When I packaged up my collection I was just about to depart for Germany, just joined the service. When unpackaging my collection twenty years later I was about to retire from the service. During this period I totally amputated myself from the hobby. Never going into a coin store or even browsing them on the net, totally forgotten. It was when I was looking for Christmas decorations did I rediscover the old suitcase and it all rushed back to fill my senses. All the memories a boy growing up in East Texas during the 60s and 70s could conjure up. The smell of pine trees, rain, wet hay, berry cobbler, and the far off sound of a tractor came rushing back. I was totally lost within myself, for a few moments I was 12 years old again... There's magic in old coins Soon after that I entered a store I'd driven by many times up in town and saw for the first time a slabbed coin, this was a little over four years ago, Really... Take Care Ben
sometimes when i hold a old coin i wonder who has spent it, when was it spend, what was it spend on, where was it spend. there is no way to tell. every coin has a story, some better than others.
I collected coins as a youth. Put them away when I went to college. Started my own business and was called to estimate painting a brand new antique store. Went there on a Sunday when their business was booming. For the first time saw slabbed coins. I didn't see why someone would seal a coin in plastic. I wanted to touch the coins. Of course it wasn't till much later that I understood what the numbers meant. I can still picture the pale green labels with a bunch of numbers.
Great story...BTW, I am from east texas as well...born in New orleans, raised in east texas (greenville, home of audie murphy), living in houston now...
Hey Bone , I'll go back a little further in time , the 50's when I was just a young kid and somehow began with a few old Wittman albums. I remember my Aunt Betty ( who worked for tips at Danny Dickman's Restaurant in Baltimore ) would stop by our house at let me look through her change. Back in those days money was tight , so if I found a quarter I needed that was about all I got for that day. I don't remember caring much , if at all , about the conditions the coins were in . only cared about the dates. If I saw one that looked shinier I would trade her even up. My grandmother would also let me look at her pocket change once in a while. I'll never forget what happened that one day in the past. I found a 1909-S-VBD and thought my collection was near completion ....BUT WAIT !. my mom says .. Hey Dickie Knight needs that penny to finish his collection so we should give it him ! And so we did. To this day sits the emtpy slot in the Wittman folder , and Dickie .. wherever you are ... you owe me one.
Inspite of our differences on other threads I do enjoy your posts and it's interesting that Greenville is in your past. I visited my uncle there many a summer and fished on Lake Tawanakee (sp) a few times. He worked at E-Systems and owned a home very near Bowie Elementary school is all I can remember... Ben
I had family that worked at E-System (only game in town for awhile) and spent quite a bit of time on Lake Tawakoni...huge cat fish Went to college at ETSU (East Texas State University) which is now A&M commerce...Its a nice little town but small (even though being the county seat) and not a lot of opportunities there...where in ET did you live? Just curious.
Centerville, Tx with most of my family over around Nacogdoches, where I graduated from SFASU in 82. Centerville only had a population on 833 but there was actually a fellow (from Oklahoma) who came to town once a month and sold coins out of a truck & tow-behind camper. He'd park in the parking lot of the courthouse. Ben P.S. Do you by-chance know Milton Sasser or Bradley LaFavors? Both from east of Greenville.
In case anyone is wondering these two fellows submitted a quarter design for the Texas State Quarter, they are both from Greenville, Tx also... Take Care Ben
Good story. When I collected as a kid, it was pure fun. When I regained interest a few years back, it had become a big money cutthroat business where most coins seemed overpriced to me. That's progress I guess, or maybe it was always that way and I just didn't realize it.
