Some of you may remember when I bought several thousand wheat cents. I went through the original batch then I bought another 5,000. A lot of them from the teens and twenties are pretty smooth. The dates are all legible but the finer details are long gone. At what point are they no longer considered collectable? I've been giving them away to my friend's grandchildren and to some of my neighbour's kids. They get a kick out of having something that old and if they lose them, it's no big loss. These are a sample of what I'm coming across:
I think most any coin is "collectible" to someone. I applaud your approach with the kids...I do the same. I was given some old coins when I was young and it had a big influence on my life. I think that's why I like history so much...in some sort of way, I think my coins helped me relate history to the lives of actual people...not the idealized pillars of perfection some books would have you believe. Coins (to me) seem like a connection to people across time. In many cases, the wear on a coin makes them even more interesting...from an historical perspective. However, if I want to make money I still stick with the highest grades I can afford.
Culls are bent or severely damaged by mechanical or corrosive means. I guess a dateless coin could be a cull which are considered "slicks" or "smoothies"
I was inspired the same way when I was young. (a couple of large cents from my Grandfather). It's neat to see the excitement in the kids when they show me their "finds". A few of the kids are now checking their change for collectible coins and a couple are focusing on particular coins to collect. That's pretty cool! I've been thinking of giving away coins (in 2X2's) to kids five and older, next Halloween. I'd be discreet about it, slipping them in with handfuls of candy so they would be a surprise when they emptied out their bags. I know if I was a kid and got a coin in a holder, I'd be really excited.
The holder is a great idea...I was going to give out some circulated IHPs one Holloween, but my Sister (the Nurse) flipped out when she heard what I was planning! ...good thing.
Shoot, I've purchased coins in worse condition than your culls. Everyone has different standards and some people are trying to complete sets without spending double or triple digits per coin, so I'd say there's still a market for a lot of what you might think of as junk.
I think what I'll do is post a few in the open section sometimes during the week and see if there's any interest.
Everything is worth keeping in my opinion! Lower grades can always be Used as fillers until you get something nicer
Instead of trying to re-invent the wheel this pretty much parallels my thinking: http://www.acoin.com/answerwizard/answerwizardcull.html Probably could nit-pick here and there but this is correct for me at about the 99% level.
