How did you get started with coin collecting?

I like to here about how other people got started with coin collecting. People collect for various reasons and each person has a story. For me... a teacher got myself and a friend of mine hooked on penny albums when we were in the 7th grade (1985). We have both continued to collect and we attend as many coin shows as we can. I was fascinated with being able to hold and own a piece of history. That fascination has never left me, and I still look forward to a coin show as much as I did going to a local coin shop as a kid with my allowance to spend.

 

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As an adult I just realized I like buying stuff. I buy antiques, art, coins, anything that is different. started going to auctions and would buy anything I thought was cool.

 

Nice... I'm sure you must come across some amazing things.

 

I still have the Whitman Lincoln cent folder from 1975. You can still see the polished fields from the #2 pencil eraser that I used on them to clean then up, ugh!

Before interest in coins my cousin and I collected stamps. My aunt who worked for a local jeweler, would bring home envelopes with post marks and we would remove them and marvel at all the different styles. Her boss asked her why she was taking home the used envelopes and she explained all the fun we had removing the stamps. One day she came home with a pair of Whitman folders from her boss. The fun began in 1975!

 

So I wasn't the only one! I moved quickly to "V" nickels and started buying proof sets from the 70's thinking they would be worth something some day.

 

That's cool... something about those folders. I too did some silly things with my first coins. My dad worked at a grain elevator and he would trade coins with guys from Russia and or any other country that was transporting grain over the ocean. He would have something cool for my collection at least weekly.

 

I was in first grade sand another kid had a Asian coin with a hole in the center and it fascinated me so much that I started collecting.

 

cub scouts. but really got interested we lived in Brasil and they had a huge flea market there (stamps and coins)... when I got older and out grew my star wars action figure collection then I wanted coins.

 

Sad, but true, when I was in 7th grade, there was a mother & son, son was handicapped, and the talk of the town was: the money was hidden in the basement walls, to make a long story short, some very bad people broke in the house to get it, the mother wouldn't tell them where it was at, so they both got murdered, then the wrecking ball came, to knock down the basement walls, money went all over the place, for 3 days, they let the kids in the neighborhood take as much as we could find, lots of silver coins, and currency too, like a stupid kid I was, sold everything to a local coins show, and I still buy coins from that coin shop today, and we still talk about that very bad day too !!

 

1957>>>10 years young>>>poolroom>>>9Ball>>>gambling>>>Morgan dollars.

Chris

 

When I was about 6 or 7 my uncle came to stay with us. He had to watch after me while my folks were at work. I helped him sort Lincoln cents, day after day. Today I wonder if he had me sorting the same cents, over and over. Wish he was still here so I could ask. I still have the set he started me on. Great times.

 

I'd be surprised if it didn't start this way for about 99% of us.

For me, it wasn't a teacher but rather a cousin, about a decade older than me, who showed me his Whitman albums when I was maybe 8 or 10 years old. That's all it took to get me hooked.

I started with the Lincoln memorial cent album of course, and I remember being in awe of my cousin's wheat cent, nickel and dime albums and wondering if I'd ever be able to afford collecting such valuable coins myself!

 

For me, I found a 1939 cent in circulation. The color was off that is what caught my eye. Just like Thomas, I remember "cleaning" my coins with an eraser!

I later bought a metal detector and started finding old coins for free!!

 

I started in the later 50's as a paper boy. I would go through the change I got for payment then I'd go to the bank and exchange the money for rolls. First it was pennies then nickels, dimes, quarters, and halves. 55 years later I still have the coins in te original Whitman folders. Some of my prize pieces are 1857 and 1858 flying eagles, 1909 S VDB Lincoln ' [3] 6 1909's and more t

 

more than a dozen large cents from 1826 to 1853. My grandsons will eventually get it all

 

I'm in the same boat as you. I really didn't have anyone to lead me to collecting. I like to buy antiques, art, old books, baseball cards, etc. my kids hate bringing friends over to the house because they say our house looks like a museum. I have oil paintings and limited edition prints all over my house. I have pottery and porcelain too. I collect baseball cards. I got tired of collecting cards because of the prices. I still pick up a few every now and then. When I got tired of cards, I noticed how coin prices were steadily increasing. I got in to it for future investment and for things to pass down to my grandchildren and great grand kids, I still have 8 yrs till a grand kid is in the conversation. My family was poor growing up. I guess I like to have things worth value nearby. Don't get me wrong, I also do this to preserve the history behind the piece.

 

I was 12 and got started by a common humble 1968-S (business strike) Jefferson nickel. A couple days before I was reading a coin magazine at the grocery store while my mom shopped and I noticed that the 'S' coins all appeared to be worth more than the others. So when I found the 68-S in my change I thought I found something 'valuable'.

Regardless, I started collecting coins then and never fully stopped, though I did slow considerably between 18 and 32. Now at 36, I have the means and knowledge to add quality to my collection, which is nice considering all the time I spent longing for certain coins in my teen years.

 

I robbed a bank and found a 1909 S V.D.B. in the loot!

 

At first I only collected the modern coins that came out(new nickel and quarter designs), and my mom told my uncle that I really like collecting coins, which I didn't a whole lot at the time. My uncle gave a bunch of old coins and a 1865 indian cent and a bunch of standing liberty quarters which really sparked my interest. Saddest part was that I got a bunch of pennies from my aunt and cleaned some steel pennies and indian head pennies with brasso.