We had a huge yard sale this weekend and I always put a few coins out, wheat rolls, binders of cents, nickles, etc. I had a young man show up late in the afternoon with a plethora of questions! He was quite obviously very interested and unfortunely misinformed. So, being the old man I am(my wife says we all talk too much) we spent the next two hours in a question and answer period. He learned about mint marks, proofs, silver vs clad, obsolete vs modern and so forth. I gave him a redbook, a type set folder, a 09 VDB, and the Cointalk web address. As he finally left I smiled and remembered back to 1964, when an old part-time dealer had done the same for an uninformed 19 year old that has kept me in the hobby for the next 44 years. When you get the opportunity to teach, remember your early teachers. That is what will keep our hobby going forever!
Knowledge is a great gift to give or receive. It is renewable and expandable. You have done a good deed for the hobby! congratulations! Jim
Not to be pessimistic but I once spent time explaining to a person about coins. Also, gave them extra Red Book and some not to expensive coins. Later turned out from a friend that knew that guy that he does this all the time. He gets lots of free stuff from people that way. On another web site they were having a log of YN Giveaways. I too joined in and actually gave away a lot of coins to what I thought was YN's. Later I also found out that about half of the so called YN's were in reality much older coin collectors just getting free stuff. When my Son was in college he told me a professor went around to all the little towns in the areas asking farmers if they had old coins so he could show them to students. Never really did of course. Hopefully in this instance all is for real. I just may live in an area and find people of a not to honest nature.
Sometimes people take advantage of your good intentions and efforts, but that doesn't mean you fail, it means that they failed. When a person stops doing good deeds because they fear someone will take advantage of them, then they fail. Jim
Carl, I want to believe that this is not the case with the OP. Call me a cock eyed optimist or a "Mary Poppins" but I think it's great what the Op did....MHO.
It is a great thing to do, to share and teach what we know. For one day it would be good to know that we could have started others in a hobby we all love. Bill
Mice story! I take pride in informing people of the ins and outs of coin collecting. You never realize the amount of knowledge a person accumulates over the course of twenty plus years!
I think it's a great story and a great thing to do. Sure, sometimes someone might fool you and take advantage of the situation (like some others have said), but I think you have to take that risk. If you can help someone discover a lifelong passion...its worth it.
Carl Well said!! And great remainder to all us old farts. we need to help the younger folks so they do not get scammed on ebay & other site
Very nice. I love it when someone shows an interest and wants to talk coin talk. Back when my kids were small and still at home, their school would have a career day once a year and although I have never made a living with coins, I was "the" coin guy so the teachers always invited me for the event to talk about coins. Kids loved it and every kid in the school got a shiny new wheat cent to start there collections. Rock
Awesome! We need to see more of this, as this keeps interest in the hobby. I got my 6-year old daughter interested in the hobby and she can tell you the dates, mintmarks, coins minted before what is out there today, etc. She is learning history, cities from Mint Marks, what is nice in a design, etc. She has the Coin Collecting for Kids album and has fun collecting the state quarters, cents, and the 20th century coins. We have a lot of fun, and the dealer at the coin shop likes her interest. Now don't get me wrong, after an hour at a coin shop, she is ready for tacos... I'll talk about the hobby to anyone young or old. I also love to learn from others too - there's always more info to absorb.
You did a solid by giving him what he needed to get started. I had some insterest in coins until my wife gave me a redbook it brought me back to why I like coins. Don't be surprised if you see him again. Good for you you did the right thing a little karma is coming your way maybe a 1916 d merc for you at face. Ice
