The Coins That Got You Into Numismatics
FlyingAl
Posts: 3,855 ✭✭✭✭✭
Was going through some older coins I had sitting in my safe and came across this one, which I instantly recognized. It had been years since I had pulled it out, and I felt it was time for some pictures. I'm kinda surprised I still have it.
Ironically, it was one of the coins (if not the coin) that got me into numismatics. Over a decade ago, when I was really truly a kid, my grandma gifted me a single clad Ike - that coin has since been lost to history. The next day, my mom took me to the bank where I pushed myself up over the counter to see the teller and asked her if she had any more of those big dollar coins. Turns out, she had one - this Proof. Of course, it stuck out to me with its shine and "S" mintmark, and I dove deep into the rabbit hole of my Red Book, where I discovered that there were collector coins out there, and I was off to the races.
It was a nice little trip down memory lane, and a stark reminder of how much my journey in numismatics has changed and how far I've come since that first day in the bank.
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I also happened to pull out a coin from my first TPG submission - a mint error struck thru reverse 2018-S Silver Proof 25c in 69DC. Not particularly valuable, but it was paired with a 1972 Type 2 $1 I had found in circulation that went 64 and later sold for $275 or so. $275 was a lot of cash for me back in the day, so it was a huge pay day when the dollar sold. That submission opened the world of cherrypicking, and when I found out I could effectively finance my collection solely based on knowledge it was game on (the Ike paid for the silver Proof set, grading fees, and got me started cherrypicking 1964 Proof sets). I broke out the books, photo grade, Coinfacts, and got down to work. No one told me not to learn to grade from photos, so I just figured it out. I almost feel I still grade MS coins better from photos, since that's how I learned it. It worked for me, and if you calculated it out, I'd wager the net value of coins I've cherried exceeds the net value of my collection, and by a large margin. All of that started with this coin and the 1972 T2 Ike.
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Post em up! Let's see the coins that started your collections!
Comments
Long gone. Lincoln’s from circulation in the 50’s. First TPG submissions gold type, wish I had kept those. Bought my first car with those, wish I had that car also.
My first “real” coin. I took my state and ATB quarter collection from circulation to the local CoinStar, headed straight to the coin shop with the proceeds and bought this. The first of many CBHs and I still have it.
Wheat back cents in the late 60's and the endless search for the "rare" 1909-S VDB example.
Filling Whitmans in the 60’s
Morgan dollars are what attracted me to the hobby.
I had a small collection of wheat cents as a kid. I stayed away from coins for 45 years. Not purposely I just got swept with running a business and raising 4 kids.
Two or three years ago I found myself at a coin shop where I bought my first Morgan. Nothing to special.
It has blossomed to a part of my life. That's a positive thing.
I enjoy chasing 1921PL Morgan's and now I am building a box of 20.
Student of numismatics and collector of Morgan dollars
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In 1975, circulating non-US coinage which my aunt presumably obtained from our family travels in the 60's.
What got me stated in coins was a couple of wheat cents from my dad's pocket change. Those cents led me to hours of online research and YouTube videos. I also got a redbook a while after when the ANA WFOM was in my area as part of their YN scavenger hunt. I still have those cents and the redbook (somewhat falling apart though). However, since I was still a kid, I couldn't comprehend spending more than face value on anything. That led me to coin roll hunting where I started from a couple cent rolls and worked my way to my first full box of nickels. I liked the idea of pulling out anything of value and returning the rest to the bank. Half dollars were by far my favorite denomination to search given the potential for silver. I probably went a bit too overboard as my dad started getting embarrassed with our bi-weekly runs to the bank.
Heres a picture from a few years back of the silver halves I had found. Less the stuff I had sold. As you can tell, I went through a TON of half dollar boxes. This helped me fund my collection and really got me hooked to the hobby.
Collector
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In the '60's I also filled Whitman trifolds when I was a kid in Racine, Wisconsin where they were made by Whitman Publishing. Sometimes we would get a trifold instead of candy at Halloween. What fun!
During the cold winters the neighbor would get bags of coins from the city parking meters. We'd search them to fill our coin books. At that time you could still get the occasional worn down Indian cent and often a Buffalo nickel and Mercury dime. (we weren't rich enough to collect quarters and above - heck a quarter was half of my weekly allowance!)
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
My digital cameo album 1950-64 Cameos - take a look!
My grandma’s second husband passed when I was 4. To me he was Grandpa. He left behind a few things, one was a shoebox that had quite a lot of coins in them. One kind of coin that stuck out were a bunch of 1943 tombac V 5 cent coins from WWII. What were these things? Why were they not nickel like other 5 cent coins? Learning more about it I was amazed by the hidden wartime message in morse code around the rim. I was captivated by them, and it started me on a journey.
Phil Arnold
Director of Photography, GreatCollections
greatcollections.com
Wish I had one but I don’t, but probably the Higley copper(s) as I would see in the Redbook as a kid…. I’m from CT so it drew me up to the Newgate prison/Copper Hill area in Granby, the history of it, and I was hooked on early coinage. This was when I was about 10, so in the mid 1970s.
Oh, and I think I may actually purchase a Higley someday… I was itching to buy a chocolate beauty on CRO last year, but I just didn’t pull the trigger. Hard to commit to a six figure coin, as much as I covet one.
Not gonna lie… in the late 1970’s the idea that a little kid might find super valuable pennies called the 1909-s VDB or 1955 double die in his change was exciting and intriguing…
Casual collector: Morgans & Peace Dollars & 20th Century Type Set. Successful BST transactions with ProofCollection, Morgan13, CoinFinder, CoinHunter4, Bretsan.
Got this very coin with 50 penny's from a bank, on a Saturday morning in the summer of 64. I was hooked!!
Disclaimer: I'm not a dealer, trader, grader, investor or professional numismatist. I'm just a hobbyist. (To protect me but mostly you! 🤣 )
Surely many could agree that blazing red wheat cents were the ultimate gateway drug, as they certainly were for me.
My paternal grandfather would always seem to have a few to share with me as early as 5 years old. Eventually paired with a couple Whitman albums, we would partner as a team to fill as many slots as possible from circulation and from my grandfather's personal little hoard of wheat cents.
I've shared a bit about this specific coin before, but this coin essentially sums up all of those early years of wheat cent collecting with my grandfather. It's the one and only never ever ever for sale coin in my PC under any circumstances.
PCGS 1931-S MS62BN Lincoln Cent (with quite visible PIDT)
This -
and the blue whitman trifold for Lincoln Cents
A gift of Whitman folders got my older brother and I started in coin collecting.
However, these coins got me started in NUMISMATICS studying die marriages four years ago. They had already been in my collection for at least ten years and had been posted in the SLH thread years ago when I downloaded Bill Bugert's registries and identified my 74-S from seller's photos. That was a happy surprise. I spent the rest of the evening posting about the find here.
1874-S WB-4 (R8)
When I fished the SLH Dansco with the WB-4 out of the bank a week later, the first coin I spotted when I glanced through my scope was this 1855/54 WB-1 with a strong overdate in the 1855 slot. I had never taken a close look at the coin. That discovery started a hunt for more overdates that yielded this 55/54 Coin Facts trifecta (below) plus another in G-VG in just the first 70 days. I started thinking I could finance my collecting by cherry picking overdates off eBay, but then the eBay overdate river dried up a bit after that.
WB-1 VF35
WB-3, WB-2, and WB-1
Redglobe, I remember the coins in white 2X2's at Morgan and Lindsay's dime store back in the 1960's. The most expensive ones were $4.50 for a large cent and I think a shield nickel.
i grew up in levittown pa and Ed Hipps Sr had a coin shop in the local shopping center I did not collect coins but one day I do not why my dad took me to the coin store and bought me 2 silver dollars and I was hooked that was 55 years ago and I am still collecting
I began collecting in 1965 by pulling cents from circulation. I got a large number of nice Indian dates and a almost a full Lincoln wheat set, with the exception of a 1914-D. The first key that I found was in tough shape but was a 1922 no D strong reverse die 2 that I sold on GC just a year ago, as I had acquired a nice AU. I thought the 09-SVDB and 31-S were cool but the 22 no D hooked me.
Plucked this one from the bank when I was about 12... lawn mowing money. I also have a few of the original Indian Head Cents I got from a coffee can in my grandfather's basement when I was around the same age.
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