A Coin That Means Something

We all have coins in our collections that have special meaning...that are worth more to us than their actual value. They might be a key coin or a common; circulated or MS. But, behind them is a special story.

I thought it would be fun to share such coins with each other.

I have a few coins like this, but I will start with one that comes to mind. Maybe I will add others later. But, let's hear about yours.

I'll start out by telling a little story. When I was a kid, I was really into football and baseball card collecting (to a certain degree, I still am). But, I never really considered coins. Then, one day my dad was going through his large gun safe looking for a document of some kind, and he sat a small stack of blue books on the desk. Well, I started to look through them.

They were old Whitman coin folders. I was probably 10 at the time, and had never seen these before. My dad told me he had collected when he was a kid in the 1960s...when he went into the Army in the mid-60s he stopped collecting and never really picked it back up. I was fascinated by the history in these books...especially by the 1943 steel cents.

I was so interested, I decided to start my own little collection. My dad bought me the 3 folder Whitman Lincoln Cent set and I started filling it up. We found a little coin shop in town that I would visit and I started to collect other types...but I kept working on that Lincoln set. At some point, when I was in high school...I almost finished the set. I was only missing one coin...that 1909-S VDB. But, Lincoln's weren't my only interest at the time. I had a girlfriend, was playing sports and I was collecting other types (Lincoln's aren't/weren't even my favorite coin). So, that one hole in the book never got filled.

Well, I grew up and went to college. I still collected but not as much because life was so busy. I found CT along the way...still never getting that 1909-S VDB. I went to dental school and still no 1909-S VDB.

I got married while in dental school and at the reception I was talking to my dad and he said he had really wanted to get me an 1909-S VDB Lincoln as a present, but he just didn't have the money. He said he had went and looked at a few at a local dealer but just couldn't afford one. I was really surprised that that was the gift he wanted to give me. We hadn't talked about Lincoln's in years...but I guess there was just something special about the coin to both of us.

Well, almost two years later...my 28th birthday rolled around last May. My parents were passing through town (my siblings and I had all bought them an Alaskan Cruise as a Christmas present) and they were heading up to Seattle to get on the ship. They stopped by my apartment with a birthday present for me. I opened it...and found this:

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My dad had bought me a 1909-S VDB cent. These photos make the color look a little funny...but in hand it has a very nice natural brown color. The dealer (who is quite reputable) said it would grade nicely if I submitted it. I haven't yet, but I probably will at some point send it to PCGS. I think it's a very nice XF/AU range example.

 

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Great story.

Congrats on finally finishing the set

 

Awesome story and topic, Camaro. My father is still a collector and it's something I'm happy we both enjoy. I hope to pass that same interest in history and coin along to my son as he gets to that age.

 

Great story. Mine is a 1928 wheat cent that I found when I was 11 in a tube of my grandpa's old coins. Sadly, he passed away when I was 6 and I did not get know him as well as I could have, but the coin provided a link to him and gave us, too late, a shared hobby.

 

That is a great story! I will keep my story short. My mom loved JFK. Enamored with Camelot like many at the time. In 1964, she waited in a very long line to get a new silver Kennedy half dollar on the day they were released. Years later, when I started collecting coins, she gave me that half dollar and told me how proud she was of me. Still have it...always will have it. TC

 

This coin was passed from my grandfather to my dad. A few years before he passed away, dad gave me his collection.

Knowing the family history of this coin (may go back even beyond my grandfather), it is the most cherished in my collection. I couldn't help but submit it for grading a few years back. Dad would be proud.

 

Nice story all of you

 

Beautiful 1909-S VDB. It is my bucket list coin. I can't go to my grave without owning one. Of the current coins in my collection, I guess the 1920 Maine Centennial Half Dollar would be the coin. It was passed down from my great grandfather to his son and then to me.

 

My favorite coin is a very worn 1864 2 cent piece. I got it when my dad took me to a coin shop for the first time when I was 8. I was blown away that there was such a coin.

 

Been in my family since, 1910

 

Gorgeous coins! Mine is an PCGS MS64 OGH 1878 7tf VAM 84a...this Is the first VAM my Nephew (5 yrs old) picked on his own. Didn't know it was a Super CD. Later, when we were at home he was checking it out (very excited) and pointed out, "Uncle...whats this? And this?"...the cool neck clash & wreath clash by the mouth. This blew me away! Really?! A 5 year old?! Yes sir!

 

I have a couple of Indian head cents from my great grandfather by way of my grandmother. But the one that I really associate with my grandmother is a 1914D quarter eagle that she picked up at face value in the 60s when she was working as a bank teller. Some people have said that that couldn't have happened but it did at least once and was rare enough an occurrence that it was still very special to her fifty years later.

 

mine would be a 1902 morgan my father had carried with him in Vietnam. If you ever saw Pulp Fiction, this coin got to me in a very similar manner as Butch's watch did to him. It was a "very uncomfortable hunk of metal" as the gentleman who brought it to me said.

i am totally kidding.

 

The oldest silver that came from my grandfather's collection. The collection was split between the grandsons, but this coin was kept by my uncle for another year. Once he saw how interested I had become in coins after inheriting part of the collection, he gave it to me as a gift.

 

Was helping my buddy go threw some on, Indiana heads today, and the only wheat penny we found was, 1909 s vdb in good condition

 

Great coins and stories everyone!

 

coins don't have any meaning. they are just objects, nothing more.

 

That's kind of insulting to people that cherish special coins that have been in their family for years, or people that cherish the first coin they won at an auction when they just started out in the hobby.

It is not necessarily the coin itself that has the meaning, but a memory, event, or emotion attached to it that brings joy and meaning to the collector.

 

I'm not for one second suggesting that coins are alive and have emotions. But, many of us have one or a few that mean something special to us. The 1909-S VDB my dad gave me posted above for example. That coin doesn't feel anything, but it is worth more to me that it is to anyone else because of the history that comes with it. The same is true for the 1925 Double Eagle my grandmother gave to me before she passed away. Or, hopefully just like the 2014 1oz AGE I'm going to buy for my first child when he/she is born this year will mean to my child.

 

I inherited my grandfather's coins 2 years ago and that's what started my interest in coins. He left behind a type set of all denominations and styles from 1804 til now. He also left behind his prized type set, as pictured below: