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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;lordmarcovan, post: 2957545, member: 10461&quot;]Awesome.&nbsp; By way of anecdote<font size="3"> (because I&#039;m an extremely anecdotal kinda guy, as you might have noticed)</font>, I will share a story.</p><p><br /></p><p>When I was not quite 11 years old and had only just started collecting (stamps, coins, rocks, etc), I lived in a boatyard in Fernandina, Florida.&nbsp; The owner of the boatyard had an elderly relative who was always around the place, and this uncle or brother or whatever was an alcoholic nearing his last days.&nbsp; This disheveled old guy had a sketchy vibe and a lot of people avoided him.&nbsp; But for some reason he befriended the skinny kid on the eccentric looking houseboat ... <i>me</i>.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now here&#039;s where stories like this often turn dark. <font size="3"> (Hey, parents- would you let YOUR ten-year-old kid run unsupervised in a boatyard full of industrial equipment and oil drums and rusty scrap metal, and hang out with decrepit drunks?&nbsp; Of COURSE you would!&nbsp; It was the 1970s!)&nbsp; </font> But it all turned out fine.&nbsp; The wizened old wino took a shine to me, and we&#039;d sit around and chat.&nbsp; I might&#039;ve been one of the only people who&#039;d talk to him.&nbsp; Certainly none of the other kids would go within sight of him.</p><p><br /></p><p>One day he showed me his pocket piece coin, which was a 1921 Morgan in probably VF or so.</p><p><br /></p><p>It was the first silver dollar I had ever seen, and I was well and truly amazed.&nbsp; I couldn&#039;t believe how big around and how <i>thick</i> it was.&nbsp; I used to think <i>half</i> dollars were big!&nbsp; Then the guy gave me a quarter.&nbsp; To me it looked like a regular Washington quarter, not one of the new Bicentennials, so I told him he should probably just keep it and spend it.&nbsp; He chuckled, and then showed me that it was a 1964 quarter, and was <i>silver</i>, and explained why silver was something special.</p><p><br /></p><p>God bless you, Mr. Rawls.&nbsp; You were kind to a scrawny kid when you didn&#039;t have to be.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, yeah.&nbsp; I get it now, about the whole &quot;conversation piece&quot; thing.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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