I was scare as heck. The man insisted I keep it as his paper was always on the porch everyday. Then my Dad took me to the coin shop to see it if was real (he had never seen one). It was and I was floored by the coin shop inventory and that just jump started me....Whitmans and pennies.....etc.
Now it's 63 years later and here I am on a Sunday afternoon on this PCGS forum.....
bob
Your post is a good story! Mine has been told several times. I first was bitten when I worked in a 30 Story Apartment building on Michigan Ave. (Downtown Chicago). I would have to dismantle apartments when the tenants left. One day we had to tear up the old carpet. It was then when I started in the closet area. As I tore up the old carpet, I discovered about 5 various coins hidden under the padding. A few were wheaties, of no true value. one was a Merc. Dime, but the one coin that sparked my interest was a 1847 Large Cent. That was when I thought seriously about what collecting coins might bring? This was approx. 20 years ago. All 5 coins are now gone. Many, many coins have passed through my hands since then and all them have also disappeared. Whether by selling or trading, but here's the best part, being a coin collector for 20 yrs. has taught me such great knowledge. Knowledge, I wouldn't of never dreamed of. In varieties and Errors ,as well as, in just the beauty in all these denominations of coins. This Hobby surely made me look at a coin differently.
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I got started collecting when I was about 14 back in 1967. I was with a group of friends walking back from our local shopping plaza in Arlington, Virginia now called the Ballston Commons. We saw a “coin shop/antique shop ” had opened up and walked inside and met the proprietor named Zita Lindsey.
She got us all collecting Lincoln and Indian head cents very quickly but I cannot remember how. Later I was able to work for her cleaning brass lamps and moving furniture as part of her antique side of business. She offered to either pay me in cash with an hourly wage or earn the equivalent value in a coin. Being a stupid kid I could not comprehend the number of hours it would take before I would own a 1909 S VDB, which I remember at that time, would have cost me $100. I mean I needed cash to go to the movies and buy other useless long forgotten junk.
But once we were hooked we had plenty of rolls to search and at that time, we occasionally would pull an Indian Head cent. Even the local deli owner would hold his silver coins and whoever came in the store that day was able to buy them from him.
Once I got older, college, married, etc, etc., I would find myself bored one day and pull out the blue Whitman folders still missing ALL the key dates. I would go get some rolls to search. Eventually I was employed and had a coin shop in front of my bus stop in downtown, DC. The owner would allow coins to be set-aside on layaway. So I was able to pick up the 1909 S, 1931 S, etc. But still could not afford the biggies.
So one day a colleague who knew I was a collector informs me his soon to be bride told him to sell off his collection as she wanted to live in a house and not some small apartment. He had no car so I drove him to the 5-6 coin dealers in the Northern Virginia area. I had no idea nor had I seen such coins as he owned. He was a type collector and flew all over the country to shows to make his purchases. His previous wife had died and collecting was a way to keep him occupied. He had all the good stuff and the dealers he visited wrote out large checks for the coins he had. When he was done selling he gave me a box of collecting supplies he had left over including Capitol Plastic boards. So I moved my cents to the Capitol Plastic boards which made them look better even if they were circulated examples.
About 1999 my father-in-law informed me he had inherited some coins and since he was a stamp collector, I could have first crack at what I wanted. My son who was about 7 was impressed with all these coins and he got the bug and I was re-bitten now that I had some disposal income and a thing called the Internet and Ebay.
I was blown away with Ebay and that many coins I could only dream about were available for auction. The first coin I bought was an uncirculated 1922 D cent. Now I wanted to upgrade those Capitol Plastic boards and fill the missing holes. My 1914 D came from my sister who lived in Kansas. She had a penny jar that I found the coin in. After her husband died she asked if I wanted to buy it, which I did for $80. The last 2 coins, the 1909 S VDB and the 1922 Plain I bought from Cybercoins. Eventually all the coins were upgraded to uncirculated specimens but then I learned the hard way about cleaned coins. About 2001 I learned about the PCGS registry and slabbed coins. Eventually I was buying slabbed coins to avoid junk and soon got in the registry. As they say, the rest is history.
WS
Water did you make it over to the coin show this weekend?
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From my Dad.
When my Dad passed away back in 1996, I was going through his things and I found 2 boullion Silver Eagles, he must have bought them when they came out anyway he was on a limited retire income and only bought those 2. After I found them I was determined to keep buying Silver Eagles for him, well collecting bug hit me and 23 yrs later I have a safe full of coins! I know my Dad would be proud that I took up such a wonderful hobby and what a fantastic way of investing money! Now I'm buying my 4yr old Grandson coins for his Birthday and for Christmas!
Ever Onward
I was ~7 and was in the hospital for a week. My parents bought some Whitman Lincoln, Buffalo, and Jefferson albums. They would make multiple trips to the bank getting me rolls everyday and I quickly became addicted.
I was about 8 years old or so.... mid 1970s. My dad bought two 1882 Carson City GSAs... one for himself and he gave the other to me. He also gave me a ton foreign coins....many of them were silver. He gave me all his American silver that he'd saved, since the 1960s. A lot of Walkers, Franklin's and Roosevelts. He also gave me blue Whitman folders that he purchased from our local B&M. I was hooked along with stamp collecting. I gave up on the stamps but really went to town with the coins. I quit in high school and college, as I was more interested in school and girls. I got back into it, when I was about 28, in the mid-1990s. Joined eBay in February of 2000 and have been going strong and getting better and better with each passing year. You can never stop learning or improving. I also credit my uncle who was overseas, in the army, and sending me a lot of foreign coins from the countries that he was stationed in.
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My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
I don't know.
I had many moments when I had a passing interest in coins which started with my father bringing home a 1916 Buffalo nickel when I was 6 or 7 years old. Another time was at the age of 10 or 11 and my uncle brought home a bunch of silver quarters and dimes he found in a wall while demolishing a house. Another time was when I was 14 or 15 years old and my buddy's dad brought out his collection of Morgan dollars when I showed him an Indian Head cent that I found in someone's front yard. But all those times were just a passing interest and nothing more. I did not get hooked into collecting coins as a hobby until I was in my early 20's when my wife brought home a bunch of silver quarters from the bank. I made my first big mistake, by cleaning them up and taking them to a coin shop in Boston to sell. That's when I was told that cleaning coins was a BIG No-No!!! Fortunately I had all common quarters and they were only worth silver value anyways, so my first tuition was cheap. After selling the coins at the shop, Kenny (the coin shop owner of Olde Boston Co. Inc.) showed me some nice coins including some gold $20's and THAT is when I was hooked.
Donato
Donato's Complete US Type Set ---- Donato's Dansco 7070 Modified Type Set ---- Donato's Basic U.S. Coin Design Set
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It seems coins always intrigued me... However, when I got a paper route in in 1950, I would be paid in coins (the weekly edition was 8 cents). So when I got IHC's or a Columbian half dollar, or a Barber dime...well, that was really amazing...So I started keeping the 'special' coins....And so it continues...Cheers, RickO
Same question from about a year ago.
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/comment/12161822#Comment_12161822
Christmas, 1957 - I was 8 years old and my Grandfather gave me a Blue Book, a small bag of Indian Head Cents, and a well-worn 1802 Large Cent. The rest, as they say, is history. The Indian Cents are long gone but I still have that old Blue Book (rather tattered, by now) and the old Large Cent (since attributed as a S-242). Later, in 1964, my Mother gave me a subscription to Coin World for Christmas and am still subscribing today.
Member ANA, SPMC, SCNA, FUN, CONECA
Believe it or not, the introduction of the Susie B in my childhood. I got so frustrated that I couldn't find a 1980 or 1981 circulation that I eventually bought them from the mint.
Thankfully I quickly got over that series and moved to other things. I was a casual circulation collector until I got my first real job, got interested in bullion, and discovered Peace dollars. Then problem coins, this place, slabbed stuff, coin shows, registry sets, coin photography, type sets, ancients, commems, early gold......
I'm really enjoying reading these. Thanks for posting.
It seems like we all share a fondness for the memory of that first eye-opening discovery and the sense of awe and wonder that it provoked.
1971, I was 11 years old. Found a 1936 nickel in change. To me, that was ancient!
It was like holding history itself.
Girlfriend in grammar school gave me this coin.
Japanese but I didn't know that for years. First thought was Chinese.
Then gramma gave me some IHCs and one was a 1908-s.
Then it got costly.
I was about 6 or 7 and was watching my brother, who was 10 years older than me, filling Whitman Albums with Lincoln Cents, and Buffalo Nickels. I really got the bug when we went to upstate NY about a year or so later and I got the opportunity to look through a coffee can that my grandfather had filled with Indian Head Cents and other "rarities" when he was a soda-jerk during the Depression. Seeing coins from the 19th Century was just far too cool... the rest, as they say, is history!
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I wish I could remember what sparked my interest but I just can't.
I had a wonderful great uncle who mentored me early on (and then later the roles reversed) but even at that time I was already fascinated by coins.
Maybe someday I'll remember.🤔
Welcome aboard.
my uncle got me started many years ago collecting Canadian coin. some time later I went to American coinage and am glad of it. I still have the Canadian halves and cents
I was 8 and playing in the park across the street from the house when I found the coin that hooked me forever--a 1917 type 1 quarter in what I later learned was XF condition. Whoohoo, naked boobs! After 50 years of being carried as a pocket piece (before being retired) it now looks like this
Since I started off with naked boobs is it any wonder that 60 years later I am STILL known as the "Bustchaser"?
Like several here on the forum, My dad gave me a Whitman folder for Lincolns when I was 8 years old. ( 55 years ago, I still have it. ) Collecting ever since. Discovered TPG a few years back. I now have a few registry sets and a full safe.