First Coin

wow. very nice everyone. thanks for sharing too.

 

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OMG, Thank you for starting this post. I always assumed that my first coin was an 1872 Seated Liberty Half. I just dug it out and it isn't even a seated liberty. It appears to be of copper make? The obverse (I'm assuming because of the 1872 date) appears to be a woman seated facing to the right, and the reverse is a portrait of (maybe victoria?) facing to the left. This is the one that got it all started. I was 5 years old, and it was a reward for picking up accorns and pulling weeds.

 

nice, if you are still unsure what it is you have post a pic and we can tell you what it is more than likely..

 

The first coin I purchased was an 1858-O half dime VF details, but bent. Bought at Princeton coins in Costa Mesa, CA in 1960. I still have it.
Restarted collecting in August 2000, buying a corroded 1804 half cent for $12 on a buy board at a local brick & mortar coin store, primarily because it was the same year as the 1804 silver dollar (which even back in 2000 I could not afford). Even though this particular half cent is scudzy, I'mm keeping it because it got me back in collecting.

To those of you to whom the season has meaning, Merry Christmas !

 

Merry Christmas to you too!, and nice coins

 

Sounds like a UK Penny. Did the figure look anything like this one?

 

I have always had a vague interest in coins. But about a year ago on a trip to Hobby Lobby, I saw a folder to collect all the state quarters. So I started collecting them, and the National Park quarters. The first coin I bought was a couple of Indian head pennies off E-bay (I know I know). Anyways I haven't looked back since, and started buying all kinds of things, and almost have complete collections of Memorial Cents, Jefferson Nickles and Kennedy Half Dollars. Also got the Presidential Dollars as well as some Franklins. I hope to really build up the collection in 2012 if Funds will allow me.

 

My first raw coin was from my grandfather sometime around 1987. He had a little tupperware container and at Christmas he let me pick whichever coin I wanted from it. This one was my favorite at the age of 8





I purchased my first slabbed coin just a couple years ago at the age of 30, on 10/24/2009. I believe I got a pretty good deal for $32 at the time.

 

My firsts were Franklins and Ikes,these were pretty common when I was a young kid in the late 70's and family members would give them to me.I wish I hadn'd spent so many on candy and hot wheels,but I still have a few of each from then.:smile

 

I got started when my brother (six years older than me) did, probably with coins from our grandparents. I couldn't have been more than five or six, so I don't remember what the first one was, but I do remember getting wheat cents and Mercury dimes from them -- probably Buffalo nickels, too.

I remember two more clearly. The first is an 1892-o dime that I got out of a vending machine at the beach -- there was a machine that took coins (probably quarters), and gave out plastic bubbles with coins inside. The dime is damaged, and only a cull, but I felt like I'd made the score of a lifetime. I still have it, and I hope I always will.

The second is an 1881-S Morgan, probably MS62. My grandfather gave a Morgan to each of the grandkids one Christmas. At that point I knew what "uncirculated" meant, but I wasn't sure this one was, because I'd never encountered an uncirculated coin with heavy bag marks. (The 70-point scale hadn't caught on at that point; the Red Book just listed "AU" and "BU".) Fortunately, I also knew enough to take care of it. It's still in the same condition, with the tiniest bit of toning now along one edge (it was blast-white when I got it).

 

nice, i really like that penny

 

When I was old enough to sit on the cushioned board the Barber lays across the arms of the barber chair for my 1st "big boy" haircut, I fell in love with Mercury dimes. According to my Mother, it was around 1960 and I was pitching a fit. She tried everything to get me to sit still, but nothing worked...until she gave me a Mercury dime (apparently, small coins weren't a choking hazard in 1960). She said I was mesmerized by it and sat quietly as the barber proceeded to give me a "butch".

Fast forward twelve (12) years (1972). I had a paper route...and the entire uncirculated Mercury dime collection...except for the 1916d. I had a 1916d, but not uncirculated. I asked Mr. Deitel of the Madison (CT) Coin Store to try an find me one. He said he would try, but it would cost $600 and I should start saving...he didn't do "lay-aways" on high end coins.

The New Haven Register cost 85¢/week. I made 2¢/paper plus a 15¢ tip and the end of the week (if the paper was delivered on time). I saved all year long, cutting grass and delivering papers, and in early Fall, Mr. Deitel said that he had found a coin that met my requirements...but the price was now $800. I told him that I wouldn't have that much money until Christmas (1973) when I get Christmas tips from my paper customers. He said he couldn't hold the coin and it was First come, First serve. I think he held the coin for me anyway because it was still available at Christmas.

Mr. Deitel drove me over to the Union Trust Bank in Madison with the coin. I had been driving the bank tellers nuts all year long with my stories of the 1916d Mercury dime and they wanted to see it. Mrs. Mueller, the Head teller (and one of my paper route customers) gave me my money, I gave it to Mr. Deitel, and I got my uncirculated 1916d dime. Business at the bank stopped for at least 15 minutes as everyone got a good look at my new dime.

Mr. Deitel drove me and my bicycle back home so no harm befell me on the way. I wanted to put it in my blue Whitman folder with the rest of the collection, but my Father insisted I let him hold onto it for me. The dime was blast white with full bell lines. My Father gently wrapped it in tissue paper and aluminum foil and that was the last I saw of it for quite a number of years. At one point, my Sister got a divorce and my ex-Brother-in-Law stole my entire coin collection. By then I had forgotten all about my Father holding my dime (I thought I had it with the rest of my collection...and lost it).

When my Father passed in 2005, I was looking through his coins and found a small package with my name on it. I opened it up and there it was, after thirty (30) years...looking the same as it did that day at the Union Trust Bank. Here's a picture of what my coin looks like, but this isn't my coin. My coin is in an AirTite (wrapped in aluminum foil) in a safety deposit box in Connecticut.

That's not my "first" coin, but it was my first coin of any consequence. Certainly the one I worked the hardest to obtain!

 

For all intents and purposes, the first coin that started me collecting was a lowly circulated 1968-S Jefferson. I had been waiting in the magazine aisle of a local grocer store while my mom shopped. I picked up a copy of Coin Prices and was looking through it noticing that "S" mintmarked coins often appeared to be the more costly and therefore "desirable". I guess shortly thereafter I got a 68-S in change and got excited about it. I quickly learned that it didn't have much value, but for years after I kept every 68-70-S Jefferson I came across.

The above it generally why I like nickels the most of all the types/demoniations.

 

My grandfather gifted me a 1967 Kennedy Half and a 1976 Eisenhower Dollar. I have no recollection actually receiving them - I was just a young boy then. I don't know which was first but both remained in their plastic square holders until recently. They are now in an "ancestral" type set.

 

This is my 1st coin I found summer of 1956, it was in my change from the A&P. after that I was hooked.55yr this year.

 

I was given a worn common date Morgan Dollar from my great aunt, at my baptism (38 years ago). Of course I still have it.

 

There used to be a Cash and Carry store where I live! Granted it was before I was born but my dad remembers it and a couple of my bosses worked there. Haha just thought I'd share that.

My first coin was a 1956 wheatie. Still have it in my Whitman, its one of few I haven't upgraded.

 

I don't remember the first coin I saved, but it was definitely from the newspaper route I had in the mid 50s. I had to collect weekly for the papers I delivered during the week and the cost was 30 cent (5 cent per day, no Sunday paper at that time). People would give me anywhere from .30 to .50 during my collection days. I bought some coin holders (cents thru half dollars). I have about 4 sets of lincolns (without 09s, 14d, 31s) and much silver. Didn't really know what I was saving then, but sure am glad I did!

 

i wish that we could still find these coins in circulation as easy.

 

That could seriously be it. I'll get a picture up later this evening. It is in terrible shape prolly AG-3. About the size of a quarter