The first coin in my collection was a wheat penny that my grandpa gave to me. I looked at it, and thought about how old it was. Older than him, surely. "Is that the date? What's the "D" mean? Where did you get it?" That was when I was 6. That's what got me collecting. Whenever I saw a penny, I'd look at it to see if it was a wheat cent. And if it was, I could pop it in the old whitman folder my grandpa had given me. Fast forward a few years, I'm still working on the old whitman folder. I'd ask my dad to get coin rolls at the bank, and I'd spend hours looking through them, finding as many as 1 wheat cent per roll. The only problem was when my mom told me to clean up the mess I'd left when I was done. As of now, I'm 14 and have been collecting for 8 years. And in those 8 years, I have put together nearly a full album of wheat cents. As of now, I'm only missing 15 dates in between 1909 until now. 13 of them are from the 1909 - 1940 album, and the other two are the 60 small date, and the 70 s small date. Finding all these took a long time, but I love doing it, so it's definitely worth it. Many of these coins are from wheat rolls, but most of the rares ones were bought or given to me. Special thanks to @Zebmonster for helping me with over 20 blank holes in my album! And now, I'm almost done... With the album I mean. I'll never be done upgrading these coins with better examples. I wonder what it will be like when I put in the last coin, the 1909 s vdb.
What an awesome story. I love it. I started my Whitman cent book in the early 1970's. I wore out two folders over the years and didn't plug that final 09-S, VDB hole until ten years ago. Every cent in that folder was found with exception of seven that I had to purchase along the way. I don't post that album here on CoinTalk because all the cents are humble working coins. But that old Whitman is probably my favorite book. Way to go!
I still have all my Whitman folders from back when I was your age. I actually have my Buffalo folder on my desk at the moment getting ready to transfer the worthy examples into my Dansco album. Did the same with my Lincoln cents several (many?) years ago... Keep at it and enjoy!
You can post your coins. There are a number of people who like seeing other collections. If this was a site only for elite, high grade slabbed coins, it wouldn't have as many members
Very neat story to share with us. It brings back memories of when I started collecting. I have thousands of coins that my dad left me before he passed away 20 years ago. He was very young when he passed away.. 58
I had a similar start. My aunt gave me an 1885 nickel when I was 5. That was 72 years ago. The big difference was that all we had in our change for cents was Wheats and Indian Heads. Nice work on that set.
That's a wonderful story for us and a lasting fond memory for you. Save your money and you'll fill those holes. Gifts make for good whole fillers as well. Happy collecting!
The fact that you will cherish and appreciate those coins is more than ample reward for any help I may have given you with your collection. And thanks for the shoutout.
