I just gifted some coins to a member. I declined the offer of a self addressed stamped envelope. Whew! I was almost a rule breaker
A friend here in Spain approached the education board of a local school. He proposed a tutorial he could give to the history course about his collection of Spanish coinage and how the dates/images are related to the county's history. Along with a powerpoint presentation a selection of coins were to be given to each student. Due to Covid the proposal is on hold but was favorably received by the school.
I read your post a few days ago, that is a marvelous idea. I just need to go back and look at it again and see what else I would need to complete it fory two kids. Then what it would take for a few nieces and their kids.
I've put a little effort in collecting. I never had children and am at a loss of who to pass the small collection on to. I'm still going to continue, because I like doing it and I have time to decide.
What an AWESOME thread. Right after my heart. I too have a fifty year accumulation of what I call my “kid coins”. They served their purpose but now simply take up space. I have given away hundreds of coins and till have along ways to go. Some of my methods: I keep a drink cup in my old show car full of old Buffalo’s V-nickels, Indian head and wheat cents. Kid comes to look at my old car and he gets a Hot Wheels car and some old coins...... I also have an Altoids tin in my work truck with some old coins. If I see a kid and it doesn’t feel awkward, I will hand them an old coin. I leave coins at the entrance to elementary schools. I have left coins on the floor at the toy isle at Walmart. I have perused profiles here on CoinTalk and sent coins to youngsters. I have put them in grandkids stockings at Christmas. I turned my grandson into a raging coin-o-holic doing this. My dealer buddy has a program where he gives coins to kids with A’s and B’s on their report cards. I have donated to that fund. I personally like to put my old coins into kids hands. It may only spark an interest in a few. But I don’t care. It makes me feel great to see a kids face light up when he looks down expecting to see Jefferson and sees and Indian looking back instead. Good luck!
Don't give up on the kids and grandkids just yet. I was never interested in my dad's coin collection. After he passed, we divided it up between the 3 of us......just haphazardly.....each got an equal amount of gold coins.....the flipped and graded coins were basically just divided up equal, with no thought to value or whatever......Took them to my LCS for help, he was happy to give me some information and he did buy part of it.Then I stuck the rest away......One day,I found a quarter with a W mint mark in my pocket change and Researched it because I knew it wasn't a common thing.....figured out what it was and that it was a HTF coin, so then I went back to my dad's collection and started researching what I had left of it......and VIOLA! a collector was born at 60 yrs old. I have spent the last year and a half learning about coins and adding to the collection. Now I wish I had appreciated it earlier......but you work with what you have! Your collection is a legacy to your family, and you should keep it even if you are concerned they don't want it.....It may help them if they are having a financial issue. Yeah it may get sold, and they may even get a bad deal for them.......but through that, those coins will eventually end up with somebody who DOES appreciate them or spark interest in a new collector.
I would not even consider giving your life's work of coins to any organization simply because administrative costs always comes first. Whatever is left goes to your original choice which in reality is less than 10%. If you do not believe me check it out you will be shocked at what you don't know about charities. Follow your heart there is someone waiting for your precious gift. Thank you for your post God's speed.
Hi all. It's been a while since I've posted. I've been very busy since the Covid situation started and all the repercussions to work, home, relatives, etc. This is a really interesting thread. I have 4 nephews in whom I sparked an interest in coin collecting. As of today they range in ages from 8 to 17. Their parents are happy that I got them into something that is a "good obsession" as they call it. I also use our conversations about coins to teach them some history without their realizing that they're getting a history lesson . They've each shown off their coin collection to their friends which tells me that they're really into it. I also just recently (in the past year) got the 12 y.o. son of a good friend interested in coin collecting. He keeps calling me with questions he has. It's such a good feeling to know that I sparked an interest in this kid and that I can help teach him things. Unlike the OP, I'm middle age but haven't been collecting my whole life and don't have a large collection. I also don't have the money to consistently buy more coins and supplies than I already have for all 5 of the kids, even though I would love to spend loads of money on them. And because of the Covid situation I have to be really careful right now with my spending until I know that my job is secure. So if you would like to donate coins to 5 kids who have an interest in coin collecting, I would be happy to give them your coins, slowly, so that they can appreciate each one. You can be sure that the coins would have a good home with them!
Just for the sake of clarification. What members do privately, and how they go about doing it is up to them. The rules I talked about in post #7 only apply to what is done openly/publicly on the forum. In other words, if you send a private message to another member offering to to give them coins - you can do it any way you want to do it - you can ask them to pay shipping or you can pay it yourself. It's your choice. But if you post such an offer on the forum where everybody can see it and any member can respond - then you must pay shipping. In simplest terms a give-away has to be a give-away that cost the recipient nothing.
If your family and friends know about your collecting enjoyment over the years have someone take a photo of you surrounded by some of your collection. Share the photo widely, along with a coin. When you are only a blessed memory to them someday they’ll look at it and remember your happiness... and maybe they’ll start collecting.
P.S. I would also be happy to provide pictures of the kids with their collections to anyone donating coins to them. I did this last year for the bank teller lady who looked out for new rolls of quarters for them so they could search for W quarters. She even found extra W quarters for them. They were thrilled and we took pictures for her which she appreciated. The ages of the kids are: - Nephews: 8, 9.5, 11, 17 - Friend's son: 12
Lol, this thread reminds me of when I went in to a coin store about 8 years ago. I was only 6 at the time. And the people that owned the shop were just nonstop, giving me a bunch of random coins. Nothing rare, but I sure appreciated it. I got a few wheats, a nice looking steel penny, and some world coins. The best thing I got was not a coin, but a big metal box to put all my coins in. That's part of what got me started in coin collecting.