New Contest with some really good prizes

Cool contest!!

My grandpa would buy me just about every coin from the mint every year for Christmas starting in 2000, which was 5th grade for me, (except gold and some of the earlier commems). I thought they were pretty but I never really understood what they were. So I kept them stored away somewhere. After 10 years of collecting without actually collecting, I took them out to inspect them just for kicks and giggles. I realized they were actually quite cool looking. So I did a little research and found what I had and what the difference was between what I get in change and what I get for Christmas. That brought me to circulated coins. This was just a matter of months ago and I'm still getting my first coins (first merc, first walker, first peace etc.). Anyways, I've fallen in love and I don't expect to ever fall out of love.

Thanks Grandpa!

 

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hmm tough here but i will do what i can
i picked this up in earnest two years ago. it seems my whole life there were folks with true gems they help on and kept. my grandfathers morgans, my dads merc (how i wish i had his whitman merc books!) i fell in love with proof and mint sets for some odd reason at a really early age. so nice and shiny and perfect i would think, not having any understand of what this could truly mean.
there ar e a great many things i do not have and a number i will probably never acquire (heck i am still looking for a liberty quarter with some sort of date)
so basically i fell in to this great hooby simply for the love of the sculpture, the luster, the pure artisanship it takes for coins (granted not too impressed by the new cent reverse, pulled for wheat stalks somewhere) and it is a great challenge.
thanks for the contest and listening

 

I feel like everyone has a better story than me. Are we being judged by how good our beginnings are, or just pulling names from a hat?

 

When I was a young boy growing up my grandpa would show me the different things he would come across in his daily ventures. He was retired but he always worked two or more jobs and always seemed to be right where all the goodies were. He would bring me tokens, medals and coins to look at and I was continually amazed. I grew up when silver coins where in circulation, but he would still come up with the older stuff that was difficult to find. A mercury dime, a standing liberty quarter, those coins were special to me because there wasn't anywhere else I could see them at the time. He possibly never even knew that he had passed on an intriguing hobby that would keep me looking and interested for many years to come. Unfortunately as life would have it his sadly ended abruptly when I was only 12yrs old in 1963. Still even today, I remember the times we spent together and I consider the memories a treasure I will never forget.

TY for the contest!! :thumb:

 

cpm, beautiful 1885-CC !!
i love it.

i just looked at your profile album of morgans.
you have some great DMPL's and toned coins in there!

 

You actually had a pretty cool story. This will be a random drawing. Everyone that enters will have a name put into a hat and my daughter will do the drawing for all 3 prizes. Good luck!

 

I woke up any other day to get ready for the second grade, put on my clothes that my mom picked out, ate my cereal, brushed my teeth and I was off! Today was no ordinary day, a classmate had brought in something unique, very unique, and fascinating only to my eyes. Everyone gathered around on the carpet to hear about what he had brought it. He brought over a white binder, then opened it for us to see. The binder was filled with coins, us coins, world coins, pennies, quarters, dollars. He explained to us every coin he had with detail, explaining that some came from his great grandma's, or from his own purchases. The class wasn't enthused, and the teacher's sounds of appreciation sounded fake, but he was able to hook at least one kid, and that kid was me. To this day I have been collecting various u.s coins and relatives that travel abroad bring me back some coinage from distant nations. I love coins, all thanks to the kid who brought his collection to school, in second grade.

Great contest idea, it gave me a chance to finally write out my story for once. Love listening to everyone else's stories as well.

 

My dad started me in coin collecting when I was a boy. I collected lincolns, looking to fill the holes in my blue Whitman trifold all of the time. I also had a Jefferson album and a dime one as well. Then, as a teenager, I stopped actively collecting though I would always check for wheatbacks and silver. In March 2009 my dad passed and I received 20 Dansco albums of various US coin issues, plus his extra coins including silver and foreign. I became completely hooked and I guess, had a connection with my father through these coins. He basically collected through circulation, so his albums had a few holes. I've been able to complete 5 of the Danscos and look to do more in the future. I joined Cointalk soon after this inheritance and a local coin club as well (where I am now the VP).

THANKS for the contest.

 

I got started in coin collecting indirectly due to my dad.

While I was growing up in Liverpool, England, my dad was renovating the cupboards in his bedroom in 1980. As he was emptying the old ones out, I was helping him (being 13, that was the kind of thing I liked to do) and I came across an old jam jar full of old [circulated] pre-decimal UK coins. I was quite mesmerised by this jar and its contents. In particular, I recall, I loved the large size and feel of the silver halfcrown of George VI dated 1939. It was also cool to see Britannia on the large pennies and halfpennies. Along with this trove (of about 100 coins, I'd say) was an old hand-written list listing the approx values of certain denomination/date contents. With all of this, I was taken immediately! My grandma would then keep aside florins she'd find with those dates (they were in circulation until 1992). Rounding off 1980, I received the 1980 UK proof set,.

From those humble beginnings my collection began. Now I have a nice collection of Unc UK C20th - which is not by any means complete.

Sovereigns were inspired when my brother sent me one in exchange for some Lego back in 2001 (Lego is my other passion!) ... a great time to start collecting gold at $350/oz!

So there you have it! And in agreement with other posters - this is a great idea for a contest!

 

Don't worry about it! Remember, his daughter will be picking the winner from all of the entries. I'm assuming that all of the names will be thrown into the hat.

Chris

 

Thanks for the contest!
My story is similar to Bobbeth's

My dad got me started in collecting when I was a kid, not sure about the age. I had my own whitman albums for cents and the newer nickels dimes. Dad had Ike, Mercury, Lincoln cent albums. We had a movie rental store, so on days where Mom was working there I'd go along and sit in back, I got to search through all the change after closing. Dad would take me to the coin sop a few times and I'd get some small things with money I'd saved. He passed away in 2002 when I was 21 years old. All the coin collection got stored away while I was in college and working in Michigan. Eventually I moved down here to the chicago area and got a house, so I was able to pick up all my stuff and had the box of coins stored here for a while. About a year ago I got back in to collecting, but still mostly just circulated stuff. Dad's Ike album and mercury album I marked under each coin that it was one he'd found. I finished his Ike album this year from coins I'd get at banks, so that was really cool to complete something he'd started. I'll of course never complete his merc collection, but it will be fun to find some to fill holes (i hope).

 

When i was about eight or nine, a woman who worked for my parents business would babysit my brother and i on occasion. Her husband was a collector of world coins, and i can remember many times helping him go through bulk purchases, categorizing the coins by country and stapling them into 2x2 flips where he would carefully label them and put them into albums. He had a great big book shelf full of three ring binders that all held coins from around the world. Gradually he started a a red box that held 2x2's for me. The next time i got to visit my grandparents who lived out of state i remembered to bring all my new coins to show grandpa who was also an avid collector, but of only US issues. I still remember how he scoffed at the idea of HIS grandson collecting WORLD coins. Some of those coins are pretty he remarked but they would never be worth much! You need to get some silver and put it away he explained to me noting that "wheaties, and Morgan dollars were what serious collectors were after. So he takes me back into his study and pulls out a whitman folder for lincoln wheat ear cents, and seats me next to him at his desk where he had an ENORMOUS coffee can full of wheats. We start filling holes in the album and he is all the time explaining to me never to clean my coins, how it would render them worthless ect. I still have my box of foreign coins as well as the first album of wheaties that grandpa helped me start about 28 years ago. Grandpa and i still call each other up just about every time we get a newp for bragging rights as to whose collection is better, and you know what? Grandpa still has me beat!

 

I started collecting in 1957-58. While a Boy Scout in order to get the Merit Badge and advancement. My brother played ball in Little League and he was very good. I couldn't catch a ball no matter how hard I tried, much less hit one with a bat, so I gravitated toward more "nerdy" activities. My mother managed the Little League snack shack and was in charge of all the banking transactions. Every evening, when would pick up the receipts of the concession and I would count and roll the coins for her. Of course, I could buy anything I might find.

Mom bought me the Whitman folders and I would search to find the coins to fill the holes. Mom loved the "searching" aspect and would make lists. She also like the idea of finding a coin worth more than it's face value. lol

I was fortunate that my mother was involved in getting me started. My grandfather gave me some coins that I could never get today. Mom is gone now, but every time I sit at my desk and roll search, I am reminded of the hours we spent on the floor separating the piles of change then looking at every coin. The thrill of finding one we needed and so on. When the new Shield Cents came out, I took 2 brand new ones over and placed on her marker. I knew she would have loved to seen the new cents.

 

I will play even though I do not have the required post count.

I got into coin collecting when I was younger, as part of Boy Scouts, (think merit badge). As my interest grew, so did my collection, mostly of low value, but interesting coinage from Europe. My interest in European coinage grew from my family history. I was first generation American, both Parents and Grandparents had emigrated from Germany after WWII. As my interest grew I was bestowed a great prize. A family heirloom collection of approximately 60 Goetz table medals. I carefully preserved these treasures which at the time were given to me in a rolled linen cloth. I continued to collect mostly German and Austrian coins, especially obtaining commeratives whenever we went back to visit family as I was growing up. Over the years my interest in coin collecting waned. Now that I have grown children it has sparked again since my 16 year old daughter has taken a keen interest in the Munzen and has taken some of them to her German and History classes in High School. My goal is to correctly identify and grade my collection and in turn hand it down to her as another heirloom.

Edited to add: LOL, I just read 10Gary's post above about getting started in Scouts. He must have pushed enter just as I was composing my history.

 

My interest in coins started when I was around 8 years old. My older brother at the time had a vague interest in US coins and I can remember watching him sort through rolls of cents and thumb through his copy of R.S. Yeoman's 1973 blue book. He soon lost interest in them but that book remained in our house while I continued to grow up and I eventually started reading it myself and soon developed a passion for coins unlike anything my older brother had ever displayed. My fascination with coins continued to grow as the years passed and, by 1980, with silver prices soaring and the whole nation talking about everything precious metal related, I was seriously hooked. By the age of 12 I was going to coinshops and buying examples of different types of coins for my small collection. Most of the coins in my collection were common, low grade stuff because I didn't have very much money but it didn't take a whole lot to get me excited back then. A trip to the local coinshop with five or ten dollars in my pocket was enough for me to feel like I was in seventh heaven.

After I became a teenager I lost interest in the hobby and ultimately ended up taking a 25 year hiatus from it. It was only a few years ago that something, not sure what but maybe it's just a nostalgia-middle aged thing, caused a rekindling of the interest in me and now I'm hooked again. But no more! I've got enough coins now. I've got darn near everything in that 1973 blue book that I ever dreamed of owning as a child and I don't need anything else. I know I keep telling myself "that was the last one" every time I buy another but this time I mean it. My collection is complete now and I'm moving on to something else. Btw, I still have that 1973 blue book (my brother hasn't asked for it back) and, while I now own many other, newer, more relevant coin books, nothing can ever replace the sentimentality of that old, well worn and outdated piece of numismatic literature on my bookshelf.

 

When I was in high school, I found an old change purse in my dad's closet. When I opened it, there were a bunch of really old coins in it, and I have a very strong appreciation for old things (I'm a geologist now ). Included in this purse was a 1819 Capped Bust Half Dollar, a 1912 V-nickel, a 1910 quarter eagle(!), the rarer of the two Pilgrim half dollars, and several other old coins. I made sure to hide these in my room, because I knew my dad would probably try to sell them at some point and I wanted to hand them down to future generations. Since then my collection has grown based on my experiences with this forum and with a friend of mine who also collects. I now understand the potential value of every-day change more than ever (found a buffalo nickel and a '64 Roosie the other day!). Coin Talk has been a great part of my life.

 

I was interested in coins as a child but never really collected. When I got one of my first jobs an older man collected coins and brought some in for me to see. I was so interested in them I ended up buying all the ones he would bring in to show me. Later on I found out that I didn't get a good deal at all on any of them. But since then I have been collecting coins as much as I can and have built a decent size collection for what I can afford. I have gotten my girlfriend interested in coins now so it is nice to be able to pick them out together or just look at each one together.

 

how do i get in the contest?

 

in my coin collection i have a 1918 D penny, a bunch of 1964 half dollars, a 1922 S walking liberty coin and for the peice of resistance a 1853 O half dime

 

Thanks for all the great stories. About 54 entries so far. Less than an hour to go. Drawing at about 7PM Central Time. Good Luck!:hail: