Do you have any coins which have been in your family for moultiple generations?

SanctionII · August 13, 2009 8:20AM

If so, tell us about the coin(s) and the "family history" of same.

For me I have a circulated 1890CC Morgan that my aunt found on the street. On her death it passed to her sister (my mom). My mom gave it to me and I have had it about 40-45 years.

Elcontador · August 13, 2009 8:39AM

In 1933, my paternal grandmother did not trust the government when they ordered people to turn in their gold coins. She hid $75 of gold coins, and only told my father about it many decades later.

They aren't valuable numismatic coins. An 01 S Double Eagle in VF, an 04 S Double Eagle that is AU, two circ. IH $10s and three circ. IH $5s. While some of the IH gold has low mintage, they aren't scarce coins. But, they're all family heirlooms.

LoveMyLiberty · August 13, 2009 8:41AM

Yes, our Great, Great, Great grandfather went to the mint and bought
a brand new coin to celebrate the birth of his new child. The coin was
bright & shiny and newly made and was a beautiful specimen.
It has come down through the years from family to family and each
family has cherished it as their prize possession. At family gatherings
it was brought out and shown to the group and refreshments were
served. It's a miracle it has survived all these years and we are so
proud to own it.

Someday it will pay for a new house and little Buddy's education at Harvard.

DorkGirl · August 13, 2009 8:45AM

My grandfather started a set of Morgans in Whitman albums. My dad worked on them, and I finished them. Actually one of the first things I did was put them in a set of Danscos. I will never be able to relay the feeling I felt as I put that last Morgan in the book. I did it for all 3 of us.

SanctionII · August 13, 2009 9:12AM

Great story Dorkgirl.

If you ever get a chance, post pics of the Morgans.

shirohniichan · August 13, 2009 9:12AM

My dad showed me his coffee can of unusual coins he collected growing up in LA and Denver. He has a Monroe Doctrine half, a bent half dime, a couple of corroded 2 cent pieces, etc. I don't know what he did with them.

Last year at a family reunion up in British Columbia, my maternal aunt gave me a coin my great-great-grandfather passed down to my grandmother. It's an 1876 half dollar that was saved as a birth year mememto and is in AU condition. The problem with it is that my great-grandfather or grandfather tried to solder it to something (probably a bolo tie). Now it is deeply toned with a glob of silver solder on the reverse. It's not worth much, but it's definitely a keeper. So far it has been passed down 5 generations.

Bayard1908 · August 13, 2009 9:15AM

My grandfather pulled a bunch of coins out of circulation in the 1930s and kept them in a cigar box. My uncle has them now. I'd like to buy them from him someday. Would you believe that half dimes were still in circulation in the 1930s?

RYK · August 13, 2009 9:17AM

Yes, my 1853 25c and 1859 IHC (in my 7070) were given to my father by his grandfather. I had some others that were sold (a holed, circ 1895-O Morgan), and some were given away (1857 FE cent, given to Russ).

Elcontador · August 13, 2009 9:49AM

Would you believe that half dimes were still in circulation in the 1930s?

Yes, I do. As a nine year old, once I went to buy candy at the Union 76 station across from the elementary school I attended. I bought some candy and the guy gave me change for a dime. One of the pennies I got in change didn't look right. It didn't have a picture of Lincoln on it, so I thought it was fake. I explained it to the guy, and he assured me that the penny was indeed real, it was just old. As I had been buying candy from him for over a year, I took him at his word. It was an 1898 IHC.

Until they stopped putting silver in dimes, quarters, and half dollars, coins circulated. I found a few odd Liberty Nickels, Barber Dimes, and even a few Barber Quarters in change. I also found a 16 P Walker in change. Even now, I'll occasionally find nickels minted in the 1940s in change.

anablep · August 13, 2009 9:56AM

My wife's grandfather fought in Africa during WWII for the US.

My wife's other grandfather was German & fought in Europe, eventually becoming a Soviet POW in Romania.

He was released at the end of the war & walked from Romania to Bavaria, Germany to get home.

It's been said that his wife (my wife's grandmother) didn't even recognized him when he finally arrived home.

I have 1940's German, Romanian & African coins passed on from each veteran to my wife's parents and now they are part of my collection.

2ndCharter · August 13, 2009 9:57AM

For Christmas in 1957 (I was eight at the time), my grandfather gave me a Blue Book, a 1802 Large Cent, and a few well circulated Indian Head cents. Since he died in 1958, that was the last Christmas present I ever received from him. The Indian cents have long disappeared but I still have the Blue Book and the Large Cent. I've attributed it as a S-242 and it probably net grades as G6 thanks to a few green spots but, regardless of value, it's not going anywhere.

PreTurb · August 13, 2009 10:52AM

Year was 1977, my grandmother turned over to me a medium toned 1884-s morgan, which I promptly scoured with silver polish, and cleaned a little more with a pencil eraser...

I still have it, as a momento - explaining to a large degree why rare coins are rare. This unc 1884-s just needed a little dip and it would have been an amazing MS63-64 coin.

C'est la vie!

ProofCents · August 13, 2009 10:57AM

I had a 1918 wheat cent handed down to me in ag3 i bet its worth $0.04 by now

19Lyds · August 13, 2009 11:06AM

I've still got proof sets I bought before my sons were born...............does that count?

garsmith · August 13, 2009 2:11PM

Yes, I have some coins my grand mother passed down to me via my uncle.

ProofArtworkonCircs · August 13, 2009 2:21PM

I have a corroded 1818 cent my father plowed up about 1885. A school chum plowed up an 1818 cent about 1950, which I now have. I dug up my own 1818 cent about 1960.

In the 1950's the local variety store owner gave me two Canadian 5 cent silvers that had been in the cash register for probably decades.
That she gave them to me was a bit out of character for her but greatly appreciated.

direwolf1972 · August 13, 2009 2:32PM

The first one to come to mind cant be posted to forum.

Its a Large Cent altered to read ONE C*NT.

It has been in the family for at least 100 years.

Also have a few Italian and German coins from WWII that have been passed down from my grandfather to my father and then to me.

Raybob15239 · August 13, 2009 2:32PM

My very first Morgan dollar is such a coin. I received it in 1981 when my maternal grandfather died. I remember being a kid around 7 or 8 an playing with it. The coin was his mother's... 1881 was her birth year. She died in the early 1920s.

tightbudget · August 13, 2009 3:15PM

All I have is about 25 Chinese silver dollar coins (no, not the fake ones they make today). Just about all of them are nice, crusty and original. Also have a few U.S. coins, which my grandparents must've pulled from circulation when they arrived in the U.S. some 40+ years ago. No way you can find a Fine 1916 Buffalo nickel in change or 40% half in ordinary pocket change today.

morganbarber · August 13, 2009 8:48PM

At one point some pulled out my great-grandfather's change purse. It was mostly dark side, but it contained my oldest US coin- A 1800 half cent which is now in PCGS G6.

BillyKingsley · August 14, 2009 12:13AM

These coins have been in my family for at least three generations, quite possibly four. They are the coins that, upon discovering them in my late father's stash area, got me collecting coins last year. I later found another Morgan that he had, but I believe that one is only second generation. The Peace dollars are one of my all time favorite designs, and these four (plus one more, that is a duplicate) were the first time I ever saw them, and currently the only examples I have.

They will be in my possesion forever, there is no amount of money that could make me sell them.

I hope that someday if I ever have kids, I can tell them the story of how I found them, and that they could be the 5th generation to be in possesion of them, but at the very least 4th!

I also have a large number of wheat cents that my mom and dad pulled out of circulation in the 1950s and 60s, probably about 400. Unfortunatly they were stored in a leaky basement and most of them have enviremental damage

There were about 10 Mercury dimes and 3 silver Washington Quarters with them as well. Only one of the quarters was damaged and none of the dimes, luckily!

notwilight · August 14, 2009 12:30AM

My family isn't that organized. My mother bought some morgans off TV in the 60s and they were lost before I became an adult. --Jerry

SaorAlba · August 14, 2009 12:39AM

My grandfather lost his pinkie finger in a cornshucker machine accident when he was six years old in 1897. He had to go into town to the doctor and when he returned home to the farm his brother gave him a 2 cent piece that he had been saving to use in the store. Instead of spending it, my grandfather kept the coin and gave it to me ca. 1976 when I was ten years old. I still have it, it has been in the family for 111 years now.

ProofArtworkonCircs · August 14, 2009 1:02AM

I once saw an heirloom I wish I could have. Almost 50 years ago, an elderly member of the coin club had a wife who had her father's collection. He kept it a very small iron keg whose two halves screwed together. The whole thing went through a house fire. The keg was intact, maybe a little rusted. The silver and copper coins melted into a solid mass. But you could read the date on the bust dime floating on top.

Do you have any coins which have been in your family for moultiple generations?

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