What got you started?

In the 60s growing up we had a pool in our backyard. One of my uncles from Nebraska was visiting us right after a trip to Vegas. He threw a silver dollar in the pool and told me I could keep it if I could tell him the date. I dove in, swam to the bottom and read the date (had really good eyes back then!). I popped out of the water and said "1888!". He was a bit incredulous, but had to give in as there were a lot of witnesses. Anyway, that started my collecting as I was enthralled with the silver dollar. In later years, that dollar became my pocket piece.

 

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These are fun to read, thanks.
I was 10 and delivering/collecting for my cousins paper route one morning and a customer gave me a 1944 Mercury dime in with the change and I didn't catch it until I got home. I asked my dad and he told me more about it. I liked it so I switched it out with my own dime and started combing through my parents change. My dad then gave me an 1883 Morgan he dug up while working on a farm so I could start my collection. That memory of him in his office, giving me that Morgan always makes me smile.

 

My dad started me collecting back in the early sixties with his Whitman albums. I got a couple of my own to work on, but never completed them. I later found other things more interesting and gave it up during junior high. Didn't do anything with it even after taking my dad's albums when he passed away.

It wasn't until my father-in-law gave his collection to my son that I really got hooked. He had Morgans, Peace dollars, WL halves, tons of nickels, plus some odd coins. The Morgans really hooked me, and with the rest of the coins I'm working to fill out the collection.

And because of that, I've been to coin shows, visited the local and distant coin shop, and joined a coin club! But I have learned so much just by being on CoinTalk!

 

My parents many-many years ago.

 

As a kid on Sundays my grandfather would visit us and have Sunday dinner with the family, prior to dinner he would have me polish his shoes and would always tip me a quarter. He told me that the coins would someday be worth more than they were back then (mid50's) and that is when he explained to me what coin collecting was and he encouraged me to look at each coin I got from anyone/anywhere. Over a couple of years I learned what MM's were and what coins to look for. When he passed away in the fall of 73 at the age of 88 his brother was his conservator and he made sure that I got his Lincoln set and yes it did contain the holy grail 09svdb and I still have it. I recently removed the coins from the old books and have since replaced them with the Whitman blue books, the only coin I do not now have is the 55 dd but I continue to search. The only reason I switched holders was due to the loose fitting of the coins and fear of losing one of them. someday my grandkids will be the ones to inherit the set complete as far as I can continue it and I WILL FIND A SUITABLE 55.
Semper Fi
Phil

 

In 1960 i went to the Bon Marche Coin Shop in Seattle WA to buy a 1950-D nickel. As I remember, they wanted around $5 for a nice one. While I was waiting to be waited on I noticed their ancient coins, and I could get two ancient coins for the same price. So I purchased a Gallienus and a Salonina. I still have those first two ancients. I went on to get the rest of their family members, and continued my interest in 3rd. century coinage. Back in those days there was very little knowledge of ancient coins, and many times I'd go to antique shops with my mother and ask if they had any misc. foreign coins or religious tokens. I was able to get quite a few ancient and medieval coins for almost nothing. I'd trade the medievals for ancients at coin shows. It was great fun.

 

My late father took me to coin shops when I was young, I would collect proof sets and small valued coins.I got out of it until 2009 when my dad passed and I inherited some of his collection. I got hooked big time and have since amassed a great collection.

 

After my grandfather died when I was a kid, a pile of coins he had collected was divided between me and my cousin, the only two grandkids that expressed any interest in wanting them. Mostly foreign, some wheat cents, buffalo nickels, and one beat up shield nickel! I assume the coins worth "something" were sold as I remember seeing more than that before grandpa died. The shield nickel was my favorite because as a kid, the 1800s seemed like a thousand years ago. My mom and dad took me to an LCS where I purchased a couple blue Whitman folders, cent and nickel, to fill. And, I've been coining ever since!

 

In 1964, one of my fourth-grade teachers was a coin collector. He brought in part of his collection one day, and offered to start an after-school club for anyone interested. I bit. Lincoln cents were pretty much it for the first few years, and back then one could even find the very occasional Indian head cent in circulation. While ancients have been my main interest for a good while, I still pop each year's new Lincolns into a Whitman folder.

 

A Boy Scout camping trip in 1954. We found some old coins in a creek.

 

I’d just started a new job and my boss told me I needed to buy silver. He’d said every week when I got paid to hit the local B&M and buy as much as I could afford. I bought 10 oz bars, and soon enough the biggest problem was storage. IIRC, the 10oz bars at the time were around $46. Friend, Goodnight

 

Getting an IHC in change from the ice cream man when I was a kid (early 60's). I had to ask my dad what it was.

 

As a 9 YO Catholic Student, I walked by a LCS virtually contiguous to the school grounds, on my walk to/from the school.

There were beautiful inexpensive foreign coins in the window, and since I never had a cent of my own, I went in and asked the owner if I could trade my services for coins of his choice,

I learned unrecognized value quickly, and was soon an advisor at coin shows, where others valued my services, and the selections offered were more valuable.

A wonderful Win-Win long-term educational/profitable experience.

JMHO

 

I probably told this story before, but here goes: My father had a grocery store in the 50's and early 60's, and I was the delivery boy for the neighborhood. Many of the customers were elderly, and they would tip me with small change. One day, one of the elderly ladies brought out a large glass container (a 5 gallon water container?) filled 3/4 of the way with old coins (they looked old to me), and she reached in and gave me some pennies. They looked strange since they weren't Lincoln cents, but they had an indian head on them. I thanked the lady and took them back to the store and showed my dad. He seemed excited (I do remember that one of them was dated 1877, and the rest were early 1900's. He gave me a quarter for them, and at the time, I was quite happy to get a quarter for several strange-looking pennies. He then told me to make sure to let him know when I got any other tips in old coins. Most of the time I got more indian head pennies, but sometimes I got old nickels and dimes (I especially liked the Mercury dimes) and they all went to my father. Later on I found out that he sold all the coins, but never found out how much he got for them. I do know it helped pay for their trip to Georgia when they relocated in the mid 60's due to an air force base closing where he then worked.

To make a long story longer, I got the bug about 14 years ago when my wife and I moved to Nevada after retiring from our jobs. Since my daughter were grown, I thought it would be neat to start collecting by dates so that they would remember grandparents and great-grandparents birth years as well as special coins for any of their achievements such as graduations, first jobs, first homes, and any other notable dates. I also began collecting Welsh and German coins to honor their ancestry. Both have expressed interest and have promised to keep them in the family and pass them on to their kids. History told by coins, couldn't be better and more interesting.

 

Love history. Love art. Like what I can see and hold.

 

1877? wow!

 

In 2005, my grandfather gifted me an empty Whitman Lincoln cent folder (1941-1974) and several "unsearched" rolls of cents, and the rest is history, I suppose.

 

Middle-late 1960’s. Walking out the door to go to 3rd or 4th grade. Had to carry lunch money back then. Mom fished around in her pocketbook and pulled out a Franklin half…. This kid had never seen a half dollar before and I went hungry that day. Later when I found that half was silver, I was doubly hooked and it has lasted a lifetime.

 

And if we don't believe that story, he can make up another one.

Just kidding, Randy! And FWIW, put me down for just a tad before you, early-mid 1960's.

 

LOL.. I may have been known to tell a fish tale here and there…. But that story is 100% genuine.