So how did I get into coin collecting? Well, I used to get coins from my grandfather from time to time, he gave me a few state quarters and even gave me a book to put them in, he also gave me a few half dollars and 2 American Silver Eagles, one from 1999 that was colorized and one regular uncirculated version from 2001 which is the year I got married. I would always thank him for the coins and put them away, he never asked if I bought any on my own or asked if I like coins, he would just gift them to me every now and then. To be honest, I never really paid them that much attention, I would put the quarters in the book he gave me in the slot, and the other coins I would stick in my sock drawer and that would be it, never thought twice about them. When our daughter was born in 2008, he gave me a “birth Set” in a birthday card for her, which he made himself by taping all the year’s coins to the inside of the card, there was all the statehood quarters, penny, dime, nickel and half dollar, again I thanked him, showed my wife and family and that was it, although I did think that was nice, maybe I should start collecting for her and then as soon as the thought came into my head, that much faster my mind moved on. Fast forward to 2012 and my aging grandparents needed to be placed into a care facility as my grandfather now had full blown Alzheimer’s and my grandmother was weaker than before and could not take care of him and her as she had done for so many years. After we moved them into the facility, the family circled back to their apartment that they lived in for nearly 20 years, to begin the cleanout, which is to say, they had A LOT of stuff and it was by no means organized. Also to add to this, over the last few years with my grandfather’s illness, he never threw any mail away and clipped coupons and filled out charitable donation slips that came to him through the mail for this and that. We knew he would stuff paper money here and there in drawers, but what we found was quite more than that. We started in their bedroom thinking that is where he would hide any kind of money that we could then place into their bank accounts at the facility to be used for odds and ends, we picked up a stack of magazines and out came 3 $20 bills, followed by countless $1 and $5 bills here and there in almost every drawer. Along with the paper money, we started to find a lot of coins, some in little plastic holders, which I now know are called flips, some in coin albums, mostly from companies called Littleton and U.S. Commemorative gallery. We started finding loose change of mixed statehood quarters, half dollars and then picture frames with coins in them. After cleaning out the bedroom, we moved onto the living room and starting sorting the mail, we found an enormous amount of invoices from those 2 coin companies for many, many coins that they sent him over the years, along with his sickness he managed to send money to charitable donations and disregard the actual bills. We started opening the other desks, side tables and found numerous amounts of silver dollars in flips and in holders, cases, displays, etc. I now know these are called Morgan dollars and Peace Dollars, we also found tubes of pre 1964 Washington quarters and weird looking dimes, which I now know are Mercury Dimes. We found portfolio books full of these gold Presidential dollars and Sacagawea dollars. In the end we found a boat load of coins and paper money in their little apartment. We decided we would split the coins up in the family as he would want us to have them and not just sell them (as I found out I was not the only one he would give coins to). After I sorted the coins at my house of what was my share, I had quite a collection of Morgan’s, peace dollars, Washington’s, half’s and other various junk silver and those presidential dollars. It was at this moment that I finally started appreciating coins and all they give us aside from the monetary value, I must have looked over those coins for hours on end. I went to my first coin shop to purchase supplies (Binder, Cardboard Flips, pages to hold them, gloves, magnifying glass, etc) and I began to catalog them and treat them with kitten gloves. I believe in these moments I became a coin collector. As I looked them over, I could see my grandfather in those coins. Sadly, I brought a few of the presidential dollars with me on one of my visits to see them and he looked at them and just disregarded them and then asked who I was. I belive his love for coins crossed over from him to me for a reason. I now collect coins for my Daughter who is now 4 going on 5 and I show her the coins all the time and she likes them and know they are for her when she “gets bigger”. I now have every year of the silver eagles, a few proof commemorative coins and all the silver mint sets from 1999 to date. I think of coins 24/7 now, I watch the coin shows on HSN and ShopNBC, although they are grossly overpriced, I enjoy hearing about coins on the TV, any way I can get it. I am waiting with bated breath for the 2013 coins to continue as 2013 will be my first full year as a coin collector and cannot wait to start to expand my collection for my daughter! Thanks for reading!
Nice story. The sad thing in it is your grandpa' now unable to share those moments with you. I'm sure he would have loved seeing his grandson getting the bug. You will love the hobby Q
