Mid 80s as a kid, then grew up and drifted away from coins.
Then I circled back around 2010ish and got back into it big time.
Then I started having kids and went into business for myself, which was a big plunge. Sold off most of what I’d accumulated to get the kids 529 plans rolling. Loved the hobby, but didn’t invest any time or money into when my daughters were very young.
Now back into it big time again as my daughters have expressed interest and have also started collecting themselves. My 9 year old has a Roosevelt dimes Dansco that we love working on and my 6 year old has one for Kennedys. Going to our LCS with them on Saturdays is just an absolute blast. My 10 year old hasnt come around yet but we’re working on her.
My grandparents lived in Chicago in the 1950's and in 1955 took a two-month trip to Western Europe.
I was seven years old then and my grandmother gave me some French coins she brought back.
I was fascinated by the "foreign" coins.
One of them:
France 100 francs 1956
Copper-nickel, 24 mm, 6.0 gm
Spring of 1971 I bought my first coin for over face value (British coin with Winston Churchill and Queen Elizabeth) in the barbershop / coin shop of the Pathfinder Hotel in Fremont Nebraska. Before that I only collected out of circulation. After about 30 years of other interests like cars, girls, women, children, and just life in general I returned to collecting in 2003.
I think around 1955. My grandmother had a tourist home and let me look the little box she kept the tax money in.
Lots of Indian head pennies, Barber dimes and on occasion a Seated Liberty dime.
As a child in 1974 (stamps too) with US Constitutional and Whitman folders and also some foreign silver and copper. Then began again in 1993 after a long hiatus.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
Around 1975, I was intrigued by the “Red Book” I talked my mom into getting me at the school book fair. I started learning about and collecting coins shortly after that using the book as my guide. Part of the reason for wanting to collect coins was my older brother had been collecting stamps—typical sibling rivalry thing. But then he caught the coin bug from me and we’ve both been collecting on-and-off since then!
Early to Mid 70s, I pulled the Franklins and the silver dimes (some Mercs) and the occasional Buff nickel that I would get in change as you could still find them in circulation back then. My uncle used to give me and my older brother an Ike from his pocket whenever he saw us and we would spend those on BB cards.
I didn't get into "collecting" as a hobby until 1986 when I got an 1859 IHC in change...still have that beat up thing.
As a bicycle-riding paper boy in the early 60’s, my collection bag at month’s end attracted the attention of a family friend and collector from out of town. He was please with his finds and in appreciation, he sent me a coin starter kit. Thus began my quest to fill out those blue Whitman folders and learn how to grade coins. Today, due to the rise in precious metals, there is an increase of silver stackers, but the hobby itself hasn’t grown much.
Formerly known as deadmunny
Positive transactions with: dcarr, JWP, Cent1225, slantycouch, dontippet, Gerard, Scrapman1077, USMC_6115, rah1959
Interesting how many of us old timers had a paper route. One of the few things we could do to earn money outside the home and our allowance for doing chores. Great training.
Fall 2026 National Battlefield Coin Show September 11 & 12, 2026 at the Eisenhower Hotel Ballroom, Gettysburg, PA. Early Bird passes Thursday September 10, 2026 from Noon to 5pm $25 each. WWW.AmericasCoinShows.com
I started collecting Lincoln Cents around 1963. Silver was still in circulation but I was only 8 years old so anything but pennies were outside my budget. Me, younger brother and two cousins would go from business to business and ask for rolls of pennies to exchange for searched rolls. We would keep the dates before 1940. I remember my little brother found a 1914-D in better the fine condition. One of the older cousins kept it as his own. I still wonder what happened to that coin. I almost finished the 1909-1940 Whitman album back then. I collected coins until about 1978 when the mint stopped making Ikes. When I got out of pharmacy school in 1982 I had some spare money to buy a few of the commemorative issues. That took me into collecting the Classic Silver commems which I finished just in time to enter collection into the Registry in 1998. It was a good deal back then when the Registry started as PCGS would take complete or near complete set and grade them for free. I sent all 50 coins in, some were raw, some were ngc, but most were PCGS. All fifty were put in new holders and regraded. It was the #1 set for a short time. The Registry was printed in a booklet for three or four years, then it went to the internet in the early 90's.
1967? Then 10 years later sold the collection to my Dad when I was a teenager to buy a stereo system. Did not return to the hobby until by Dad gifted it back to me in my mid 40s. The fever returned then. 😍
Seated Half Society member #38
"She comes out of the sun in a silk dress, running like a water color in the rain...."
Guessing 1977 +/-. I clearly remember going with my grandfather in 1979 to Haverhill National bank on a Saturday morning to get the new SBA dollar. I also remember being disappointed that they didn't use the flowing hair Gasparro design that had been in the coin magazines prior to the release.
@Catbert said:
1967? Then 10 years later sold the collection to my Dad when I was a teenager to buy a stereo system. Did not return to the hobby until by Dad gifted it back to me in my mid 40s. The fever returned then. 😍
Did your dad add any coins to the collection? Or did he just stash it somewhere?
@Catbert said:
1967? Then 10 years later sold the collection to my Dad when I was a teenager to buy a stereo system. Did not return to the hobby until by Dad gifted it back to me in my mid 40s. The fever returned then. 😍
Did your dad add any coins to the collection? Or did he just stash it somewhere?
Just stashed it. He subscribed to the US Mint proof and mint sets each year.
Seated Half Society member #38
"She comes out of the sun in a silk dress, running like a water color in the rain...."
Even though I had a phase where I was interested in coins back about 1974(?) in grade school, I really started collecting as a young adult while serving in the USN at Lemoore NAS in the Spring of 1987.
I remember where I lived, and I remember opening the "care package" my Mom sent. In it, some old coin books and magazines I had somehow acquired in or about the 5th grade, and the box of coins Uncle Tony had given me for Christmas all those years ago. One of the days my life changed.
“We are only their care-takers,” he posed, “if we take good care of them, then centuries from now they may still be here … ”
Junior high school, 1984 or so. On my way home I stopped in a toy store to buy some yo-yo string and got some old wheaties in change. Bought out the drawer and went home. Headed for the coin shop to buy a blue Whitman album for a buck or so. Still have that album. My favorite is a g-4 1915-d that’s circ-cam.
The back story… what got me interested… was the jar of old change my dad kept in his dresser drawer. It had an old Franklin half and some other silver and I was told in no uncertain terms to keep my grubby hands away from that stuff. Later on that week my uncle gave me a well worn Buffalo nickel at a craft fair or maybe a civil war reenactment. I was hooked.
@renomedphys said:
Junior high school, 1984 or so. On my way home I stopped in a toy store to buy some yo-yo string and got some old wheaties in change. Bought out the drawer and went home. Headed for the coin shop to buy a blue Whitman album for a buck or so. Still have that album. My favorite is a g-4 1915-d that’s circ-cam.
The back story… what got me interested… was the jar of old change my dad kept in his dresser drawer. It had an old Franklin half and some other silver and I was told in no uncertain terms to keep my grubby hands away from that stuff. Later on that week my uncle gave me a well worn Buffalo nickel at a craft fair or maybe a civil war reenactment. I was hooked.
Cheers!
And what led you to focus on superb early copper many years later? Was it that 1915 copper cent as a touchstone or something else?
Seated Half Society member #38
"She comes out of the sun in a silk dress, running like a water color in the rain...."
@Catbert said:
1967? Then 10 years later sold the collection to my Dad when I was a teenager to buy a stereo system. Did not return to the hobby until by Dad gifted it back to me in my mid 40s. The fever returned then. 😍
@renomedphys said:
Junior high school, 1984 or so. On my way home I stopped in a toy store to buy some yo-yo string and got some old wheaties in change. Bought out the drawer and went home.
Cheers!
That happened to me in 2008. I received all pre-1940 wheaties in change at a convenience store and then looked into the cash register and saw the cents bin was full of old wheaties. I tried to exchange my cents from change for those cents, but the convenience store clerk didn't understand English and I don't know Spanish, a very common problem in the Homestead area. Therefore, the cents swap never happened. The simple problem with communication drove me nuts and got me thinking about what would happen in a critical emergency situation living down there.
2010ish while in my early 30's. My grandfather, who passed a few months before I was born, was a collector. He had put together some sets which were passed on to his kids. My parents still had a box sitting in a closet, some 30 years later, with a few sets and a handful of GSA dollars. They gave me the box when clearing some stuff out thinking I may have an interest.
I thought it would be nice to complete the sets and have kind of gone from there.
@renomedphys said:
Junior high school, 1984 or so. On my way home I stopped in a toy store to buy some yo-yo string and got some old wheaties in change. Bought out the drawer and went home. Headed for the coin shop to buy a blue Whitman album for a buck or so. Still have that album. My favorite is a g-4 1915-d that’s circ-cam.
The back story… what got me interested… was the jar of old change my dad kept in his dresser drawer. It had an old Franklin half and some other silver and I was told in no uncertain terms to keep my grubby hands away from that stuff. Later on that week my uncle gave me a well worn Buffalo nickel at a craft fair or maybe a civil war reenactment. I was hooked.
Cheers!
And what led you to focus on superb early copper many years later? Was it that 1915 copper cent as a touchstone or something else?
Well I won’t drag you down into a psycho-analysis of my A.B. normal mind but suffice it to say, I like copper cents because:
I like an underdog.
OCD. You gotta have them all.
Varieties! You just never know.
Beauty.
Rarity, especially when you factor in quality.
Irony. Basically worthless, but NOT.
Oh, and my favorite answer: because I just can’t help myself.
1965
I was 6. My dad gave me my first quarter for allowance. It was a 1934 worn. I still have it!
He used to jingle, because he carried so much change. He also had a 1943 quarter that I took for my second allowance.
I started filling my sister's Whitman books of Lincolns, which became mine.
I have this love of numbers. I became obsessed with coins of low mintage.
Many years later dad bought me an 1889 quarter with a mintage of 12k. I was very excited.
Mintage is not everything in scarcity.
Member - ANA Exhibiting Committee, Membership and Outreach Committee, George Heath Society, PAN, FUN, ANA Qualified Exhibit Judge, Joe Boling Award winner, Glenn Smedley Award winner.
For me it was 1982, the day I joined the US Army. Still collecting to this day. Retire from Active duty in 2009 (28 Years of Service). Went on working for DOD and retired two years ago. I love the hobby of collecting and plan to pass it on one day to my grandchildren.
I believe I started collecting with a passion circa 1969 when I was 8 years old, but I remember dabbling a few years earlier, might even have teethed on a Kennedy half in 64 when I was a 3 year old
Comments
late 2019
https://www.coincommunity.com/forum/pop_profile.asp?mode=display&id=102076
https://www.vamworld.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=2220
https://boards.ngccoin.com/profile/61076-johnhenry9009/
https://www.mycollect.com/Jonhherny9009
Mid 80s as a kid, then grew up and drifted away from coins.
Then I circled back around 2010ish and got back into it big time.
Then I started having kids and went into business for myself, which was a big plunge. Sold off most of what I’d accumulated to get the kids 529 plans rolling. Loved the hobby, but didn’t invest any time or money into when my daughters were very young.
Now back into it big time again as my daughters have expressed interest and have also started collecting themselves. My 9 year old has a Roosevelt dimes Dansco that we love working on and my 6 year old has one for Kennedys. Going to our LCS with them on Saturdays is just an absolute blast. My 10 year old hasnt come around yet but we’re working on her.
My grandparents lived in Chicago in the 1950's and in 1955 took a two-month trip to Western Europe.
I was seven years old then and my grandmother gave me some French coins she brought back.
I was fascinated by the "foreign" coins.
One of them:
France 100 francs 1956
Copper-nickel, 24 mm, 6.0 gm
I still have it.
The Mysterious Egyptian Magic Coin
Coins in Movies
Coins on Television
Spring of 1971 I bought my first coin for over face value (British coin with Winston Churchill and Queen Elizabeth) in the barbershop / coin shop of the Pathfinder Hotel in Fremont Nebraska. Before that I only collected out of circulation. After about 30 years of other interests like cars, girls, women, children, and just life in general I returned to collecting in 2003.
I think around 1955. My grandmother had a tourist home and let me look the little box she kept the tax money in.
Lots of Indian head pennies, Barber dimes and on occasion a Seated Liberty dime.
As a child in 1974 (stamps too) with US Constitutional and Whitman folders and also some foreign silver and copper. Then began again in 1993 after a long hiatus.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
Around 1975, I was intrigued by the “Red Book” I talked my mom into getting me at the school book fair. I started learning about and collecting coins shortly after that using the book as my guide. Part of the reason for wanting to collect coins was my older brother had been collecting stamps—typical sibling rivalry thing. But then he caught the coin bug from me and we’ve both been collecting on-and-off since then!
Early to Mid 70s, I pulled the Franklins and the silver dimes (some Mercs) and the occasional Buff nickel that I would get in change as you could still find them in circulation back then. My uncle used to give me and my older brother an Ike from his pocket whenever he saw us and we would spend those on BB cards.
I didn't get into "collecting" as a hobby until 1986 when I got an 1859 IHC in change...still have that beat up thing.
Enjoyed the stories guys thanks for sharing!!!
Liberty Seated Half Dollars
As a bicycle-riding paper boy in the early 60’s, my collection bag at month’s end attracted the attention of a family friend and collector from out of town. He was please with his finds and in appreciation, he sent me a coin starter kit. Thus began my quest to fill out those blue Whitman folders and learn how to grade coins. Today, due to the rise in precious metals, there is an increase of silver stackers, but the hobby itself hasn’t grown much.
Formerly known as deadmunny
Positive transactions with: dcarr, JWP, Cent1225, slantycouch, dontippet, Gerard, Scrapman1077, USMC_6115, rah1959
Interesting how many of us old timers had a paper route. One of the few things we could do to earn money outside the home and our allowance for doing chores. Great training.
Christmas 1964
In earnest, Sept 11, 2001, Gold Eagles.
Officially - my 7th B-Day 1967.
Life member #369 of the Royal Canadian Numismatic Association
Member of Canadian Association of Token Collectors
Collector of:
Canadian coins and pre-confederation tokens
Darkside proof/mint sets dated 1960
My Ebay
1980, as an eight year old.
Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations"
Apparently I have been awarded the DPOTD twice.
Late 50's when my aunt and uncle gave us silver dollars that they got at the bank for Christmas and birthdays.
1981-ish
Not really looking for much these days but if I were, it might be a toner.
I started collecting Lincoln Cents around 1963. Silver was still in circulation but I was only 8 years old so anything but pennies were outside my budget. Me, younger brother and two cousins would go from business to business and ask for rolls of pennies to exchange for searched rolls. We would keep the dates before 1940. I remember my little brother found a 1914-D in better the fine condition. One of the older cousins kept it as his own. I still wonder what happened to that coin. I almost finished the 1909-1940 Whitman album back then. I collected coins until about 1978 when the mint stopped making Ikes. When I got out of pharmacy school in 1982 I had some spare money to buy a few of the commemorative issues. That took me into collecting the Classic Silver commems which I finished just in time to enter collection into the Registry in 1998. It was a good deal back then when the Registry started as PCGS would take complete or near complete set and grade them for free. I sent all 50 coins in, some were raw, some were ngc, but most were PCGS. All fifty were put in new holders and regraded. It was the #1 set for a short time. The Registry was printed in a booklet for three or four years, then it went to the internet in the early 90's.
Overland Trail Collection Showcase
Dahlonega Type Set-2008 PCGS Best Exhibited Set
Proud follower of Christ! I love the USA! Land of the Bright and Beautiful! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Proud follower of Christ! I love the USA! Land of the Bright and Beautiful! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
This is the old version of truth or dare. minus the dare.
1968/1969 ... Boy Scouts coin collecting merit badge. 20th century type set as well as lincolns & jeffs from change.
Top 10 Cal Fractional Type Set
successful BST with Ankurj, BigAl, Bullsitter, CommemKing, DCW(7), DesertMoon, Downtown1974, Elmerfusterpuck, Joelewis, Mach1ne, Minuteman810430, Modcrewman, Nankraut, Nederveit2, Philographer(5), Proofcollection, Realgator, Silverpop, SurfinxHI, TomB and Yorkshireman(3)
April 2020.
I am a newer collector (started April 2020), and I primarily focus on U.S. Half Cents and Type Coins. Early copper is my favorite.
1967? Then 10 years later sold the collection to my Dad when I was a teenager to buy a stereo system. Did not return to the hobby until by Dad gifted it back to me in my mid 40s. The fever returned then. 😍
"She comes out of the sun in a silk dress,
running like a water color in the rain...."
Guessing 1977 +/-. I clearly remember going with my grandfather in 1979 to Haverhill National bank on a Saturday morning to get the new SBA dollar. I also remember being disappointed that they didn't use the flowing hair Gasparro design that had been in the coin magazines prior to the release.
Did your dad add any coins to the collection? Or did he just stash it somewhere?
Just stashed it. He subscribed to the US Mint proof and mint sets each year.
"She comes out of the sun in a silk dress,
running like a water color in the rain...."
Even though I had a phase where I was interested in coins back about 1974(?) in grade school, I really started collecting as a young adult while serving in the USN at Lemoore NAS in the Spring of 1987.
I remember where I lived, and I remember opening the "care package" my Mom sent. In it, some old coin books and magazines I had somehow acquired in or about the 5th grade, and the box of coins Uncle Tony had given me for Christmas all those years ago. One of the days my life changed.
“We are only their care-takers,” he posed, “if we take good care of them, then centuries from now they may still be here … ”
Todd - BHNC #242
Early 80s - Silver War Nickels......
Junior high school, 1984 or so. On my way home I stopped in a toy store to buy some yo-yo string and got some old wheaties in change. Bought out the drawer and went home. Headed for the coin shop to buy a blue Whitman album for a buck or so. Still have that album. My favorite is a g-4 1915-d that’s circ-cam.
The back story… what got me interested… was the jar of old change my dad kept in his dresser drawer. It had an old Franklin half and some other silver and I was told in no uncertain terms to keep my grubby hands away from that stuff. Later on that week my uncle gave me a well worn Buffalo nickel at a craft fair or maybe a civil war reenactment. I was hooked.
Cheers!
Empty Nest Collection
And what led you to focus on superb early copper many years later? Was it that 1915 copper cent as a touchstone or something else?
"She comes out of the sun in a silk dress,
running like a water color in the rain...."
With me it was a car. My mother, same outcome.
That happened to me in 2008. I received all pre-1940 wheaties in change at a convenience store and then looked into the cash register and saw the cents bin was full of old wheaties. I tried to exchange my cents from change for those cents, but the convenience store clerk didn't understand English and I don't know Spanish, a very common problem in the Homestead area. Therefore, the cents swap never happened. The simple problem with communication drove me nuts and got me thinking about what would happen in a critical emergency situation living down there.
2006
2010ish while in my early 30's. My grandfather, who passed a few months before I was born, was a collector. He had put together some sets which were passed on to his kids. My parents still had a box sitting in a closet, some 30 years later, with a few sets and a handful of GSA dollars. They gave me the box when clearing some stuff out thinking I may have an interest.
I thought it would be nice to complete the sets and have kind of gone from there.
Well I won’t drag you down into a psycho-analysis of my A.B. normal mind but suffice it to say, I like copper cents because:
Empty Nest Collection
1980, when I was 10 years old. Several on and off periods since.
1984, 5th grade
US and British coin collector, and creator of The Ultimate Chuck E. Cheese's and Showbiz Pizza Place Token & Ticket Guide
1965
I was 6. My dad gave me my first quarter for allowance. It was a 1934 worn. I still have it!
He used to jingle, because he carried so much change. He also had a 1943 quarter that I took for my second allowance.
I started filling my sister's Whitman books of Lincolns, which became mine.
I have this love of numbers. I became obsessed with coins of low mintage.
Many years later dad bought me an 1889 quarter with a mintage of 12k. I was very excited.
Mintage is not everything in scarcity.
7 years.
24 / 7 .
1963
Member - ANA Exhibiting Committee, Membership and Outreach Committee, George Heath Society, PAN, FUN, ANA Qualified Exhibit Judge, Joe Boling Award winner, Glenn Smedley Award winner.
2020 started stacking silver. Junk silver was my gateway to coins.
For me it was 1982, the day I joined the US Army. Still collecting to this day. Retire from Active duty in 2009 (28 Years of Service). Went on working for DOD and retired two years ago. I love the hobby of collecting and plan to pass it on one day to my grandchildren.
Sorry, ignore. I don't know how to delete it.
1975, with a few subsequent stops and starts until I resumed continuously in 1998.
I believe I started collecting with a passion circa 1969 when I was 8 years old, but I remember dabbling a few years earlier, might even have teethed on a Kennedy half in 64 when I was a 3 year old
Mr_Spud
2022
Successful Transactions With: JWP, DBSTrader2, greencopper, bretsan, ajaan, Ted1
Wow! And you're already a dealer right?
Proud follower of Christ! I love the USA! Land of the Bright and Beautiful! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸