Are you an heir of a coin collector?
ShaunBC5
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I am not an heir of a coin collector and in the other poll I said that right now my son has interest.
So, are you an heir to a vast or tiny coin hoard?
A simple yes or no to the poll works. Let us know the story.
My story (Reader’s Digest version) - an uncle got me into coins when I was 11ish. I’m not his heir and he’s not in the family anymore. None of my other ancestors or relatives were/are coin collectors.
Are you an heir of a coin collector?
This is a public poll: others will see what you voted for.
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AYE.... I think you meant OF a collector. Yes and yes. I have inherited 2 collections. I know a few other people who come to me for advise. Its a hobby not a bank account. Whenever you inherit someones collection, you have to view it as part of their being. Later when you try to monetize it, you will realise it is sadly not worth as much as they thought. But its an interesting way to be remembered. My Dad was a WWII veteran. So he saved a few rolls of steel 1943 cents which I thought were cool as hell back in the 1970's growing up. It got me into collecting those silver quarters and franklin halves on my paper route in 1966. Remember when clads were cool? Back then I was saving silver. Anyway. Its more about the time period people remember.
Inheritors need guidelines. I dont have much to offer there. I do recommend having a lot of space and tables to sort things out on, and a few good magnifing glasses. or loupes. or microscopes for the new tech savy collectors. Main thing is a collector is the only person who can sort through the mess. That is what I do in my spare time on rainy days. The rest of the time I am outdoors hiking or riding a bike.
No
US half dollars (1839-1891) condition G04 to F12
No 👎
Got the typo fixed (at least the one I saw).
If you are an heir, do your interest line up with with your ancestor’s?
4th generation. My great grandmothers name is on a few albums and my grandmother would bring out her cookie tins once in awhile to show me her Kennedys and Ikes. She would grab them from the register at work; legally of course. However, my father was quite secretive and I didn't know what he had until I took possession. I was quickly hooked.
USAF veteran 1984-2005
I know my great grandfather was a collector, but i have no idea where his collection ended up. Probably went to my great aunt.
Edited to correct an autocorrect error
I wish, but no.
I might be the heir to either of my uncles (one collects coins, the other, bills) but I don’t know as they each have a child of their own, one older than I, one, much younger. Might try to spark interest in the younger one though since he is only a toddler and HIGHLY suggestible.
"Another day, another Collectors Universe forum scrolling session."
- Someone, probably
Yes, I am. My great grandfather was a collector, and he turned on my dad and his cousin (they all lived together) when they were kids. I'm told my Zaida sold off the bulk of what was evidently a pretty accomplished collection around ten years before I came on the scene because somebody in the family needed money help. He died when I was seven, and he bequeathed the remnant that was left to my dad. Those coins are what turned me on to collecting when I was a kid. They've been dispersed various ways around the family, but I still have a handful of them.
My dad is a collector but I found coin collecting independently. He would coin roll hunt when he was a kid in the 60s and 70s before he fell out of the hobby. After I found collecting, he got into it again albeit mostly as a silver/gold stacker
My grandfather, Whit Hart, started my interest in coin collecting when I was 10 or so in the 1960s. He was a passive collector. He had a 1964 redbook which I still have, and a collection/accumulation of mostly Indian cents and flying eagles. About 50 of those in all. He also had a couple of common large cents, and nice AU late date half cent, a couple of two-centers and 3-centers (nickel) and a common bust dime that he taped into a blue book. He stored most of these coins loosely, and would let me look at them whenever I wanted. But here's the thing. I don't know how he accumulated his coins, but I doubt that he bought any. So how is it that among all of the late date well-circulated Indians that he had, he also had the 1877? There it was, stuck right into a 39-cent Whitman blue folder. I wish I had talked to him about that coin and the others too, but he died ar age 75 in 1968, leaving me his collection. This is why my forum handle is Whit.
I still have those coins, and coincidentally, I had PCGS slab the 1877 just a few months ago. Fine details, cleaned. I am not convinced it was cleaned, but I do know that in the 1960s, the feathertips and the "77" of the date looked like someone had lightly taken a pencil eraser to them. Over the last 60 years, the shininess faded, but not entirely. I think that accounts for the details designation.
I may inherit a collection. Nothing graded or earthshaking.
I started collecting as a young lad from circulated change.
Over the years I've picked up a few things here and there.
I voted that I was an heir. However, the coin collection that I inherited around 1980 was worth no more than ten dollars net.
Official PCGS account of:
www.TallahasseeCoinClub.com
Technically, yes... my grandfather gave me a few coins when I was a kid around 10 years old... a few Morgan Dollars and he let me search his coffee can of Indian Head Cents when I was putting my Whitman folder together... But fast forward to a couple of years ago and my brother gifted me the set he put together as a kid. His children have no interest in coin collecting so he gave me his set... mostly Lincoln folders, Jefferson Nickels, but also a nearly completed set if Indian Head Cents in lower and details grades but likely gotten from grandpa's coffee can filled in with his own pieces along the way. He also gifted me a partial set of Buffalo Nickels. I had started a Wayte Raymond album of Buffalo Nickels the year before, so when I put those coins and mine together... I was just two short of a completed date/mm set... that was cool!
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Although I contracted the collecting disease on my own, my grandfather is a collector, who himself inherited a handful of coins from his father as well. We still collect and fill album slots together.
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you" Matthew 6:33. Young fellow suffering from Bust Half fever.
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No, but I am willing to be the heir of a coin collector. Ping me for details to include in your will.
@horseyride I should have made an option to sign up! We can start a thread to match up the heirless with ancestorless too keep the coins flowing.
Coinmatch.com?
LOL me too! JK
Proud follower of Christ! I love the USA! Land of the Bright and Beautiful! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
I was supposed to inherit my grandmother's collection of silver coinage that she saved after 1964. I was told it was approx. $700 face value. I never got to see it while she was alive and when she passed it never was located. I assumed one my aunts or uncles had found it and kept it or cashed it in. She passes away in the early 1990's at around 90 years of age.
My great grandfather left a couple rolls of Morgan and peace dollars to my mother.
I used to sneak into my parent’s bedroom to view them and it kicked off my interest in both history and coins.
They sat in paper flips in a tin can for about 50 years until I received them. Certified the best; @messydesk was kind enough to facilitate that even though I was completely green and just starting out.
All the same VAM, too.
No, but I got lucky with what my great grandfather just happened to put away in 1933... how he could spare $7.50, nobody knows
Yes I was the heir of a coin collector(s).
I started out at 7 years old when my brother (6) and I each got a Whitman Lincoln folder for Christmas in 65. I maintained an interest and within a few years absorbed his collection. My dad then started taking me to some local shows and gave me a few dollars to fill in the wholes. From there I became the “family expert”. I inherited both grand parents small collections of silver dollars, and my aunts collection of silver dimes. Fast forward to spring 2008 when my 95 year old great aunt went into a nursing home. In October of that same year my mom and dad were cleaning out her basement to sell the house and found some $15k of face value silver coins (mostly mercury dimes and walkers, many many mint state).) My aunt willed them to me. I was like a kid in a candy shop for 6-7 months looking thru them. Long story short, in her memory I have used these coins as a basis to build the current #2 registry set of complete Walkers with all varieties (minus the 36 DDO FS-101).
My great uncle left a large collection when he died. The family fought over the gold and silver dollars and gave me the copper and lose silver that wasn't worth much in the mid 80s. It had rolls of later AU to unc large cents and a complete indain head set. Rolls of later date Walkers and franklins and two sets of Lincolns minus the SVDBs which had been pulled by someone else who knew a little bit. There was one gold coin hidden in the hoard that was a 1909D half eagle in AU that was quickly confiscated by my dad. I built on it until I sold in my late teens early twenties paying for booze and ladies. I came back in my late 20s
11.5$ Southern Dollars, The little “Big Easy” set
One of my great-great uncles was J.J. Mickley-one of the most well known coin collectors of the 19th century. My dad got me into this hobby in 1958.
Nope. Neither of my parents are big collectors of ephemera.
My elderly mom does think that her four re-plated steel 1943 pennies are her "emergency fund" however. shrug
Newbie collector of type and circulated Peace dollars, photographer of places and animals, player of instruments and builder of amplifiers, espresso industry professional, and a person distracted by shiny objects. https://mycollect.com/Rule556/sets
My father and his brother had small collections in their youth that were given to me.
Of course, the entire poll is flawed. You could be both. The number of people who start collecting by inheritance is much smaller than the number of collectors who end up inheriting.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
Fascinating
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
My late father got me started when I was 8 years old. ( 1964 ) Towards the end when his time was short he presented me with his collection. Nothing high dollar, but priceless to me.
When I first showed interest in coin collecting my family gave me the household "bowl of coins" - you know, the bowl of odd, curious, foreign and obsolete coins that every middle-class family in the Western World tends to accumulate. But I don't count that as an "inheritance". The only thing in my collection that I'd consider to qualify as an heirloom is my step-great-grandfather's waterside worker's trade union badge from the 1920s; it's the only badge that I've formally added to the collection.
But I'd already "become a coin collector", without any encouragement or mentorship, before receiving any of these items.
Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations"
Apparently I have been awarded the DPOTD twice.
Yes I didn’t just lick it off the grass haha
My Dad got me involved 45 years ago
School, residency, solo practice, marriage and kids gave me a 20 year hiatus
I am eventually set the be a partial heir to a middle size collection, but I have built my collection myself.
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Member since 2026
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maybe for christmas
My father was not a coin collector but he saved these sales tax tokens in the 1930's and put them in small containers which I still have.
Sales Tax Tokens and Containers
The Mysterious Egyptian Magic Coin
Coins in Movies
Coins on Television
I look at them from time to time. Some are neat looking
No, I contracted this disease independently as a young kid with a paper-route.
I’m a little surprised by the numbers in the poll. I thought it would lean even further toward the “no” camp. There are lots of ways to ask the question, I’m glad to hear everyone’s responses.
Cool stuff, everybody.
Was a sibling of a coin collector. My next older brother when i was 4 used to order from littleton, my mother would let me get a few after he decided what he was keeping. My eldest brother was also a collector, but I didnt know that much about his stuff as he was already married and moved out. I remember my next eldest brother telling me that older brother had sold his collection after getting Married. Years later when I was down in Houston where he had moved, he told me some of the things he had way back when and I was talking to him about current values and this was still like 15 -20 years ago mow, and he had passed while back.
No, I started out with nothing and built the collection from scratch. A maiden aunt gave me a few gold dollars, a couple of which were counterfeits, and an 1882 $5 gold piece (common date) in EF.
My father collected stamps but he gave me an old Danco Lincoln Cent board ( 1909- 43 ) that was about 76% complete - no key dates. I got started in 1971 after earning the Boy Scout Coin Collecting Merit Badge.
My uncle’s dad was in some Boy Scout record book for having the most badges at one time (probably in the 50s).
Definitely had his coin collecting badge. My dad was an Eagle Scout but I don’t know if he got that one.
My grandma gave me a few silver coins for mowing her yard, and a family friend who worked for the Folgers Coffee family gave me a proof set each time I mowed her lawn. Those two things got me into collecting back in the early 70’s.
I have only myself to blame. lol
Wayne
Kennedys are my quest...
My Dad was a casual collector. When I was younger and didn't have much money, he would sometimes buy things that I recommended he buy. Or when I needed money I would sell him something that I had already bought. Then when he passed, I inherited the items. My two brothers received a cash equivalent (they were not as interested in the coins as I was, and also these were things that my Dad and I bought together).
Here are some of the items.
Key Date 1991 1/2-oz $25 Gold Eagle
Very cool!
I got three British pennies from the early 20th century from my father; does that count?
That counts the same as the random clad Kennedys my folks had in a cigar box