Over half a Century ago in the early years of collecting The year 1960, a trip to London was exciting, the highlight was not visiting the City of London and visiting the a world that had no changed for over 100 years, I would first visit this area to do my business in the early morning walking passed the Bank of England walking to Smith St.Aubyn. As quickly as possible I would do my early business and jump in a cab to get to Spinks in St James by 10am, it was a glorified high quality Antique Shop from Ancient Antiquities to Coins. I needed to back in the cab back to the banks for a pre-lunch noggin by 12:30, this ritual would finish not earlier that 3.30pm as the discount houses needed to balance the books of the banks with support from the Bank of England. As I approached King Street, I could see the Sargent of Arms waiting to greet visitors outside Spinks. He would request were you were going. Coins I would say, he would walk you through to the back of a narrow passage way to the back of the building. A rickety old lift would be called down with the press of an old button no 2. The steps would wind round the steps up to the second floor. As soon as you entered this room of numismatics you were entering a world of Charles Dickens, the light was poor with raw bulbs except near the windows. The room last saw a coat of paint maybe after WW2. Coin boxes all down the right hand side of the large room. A wonderful old cabinet holding the medallions against a wall. To the right was the offices of Patrick Finn, and Liddell. In the offices of the dealers they would keep their own coin cabinets and a special box – these were for special customers, there was a ‘pecking’ order and I seemed to be at the bottom for-ever. There was one thing missing, just the tall desk a cashier would stand at in the late 18th Cen doing the books of the company. We had Judith Spear who looked after Gold Coins in the office on the corner of the building. From this company maybe 80%+ of our collection visited Spinks in St James, well the company has been dealing since 1666 Regards Jeff
I remember crawling around on the living room floor as my Granny was baby-sitting ... she would pour all of her cool English and old Canadian coins onto the floor and then I'd "go to town" ... => yup, that's where I must have developed my keen OCD tendencies => collect, organize and enjoy!! (good times with my dear ol' Granny)
My earliest coin collecting moment was from my mother's "safe". It was a 1960's little plastic safe replica given away at the bank. In there my mother had a 1942 WL half. I was AMAZED something so large and beautiful was a coin. I quickly learned how to break in to the safe, and while she was at work would frequently "break in" to the safe and admire it. Also in there were things like a mercury dime, some $2 bills, and a few Ike dollars. I guarantee that 1942 half started me off as a coin collector. My mother passed away and now I own that little "safe" with the 1942 WL half still inside. I just looked at it the other day. Its a miserable VG specimen, but in my mind as a child its still a blazing beauty of numismatic art. Today I own maybe 500 WL halves, many XF up to BU, but I would trade all of them in a heartbeat for this one lowly 1942 half in my mothers "safe".
I have to agree that the WL halves had something to do with my being a coin collector, too. Of course in the 1950's many of them still circulated and it was even possible to pull nice ones from circulation for the price of 50 cents (a lot of money to me then, for sure!). Halves circulated a lot in those days unlike today. I also looked forward to finding Standing Liberty Quarters (a bargain at 25 cents) and smaller coins from the days before they started putting real people faces on all coins. My interest in these coins caused me to visit coin stores for supplies and to sell the occasional duplicate even then worth over face value. There was no way I would pay over face for a US coin but I could trade a duplicate for something I lacked. On one of these trips I saw my first ancient coin and the rest is history. I had no problem paying 50 cents for a bronze or a couple dollars for a denarius especially when that money came from selling Lincoln cents for a dime or a quarter. Before long, I started getting mail lists from ancient specialty dealers. By then I was in high school and made money working in a tropical fish store so I no longer searched actively for US coins. One of the lists was from dealer Joel Malter and offered a denarius of Septimius Severus that I considered really special for the exorbitant price of $13.50. I bought it even though it was then the most I had spent on a coin. I still have it and it rests at #1 on my list of favorites. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/f01.html I even wrote up what I knew about the coin for an article published in the February 1966 issue (Vol V, number 2) of The Voice of the Turtle magazine. That one is no longer published as might be appropriate for any magazine that would publish me!
my first coin was an 1887 2/6 of Queen Victoria that I thought was Uncirculated - alas I look today at the same coin today it is Goof Fine, with pin holes in the side for a broach hehehehe
How is it that SwK is a "Junior Member" when he has been collecting over 50 years? If that term is intended to identify a "New Member" or something like that, why not employ a better term? When I see the term "Junior Member" I think "under 18 years old".
I used to get silver dollars for each year, from my great grandmother on my birthday. And my dad and uncles used to give me proof sets. All of which I spent on football cards at the grocery store. My father sold jewelry (hippie silver and turquoise jewelry, mostly, although occasionally he had gold and diamonds). He always had little stacks of 1 oz bars of gold in a wooden box on his dresser that he used to show me. He taught me to check the cash register change and the rolls of quarters we used to spend at the height of the arcade game craze for silver coins, a habit I observe any time I receive change to this day. He had a personal coin collection, which I heard about many times but never saw. When he died a little over a year ago, my alcoholic uncle got to them first, took them Florida, and sold them (or worse, spent them?) for booze and smokes. But, my dad hand planted the seed, so after he passed I remembered a couple of old Morgans my stepfather gave me, and that got me researching and buying. Now I love it.
Those titles are generated by the software. Anyone can click on their profile and fill in their own title where there is a box and it says "If specified, this will replace the title that displays under your name in your posts." Some have used this area for self-aggrandizement , but their posts give the truth away
I remember finding old nickels and pennies in my dads change when I was about 8 or so. I didn't reallyyyy get the bug until my uncle showed me this hoard of silver/paper money that his mother sent to him from her days of running a bar...that really gave me the itch. I still check my dads change when I can and have found some neat things over the years.
I started as a Boy Scout, when on a camping trip, we found many old coins in a creek. That started me on coins. Many I got out of circulation in the 50's, 60's. The best finds 1916d Merc, and a 1932d Washington Quarter. I have some complete sets now and try to upgrade as needed. Completed sets: Lincolns, Jefferson, Mercury, Roosevelt, Washington Qt, Walking Liberty, Franklin, Kennedy. Set working on Standing Liberty [3 to go, 2 up grade, one needed, but not the 1916 or 1918s over 1917], Indian cents [need a few and up grade on a few] Buffalo Nickles in work. Then currency types: fractional, small size US1928-present, and MPC.
th anks for the compliment of being under 18 that was too many moons away - i started collecting 1959/60 just 55 years ago
I had a paper route as a kid so, starting around '54, I would take all my paper route money that I collected and buy a $50 bag of nickels from the city from the parking meters. I collected Buffalo nickels and filled out my whole album just from the parking meters. All coins above 5 cents were silver so they were nothing special. I wish I would have saved them all. I filled a penny album that way as well, except for the '09 VDB.
My uncle owned the Herald Examiner newspaper machines in the eastern part of LA County in the early 1970's. He had a large separator-counter coin machine to sort out the change. There would always be a small bucket full of rejects. He would give me the foreign coins and some pour examples of early American issues. Here's one of the first coins he gave me that started my interest in collecting coins:
