In our late fifties, my wife and I adopted two babies in a moment of senility. So rarely is there time to enjoy my collection. Sunday afternoon birthday party and I am left alone for a few hours and out came my hoard. I been collecting since the 1970’s. As I look at the mounds before me it occurs to me that I have two collections. My kid collection. And my adult collection. The prime pieces in my adult collection reside in a safe deposit box that I am unable to enjoy at home. Have to rethink that.... But I stray. I am a coin hoarder. I have bags of silver dimes/quarters. Bags of no date buffalos. Rolls... Many rolls of Average to cull Peace and Morgan’s. I have three rolls of Ike’s (why??) not to mention untold rolls of wheats, and the bane of my dilemma.... Rows and rows of my “kid coins”. Just worn flat Indians, V-nickels and the like. The stuff that sits in a dealers twenty-five cent junk box. So this thread is me committing to phase out the mounds of kid coins. The stuff that’s just not worth trying to sell but consumes a third of my safe..... This is hard for a hoarder to do, mind you. But do it I must! I want to dispose of this in a way that may spark the next generations interest. Was thinking I would tell the local grade school to maybe pass them out to students for exceptional report cards. Maybe let the baseball coach pass them out for great plays... Also thought I may just slip a few back into circulation and see if I read about them here. Anyway, I would appreciate suggestions.
This is an important moment in every collector's life: the time when you transform from a hoarder to a collector. Everyone does it - as you start out, you see a lot of cool stuff and so you buy it. You don't really know what you are doing, or what you want to focus on. But as you grow and learn, you start to realize your early mistakes. You start to gain focus. And then you sell off the other stuff and keep the good stuff. Good luck, and I wish you well!
You could also save them and use them as tools to help your children if they decide to become collectors. If I might say myself, I am a coin Hoarder, and have thought about getting rid of my yn collection, but it holds fond memories of what I have learned.