I just checked off an aviation bucket list item... what's on your numismatic bucket list?
airplanenut
Posts: 22,025 ✭✭✭✭✭
Spend any time with me (or look at my username on a coin message board) and you'll see that I really like coins and I really like airplanes. Ever since I got my pilot's license nearly 13 years ago, landing at a major airport has been on my bucket list (I've been to a few secondary commercial airports), and on Friday afternoon, I finally did it, putting my wheels down on the same runway at SeaTac that's taken me all across the US and to Seoul and London.
Giddy about checking this one off, I spent the weekend thinking about other bucket list items. It was easy to think of bucket list items for aviation (fly or fly on ____ airplane, go to/see _____ destination), but I had more trouble thinking of numismatic-related items. As far as experiences go, I've done some cool things already--I've been in the Smithsonian's vaults twice, I've walked the floor of the Denver Mint, and I've held artifacts that no doubt George Washington touched/used. Some ideas are impossible, like sitting down with Eliasberg and going through his collection. There are certain coins that I've long dreamed of owning, but I don't know if getting one would really be a bucket list item or just a collecting goal (what differentiates acquiring a nice chain cent versus some other piece I don't yet have, other than how financially difficult it will be to get and how much/long I've wanted one, and how are they different from some of the long-desired coins I've already gotten, other than my not having them yet?)
So I'm curious--what's on your numismatic bucket list? Are they experiences or collecting goals? Are some met, or are they all in the distance?
I'd be remiss not to include some photos 
Comments
Congrats! That's a great accomplishment! Flying one of these trainers is on my aviation bucket list but I'm not sure when I'll be able to get to it. A colleague of mine works with the Breitling team. Photos from MilitaryFactory.com.
My big numismatic bucket list item is visiting and doing some minting with Daniel Carr which has been a great experience.
For me bucket list wise, I'd love to dig a gold coin, been detecting for 25+ years, the hunt continues. Aviation related, I'll never forget seeing and feeling my first B52 strike in 1969. Damn! Peace Roy
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I really do not have a bucket list now....The bucket is outside, upside down and waiting to be kicked....
I do not intend to do that for many more years though... 
Until then, I will keep collecting coins I like and doing things I enjoy....Life is good. Cheers, RickO
There's not much on my numismatic bucket list after spending a week at the British Museum. I also held one of the best 1794 dollars as well. About the only things I'd like to do is hold an 1804 dollar and 1913 lib nickel. Likely neither will happen, though. Kind of like holding a genuine '33 saint.
My more achievable bucket list is to buy several Charlotte mint gold coins, maybe a Carson City gold coin as well.
TurtleCat Gold Dollars
At this point in time I don't have a bucket list.
About that time I was about 3 years old living in Richmond California - seriously one of my earliest memories is in the early evening someone on our street went out and was screaming that we were being bombed - there were literally dozens of B-52 bombers flying out of Travis AFB on their way to Guam and then Viet-Nam. And those same BUFFs are flying today and will likely be flying long after the B-1, and B-2 are scrapped.
Become a member of the ANS and take a trip to NYC. I can check the 1804 dollar off the list for you.
Jesse C. Kraft, Ph.D.
Resolute Americana Curator of American Numismatics
American Numismatic Society
New York City
Member of the American Numismatic Association (ANA), British Numismatic Society (BNS), New York Numismatic Club (NYNC), Early American Copper (EAC), the Colonial Coin Collectors Club (C4), U.S. Mexican Numismatic Association (USMNA), Liberty Seated Collectors Club (LSCC), Token and Medal Society (TAMS), and life member of the Atlantic County Numismatic Society (ACNS).
Become a member of the American Numismatic Society!
Cool! I may just do that
I was reading about the ANS 1804 just last week.
TurtleCat Gold Dollars
The ANA also has one that I held a while back. Not sure what it takes to get access to it now. Of course, the first Smithsonian visit spoiled me when I held 3 1804 dollars, two 1933 Saints, an Ultra High Relief, and and a half union... all at the same time.
In case it helps... http://www.jetwarbird.com/
Congratulations!!!
what's on your numismatic bucket list?
to attend a major National Coin Show and share a meal with my favorite forum members.
100 pound plus Bluefin Tuna
My bucket list biggie is skydiving at age 100. Well, actually just making 100 is the goal...skydiving is just an add on.
bob
Congrats... Aviation has a fascinating history with personalities larger than life. My dad had an interesting career in aviation and space as an engineer.
Bucket lists are never written in cement and rarely completed. But In all fairness, it is meaningful to have objectives. I am very thankful for what I have seen, who I have met and what I have learned and appreciate.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Number one item on my bucket list: stay healthy!
2: Stay highly active!
3: Don’t drown!
4: Survive a shark attack!
Right now it's to get to get to my place in South America. Being stuck here is crap.
Cool. Does SeaTac charge a landing fee or ramp fee for GA? Aviation has always been a side-hobby/interest of mine. I got to fly once in Bob Hoover's old P-51 named "Old Yeller". We did barrel rolls, Cuban 8s. SOOOOO much fun.
My 16 year-old son starts flying lessons this summer. He's getting all his books and other stuff now.
As for bucket list stuff...... mostly travel. I've been really blessed to cross off many of the items already. There are still a few.
Unfortunately not numismatic:
Years ago I was invited to the cockpit on an AC 747 for take off from LHR to YYZ.
I had that opportunity previously numerous times and was not really interest. I thanked the Capt for his in ivitation (ha was a neighbour of mine at home) as he had specially come to the Maple leaf lounge at LHR . he saw my name on the Passenger list and he knew where I most likely was before the flight.
However he promised me an unforgettable experience and I accepted his invitation. Push back and taxi were eventless for a # 12 position for take off..... until Concorde was cleared to assume # 1 position and overtake everyone waiting. by that time we were #3 for take off and in a perfect position to watch. Immediately after turning on to and stopping at the start position, and their final checks, Concorde got permission to take off. It literally had 4 red hot exhausts flames out of every engine while it reved up, for about 4-8 seconds, pilots feet on the brakes. At the start position. It burned about roughly close to 8,000 gallons per hour. Our 747 was literally shaking like a leave when the ground shook as Concorde released the brakes and shot down the runway like an arrow going in to an incredibly steep climb to reach an incredible altitude within a few seconds (noise abatement rules and pollution rules). this shaking was even more amplified as we were in the 747 cockpit about 23 feet or so above ground.
This cockpit ride and free entertainment as not on my bucket list. However, after that experience and 3 weeks later, I booked a flight from LHR to JFK on the concorde. I used FF points to upgrade from my regular F ticket to concorde.
I never forget these experiences.
Touch and go or full on land and taxi/takeoff?
I've seen that a lot of airports are letting the smaller plans land since traffic is nonexistent.
I saw a nuclear submarine do a touch and go last week at the San Diego Bay Submarine Dock
Very Odd, I guess it was training day 
Awesome! I got my pilots license in high school, and planned to do it for a living. I fly skydivers occasionally at our local airport, but it is mainly just a hobby now. I would love to fly in a P-51 one day! I don't know if I can justify the price though. Here is me and my family flying down to see my wife's father in TN last year... it was about the hottest day of the year. Almost 100 degrees, and no A/C!
My father would send home tapes, as letters, from Vietnam and it would unnerve my mom because you could hear the B 52s droning overhead and then hear the rumble of the bombs detonating in the distance, She asked him to make future recordings when they weren't in the air.
reading replies here it occurred to me that until the movie came out nobody even knew they had a bucket list, just stuff they'd like to do while they still had time.
Congrats on your landing box checked, no numismatic bucket list for me just a few personal and family things that would be cool to see/do.
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
No numismatic bucket list. I feel blessed to own the items I have already.
For aviation/space bucket list I'd enjoy seeing a Falcon Heavy launch and I'd Love to (hopefully oneday) see a SpaceX Starship/BFR launch.
U.S. Type Set
What no trip on one?
I'd love to fly on one... it's just the $50,000,000 price tag is a wee tad out of my price range.
U.S. Type Set
I want to launch at Makapuu & my white whale is the 29 Saint.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0dDQMlWMY8
My Saint Set
My aviation bucket lists have been satiated, flown in a biplane(Pitts Special 260), a Soviet airliner(Yak-42), a Douglas DC-3 and a Ford Trimotor. I really do not care much for commercial flying these days - the last for me was a flight from Beijing to Toronto, a nice experience on Air Canada B-777 but I don't care for airports and security.
Numismatic bucket list:
Massachusetts Pine Tree Shilling
A splendid and quite possibly impossible to find 1866 w/ rays shield nickel that is fully struck, brilliant and no flaws
Blast white, original 1939 Oregon Trail half.
I thought a ride in GeeBee would be rather cool.
....and then I felt and saw how the builder of a Gee Bee R2, Delmar Benjamin, would fly that horse!!
He would take off from the airport, staying on the ground as long as possible, and drop down on us while we were building a new house. So close to the roof we were standing on, felt like I could reach up and spin a tire!!
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/27966/someone-please-buy-this-biggest-and-baddest-of-gee-bee-racers-and-own-the-air-show-circuit
You go, Jeremy! You've always been a go-get'em guy. Much admiration!
Here's a warning parable for coin collectors...
Doesn't mean you can't include it on your bucket list. Ya never know!
I think I flew on a DC-3 in Columbia,SA back in 1973. That was a scary shakey ride!
I'd like to own a 69-S DDO 1C. Any grade would do.
Collector, occasional seller
Buy a 1796 Half Dollar.
TBD. There are mixed reviews on whether they do, and it may depend on how you're cleared (if you're cleared for something specific--land, touch & go, etc.--you get charged, but if you're cleared for the option--runway's yours, do what you want--it's free if you don't get off the runway). Worst case, it cost me $25. If your son has any questions I can help with, feel free to send him my way.
You have no idea how jealous I am of this, for multiple reasons. First, while I saw Concorde in the air once (the trip to Europe when I fell in love with airplanes, didn't really realize we were right outside Heathrow until I heard a roar, looked out the back window of the car, and Concorde filled it as it crossed the fence) and a few times on the ground, I never got to fly it. When it was took its last flight in 2003, when I was in 11th grade, I refused to leave for school until it was out of the frame on TV. I was a bit late to my first class, and I told me teacher why I was late, and that I'd take a detention of need be. Her reply: "Don't worry about it--I know there is no way you're making that up." The air traffic control tapes as it leaves JFK and New York airspace are a testament to how loved the plane was and how great the aviation family is. I listen to this recording often:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sKKkNjj_A0
Second, I've always wanted to be up front in a commercial jet. When the 787-9 was undergoing flight testing, I was supposed to be on a test in Hawaii (free trip to HI was just the bonus), but at the last minute I was taken off the trip. It had been arranged that I'd get in the cockpit for the landing, but alas, it's never happened.
Third, any 747 trip is special. In 2017, I went to Seoul just to take the return flight, which was United's last regularly scheduled 747 flight. Yes, I toured while I was there, but the trip happened because of the plane. And what a glorious ride it was.
Just a touch and go. No need to taxi off (and definitely pay a landing fee), and when I saw my timing was just right to block a commercial flight from crossing my runway after it landed, I wanted to get out of its way. Not to be confused with when I proudly held up Southwest flights for a minute each in Hartford and Portland, OR--both flights where I had a reason to be at the airport other than just because.
Level 1: owning a nice VF bearded goddess
Level 2: owning an 1856 flying eagle
Level 3: owning a nice Gobrecht dollar
Level 4: owning a small eagle $10 gold piece
BHNC #248 … 121 and counting.
Everything coin wise for me is on the Bonus list. Future surprises await!
My flying days are over due to PVD.
A MS65 DMPL with stunning cameo is however, on my bucket list as is a MS66 St. Gauden!
Congrats on your flight into a major airport! I remember when I was younger I was a parts person for the airline I work at and an AMT asked me if I would like to ride along on a taxi. I eagerly agreed as this would be my first time in the cockpit of a moving jet. When we got in the cockpit he said, “You sit in the left seat”, and I said “Who is going to taxi ?” He said , “ You are!” I ended up starting and taxing that 727 all over the airport and parking it right on the T. I will never forget that day.
Although I don’t have a bucket list, I’m pretty blessed as it is......I would like to complete the #1 PCGS Registry Set of Peace Dollars.
That is so cool. Thanks for sharing. I see you must have first soloed while still a teenager. Hopefully you will find of interest a personal experience. When in the sixth grade I returned to class after the weekend and as I took my seat the student in front of me turned around and asked, "Guess what I did this weekend?" He then went on to tell me he soloed.
My friend Terry eventually went on to become a commercial pilot for Alaska Airlines flying in and out of your pictured Sea-Tac Airport. After retiring he was asked by Alaska's Senator Ted Stevens to fly a plane for him to a rural Alaskan community. Unfortunately, shortly after taking off the plane hit a mountain and while some of the passengers survived, both he and the senator were killed in the crash. At the airport held memorial event I was able to share the above recollection with members of his family.
Terry is remembered for having piloted the first commercial flights from Alaska to Siberia just when the Cold War was coming to an end. The plane he flew was on the tarmac at the memorial event and when I boarded it I was surprised to find my brother sitting at the controls with his son. I then learned that my brother had accompanied Terry Smith on one of those flights to Siberia, and Terry had allowed my brother to sit at the controls with him as they flew. He was reliving and sharing that memory as he now sat at those same controls with his then young son.
That son, who was there at the Memorial event, just graduated this month from high school and has recently been flying the family plane now on almost a daily basis during this period when schools have been closed. Here he is pictured with his parents at his just held drive-by graduation party.
And here are photos of the plane that Terry Smith piloted to the then Soviet Union's Siberia, with his name now added, as it has now been retired to the Alaska Aviation Museum.
@1northcoin your post gives me chills. In July 1991 I flew on that B-727 from ANC-GDX during that fairly brief time when you could travel commercially to Siberia. That was my first overseas trip, and what an amazing experience. I traveled with several Alaska Airlines employees to Magadan, then to Khabarovsk and we had a great time. I flew over Khabarovsk and Magadan about a year and a half ago on my way back to Canada from Beijing.
Very interesting, indeed, albeit sad as well. Thank you for sharing it! I did my primary training when I was 21. First flight to certificate a week shy of 3 months.
Getting back to the original question about bucket lists, one that I had since studying Russian in college was to ride the Trans-Siberian Railway from the west to Vladivostok on the east coast.
I did make it to Moscow and St. Petersburg and viewed the tracks as they crossed the Neva River in St. Petersburgh headed toward Siberia and subsequently visited Russia's Sakhalin Island off of Russia's Pacific Coast across from Vladivostok. That is as close as I got to the trans continental experience though. (Of course I do have some Russian coins in my collection.)
Pictured, my photo of the bridge over the Neva River in St. Petersburg:
Not a bucket list item, but.....long story short. My bother and I were flying back from Mazatlán, Mexico once, on a Mexicana Airlines 737. This was 25+ years ago. During the flight, we asked a flight attendant if we could go up in the cockpit and say Hi to the pilots. We had heard rumors that Mexicana Air was pretty lax in this area. She seemed semi-annoyed, but went up and asked, then came back and said ‘Follow me’. She led us up into the cockpit, then left, and we chatted with the pilots for 30 minutes. Super friendly guys, with fairly rudimentary English skills. My brother was a private pilot, and they explained all kinds of 737 flight systems to us. They basically went over all the dials, and alarm systems. It was surreal. After 30 minutes or so, we thanked the pilots and turned to leave. My brother pulled out his camera to take a quick pic as we left. The pilot, seeing this, climbed out of the captains seat, and motioned for to me to slide in. He just said ‘Don’t touch the rudder pedals with your feet as you slide in’. I’m like...WTH? So I climbed into his seat, and my brother snapped a pic. I then got out, and my brother climbed into his seat. I snapped a pic of him, and the captain climbed back in. We thanked them again, and went back to our seats.
I’ll see if I can dig out the pic. You can clearly see the altitude indicator shows 32,000ft.
Final thoughts: Yes, I was young, but still, this was beyond reckless, and I wouldn’t do this again in a million years. A clown like me in the Captain’s seat of a fully loaded 737 flying at 32,000 ft? What is there had been an emergency? Dumb move all around!
Dave
That is awesome, but history would agree that it may not have been the best idea: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroflot_Flight_593
My brother in law worked for Midway Airlines which was great, I got to do cockpit tours etc of the Fokker-100 that they flew on their regional routes in the eastern US.
Wished I had done that when it was possible for my family, the mess in eastern Ukraine, ie Donbass, has made that impossible passport wise to travel onto Russia. I wish we had actually done it when we could and should have back in 2012. The plan was we were going to go from Donets'k to Moscow then on to Vladivostok. Train travel over there is so much safer and enjoyable than flying.
Neat stories! Thank for sharing....Unfortunately 9/11 ruined the day for aviation enthusiasts.
I thought about doing the Trans Siberian trip. To do so in the type of accommodations I would want to do it was off the charts price wise 15 years ago! I'm tempted out of curiosity to see how much it costs now.
I found a blog post from an American with Russian heritage (I.e. he spoke some Russian) who did it in 2018. Not sure what passport issues he may have encountered with regard to Ukraine but for U.S. Citizen assume it would still be do able.
When I get to a computer will try to add a link to his interesting account of the journey. He went second class.