For my 9th birthday, I got a quart jar full of wheat cents from my grandmother. They were my grandfather's who had passed away 6 months prior to that. I've been hooked since. 25 years of collecting as of this last June.
I notice many people started and then lost collections or some such that caused a lapse in their collecting. My early collection was stolen by a friend of mine when we were kids.
I believe it was 1955 and I was 12 years old. I think it was silver certificates then nickels and Mercury dimes. That was a long time ago.