As a kid in the 60s and early 70s I enjoyed sorting thru dimes (because that was the currency for pay phone calls and bus rides to school) and my grandma's Morgans. The mid to late 60s were a bad time to start taking an interest in common change, because in Southern California, where I was, the change one got was invariably well circulated. And from 1965-1968 of particularly poor quality from the mint. I know, based on my later fascination at how absolutely lovely uncirculated coins could be, I would have probably set some aside to keep, if I actually had found any. In fact, later in the mid to late 80s I did that from change. I had no idea people could CRH or that they did, so most all my choices came thru actual change. I skipped a bunch of years in between, but did at a couple times in my life purchase some scruffy looking 3 cent pieces and Indian cents of no consequence, a holed Morgan, and a couple old Prussian groschen... I kept a few holed Brazilian coins from around 1920 because they were my grandmothers and mothers, and likely had been part of a bracelet at one time, and a memento of them being in Brazil until my mom was almost five years old. I, every ten or so years, I would buy or find an old copy of a red book, to see what prices were. But not having a lot of resources while raising a family kept making most of my change disappear. There were times the only saved coins I had was a long red box of miscellaneous stuff I had put in 2x2's. I once had, in the early 80s around 40 SBA's from the local bank, but as soon as harder times came, those got spent, too. I 'found' a 1918 cent at the bank once with my mom when I was 10 or 11. It was in the cashier's tray on the counter and I got to have it. I recall finding a Franklin under a tree near my home once also, but don't know what happened to that. My brother had a small collection of dimes in the early 60s but someone broke into our house and stole them. After that, my mom suggested he didn't need to be collecting them anyways. As a teen or pre-teen, my brother took the morgans and sold most of them, probably for just about a buck something each... silver was around 3.00 then. A few others got 'buried' in a glass jar with some other coins under one of our houses on a crawl space by me and my brother... don't know if he went and retrieved it before we moved or if it is still there. Fast forward to around 2002-2004. Raised a family but times were still tough, and not much connections at the few coin stores or the one show I had been to, so solitary collecting and my 'collection' (a couple of long red 2x2 boxes) still held a few coins in their mylar fronted cardboards. If I took them out of the 2x2s and spent them, I might have had a couple dollars. It never seemed worth going through that for the change. But the State Quarters came out, and all of a sudden, news was out that the Wisconsin one had an error and some were worth, like 4 thousand dollars! And the chance of actually finding one was possible, not like the old advertisements I saw back in the 60s about how finding a 1804 dollar would bring in a fortune. Man, the hunt was on, since I actually used quarters to buy things from machines and I started looking for that and finding what other errors might be worth something on the Quarters. No more boring 'old' George on a quarter with either weak strikes or no pizzazz. (No, I never did find a Wisconsin error, but this lead to so much more). I can see now, about 15 years later, how much I have changed in my collecting and actual desire to pursue Numismatics, and mostly 'modern' stuff has come from this. I learned to actually go in banks just to ask for change from the trays, see if they had any halves, etc., buy rolls from their stock, and buy bags from the change machine, all just to go through looking for keepers. Then find ways to recycle the ones I wasn't 'keeping' and buy more. I found CRH to be relaxing and took the time to start learning how to spot errors. I bought the Cherrypicker's books. I have been to major show, bought and sold some coins of mine, sold coins for others on consignment, and taken an ANA two-day counterfeiting detection class. I have been on CT absorbing so much info it's ridiculous, and conversing and interacting with others for many years now. I have a few focused collections, though most of my so-called collecting is still simply change I have from CRH that at various times gets sorted thru and where the lower grade stuff is then spent, with me trying to only keep the few gem BU ones for possible later value. To that end, I have purchased some pretty cheap modern quarters, dimes, nickels and cents in MS 65-68 that I am using as my grading examples (PCGS) so I am teaching myself to reliably be able to spot where these coins would grade, because there seems to be a niche where some modern coins have some good value if slabbed in high grades, and if I ever can get some picked out and sent in I would be really pleased to have that accomplishment. It is not the easiest skill to learn. I did once send in a group to NGC and of the three uncirculated ones, one ended up a MS61 (my WAM cent, which I later sold), one was a MS64, and one was a MS66 (dropped letter, which I also sold). That was a milestone I wanted to do, which was to pick out some coins and have them graded. But I know now no one should rush doing that. I got lucky and my sold coins covered the costs enough, but without two errors that others found desirable and which brought me a good enough amount on, I would have lost money on that. I have also fiddled with coin photography and now also starting to learn about and enjoy ancients. This hobby has so much going for it, no one can do it all, and there are so many niches or interests to follow. Who knew some people can make money by photographing coins if they are really good at it? I never in a million years would have said I would be where I am with this hobby just 15 years ago, but I enjoy so much, even when I keep my collecting tastes on the really modest side and mostly focus on modern coins which many don't care for. I can honestly say so much enjoyment can come from very little.
great story. your story made me think of some coins I had to sell because of hard times. also my stories of having to pawn to buy back gold coins because of hard times. I agree with you on my own coin collecting changes that evolved from which coins I want to continue to buy now and in the future. That's the beauty of coin collecting... you can evolve into collecting coins you did not think of doing in the future. I started with Lincoln cents in the cub scouts, then world coins, then very specific topical/themed world coins collections, dated toned coins from Canada from 1937-1968, to interesting German States/Baden, and eventually some ancients when I get my high debt paid off.
Great story, and cool retrospective. Life is about learning and growing - and it sounds like you're doing plenty!
These are the two three-cent pieces I puchased. My first one, and I don't remember now which of these two was that first one, I bought at a coin store in downtown San Diego, near 8th and E (where the main library was). I think it was probably in 1970 and I got it for four dollars. I think that day I probably only had that amount for a coin then. The second one I purchased would have been at a coin shop in Independence, Missouri, in around 1987-1991 or so. I don't remember what I paid, but probably not more than 9.00. As you can see, I now actually had a collection of 1852 three-cent pieces going. One of these I sent to Koen's brother in the Netherlands for Koen's children to have. Koen was a neat guy on here, only starting his Numismatic journey in life, but tragically he was killed by a drunk driver. His children were really young, but he had been sharing the hobby as best he could with his son who was, I believe, six years old. I still think of him and hope that the brother and mom kept the coins for the kids.
