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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;ewomack, post: 7873976, member: 15588&quot;]Wow! That&#039;s a completely different world from when I was growing up in an only somewhat larger city. &quot;Wheat pennies,&quot; as everyone called them, were a regular but infrequent surprise and silver was almost unheard of. I had to go to the bank and specifically ask for half dollars to even see one (I remember the teller looking down at me with a strange look). All of the older coin types I had were purchased from a small coin shop located in the back of a vacuum cleaner store in the next city. I <i>never</i> saw a buffalo nickel, a mercury dime or an IHC in change. Not once. And I used money <i>a lot</i> back then to buy candy, magazines, trading cards, etc.</p><p><br /></p><p>The SBA dollar, though it didn&#039;t last long, provided the only real novelty in pocket change throughout my entire upbringing. I was mesmerized by it and carried a &quot;pocket piece&quot; with me everywhere. Otherwise, I pretty much saw the same coins over and over again for years upon years, excepting the 1976 quarters, which remained pretty easy to find.&nbsp; Even back then, which wasn&#039;t yesterday, there was <i>absolutely no way</i> I could have put together a 20th century set as described.</p><p><br /></p><p>A post 1965 set would have worked, but it would have provided very little excitement, especially compared to the set described above. Still, I saved cents and nickels in Whitman albums, but I could go back only so far and it didn&#039;t provide enough of a distraction for when (really) early video and electronic hand-held games came along. Not to mention music, available in the form of 45s.</p><p><br /></p><p>Saddest of all, I never found anyone else who had any interest in coins apart from spending them. I remember a friend being very confused when I tried to save a 1976 type set. He didn&#039;t get why I would do that. When I showed him my completed set, in one of those clear plastic year type holders, he scoffed and said &quot;good for you.&quot; That memory stuck with me and probably helped turn me into a closet coin collector. I had absolutely no problem finding people who wanted to trade baseball, hockey or football cards. Coins from pocket change were probably too boring for most kids by then. They became merely a means to obtain cardboard.</p><p><br /></p><p>Unable to compete, coins drifted into the background for a few decades. I still looked through all of my pocket change for silver, though. I can remember only one or two lucky finds throughout all of those years. I can&#039;t imagine having access to such a treasure trove as described above. I can&#039;t even conceive of what that must have been like.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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