How Did You Start Coin Collecting?

When I was a kid, I was on my own to learn how to collect coins. I never had anyone to show me the way and there was no internet to connect you with people who could share. It was always just magazines and maybe if I was lucky, my parents might take me to a pawn shop and let me ask a few questions. But, now it seems like coin collecting and coin roll hunting is beginning to gain popularity again. So, I was just wondering if I might have missed something growing up. I'd like to gain some insight into how others started. Thank you for sharing your stories!

~Matthew

 

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One cent at a time...

 

I happened to be delivering newspapers as silver was being eliminated from coins in the mid 1960's. Even after clad coins started circulating, the customers still paid in silver, so I was informed to save the silver by my grandfather. So I began putting coins in books and roll searching cents, nickels, and halves.

 

When I was a child I had three siblings and every once in a while Mom and Dad got out the small brown crock that they kept the old and neat coins in. We would look at them study them and such. For one of my B days my grandfather gave me a 1963 red ink crisp $5 I kept it and a uncle of mine took it said he was gonna hold it for me and sold it. But I have been slightly Hooked every since. Fast forward about 25 years My wife worked where she could buy change and bills if they came in and her and I have been looking every sense. And yes I do own the small crock with coins from childhood except for the silver dollars and silver half's were sold in the late 70's by my brother for who knows what!!

 

These are great! Keep it comin'!

 

I was 9, my uncle gave me a few coins as a gift (1902 ihc, 1903 ihc and bicentennial half dollar), i was fascinated, and that little spark lit a fire that still burns 30 years later.

 

I never did start collecting. I just realized one day that I was no longer accumulating silver coins at melt value and instead was collecting silver coins at market value. I still accumulate them when I find them below melt but more, these days, I buy for the coin, not the silver.

 

My dad had a bag of coins, mostly from his time in Europe during WWII. I was given quite a few other batches from family and friends and I developed a great interest in the geopolitical history of "coinage". It is still a driver of my interests today.

 

My dad is a collector and he got me started. He had a credit union branch in his office building and he would get new rolls of coins. He got new rolls of 'S' cents back in the early 70s. We still have them. Fun times for many, many years!

 

I was very young - maybe 6 or 7. Started by sorting through penny jars to fill books and find wheats. My dad worked in banks and occasionally would bring something interesting home. Would go to coin shops and flea markets and pick up Indian pennies, Buffalo nickels, etc for a dollar or two each. As I got older coins took a back seat to baseball cards, CDs, records, etc and I didn't actively collect again (other than saving interesting circulation finds) until a couple of years ago when I got a silver quarter in change and went down the rabbit hole again...

 

Thanks, everyone for sharing! And I'm not ending the thread, I just wanted to let you all know I'm enjoying your stories without bogging down the thread with all my replies. More about me, though, I just became an Uncle last year, which is probably why I got back into coin collecting. It's encouraging to hear that many of you received gifts from family members, which sparked your interest. My goal was to finish my coin albums, but now I've really developed this desire to learn more so that I can teach my Nephew, when he finally is old enough. I wanted to pass on those albums to him, or maybe a Proof Set of his birth year. Anyway...really enjoying your stories. Keep sharing!

 

roll searcher

 

With my dad.

 

I have always enjoyed saving change.. In 2009 I hit a tough spot in life. I saw a penny on the ground. It was one of the new 2009 and was automatically interested as to why the back was different... I have been learning as much as I can ever cents.. Coins are my friends....

 

I bought some silver rounds at a coin shop just for the heck of it. I saw the coins and bought a cull Morgan and Walker. Those two coins were the start of my collection which is still pretty humble but it is a collection of the coins I love.

 

Found a error coin in change in 2001.

 

Had a small collection as a kid and got back into it as an adult when I had a little more disposable income. I've gravitated towards silver; initially for numismatic value, and later started adding bullion too. Recently completed a Morgan set and am working on a U.S. Type set now.
I try to stack a little at a time too because I think it is fun and hopefully there will be an upside in the future too.

My son has an eye for silver too; he collects dimes and I hope he catches the bug.

 

I honestly don't even know.... same story holds true for how I got started counting cards in Black Jack!! Perhaps I was sleep watching YouTube or they were divine revelations because I haven't the slightest, lol.

 

I was reading an article about a man that had found and old coin and had it examined by someone. After it was all said and done. The coin was worth 10s of thousands of dollars. So I decided I'd start collecting at first for money and now for fun and excitement. And still for the money lol

 

Because of my Dad and maternal Grandma. My Dad was a penny man. He had pennies on his desk, desk drawers full, and on his dresser. I later found out that he actually put them in albums. It is with my Grandma that I actually sat down with her with piles of coins and sorted them by type and dates (P, D, S), and then put into albums. She always had bins, containers and such full of coins to go through. I didn't start my own coin collection until after college.