Coin Collecting BEFORE internet...

I was collecting coins back in the sixties, but only because my dad did, and only what we found in pocket change. Just to fill holes in our blue albums, which I still have. But stopped collecting soon after, because we knew nothing about clubs or shops or anything like that, and it was more a casual thing for us, nothing serious.

Then nothing happened for at least 50 years, when my father-in-law gave my son his coins, a mixture of different American coins, from cents to silver dollars. That sparked my interest again. Until then I knew nothing about coin shows, clubs, or internet forums like this. I don't remember how I found everything I did about them, but I'm glad I did. Especially this forum, where I learn so much and meet some interesting people!

 

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If only I could, at the time. But finances were very tight and if I remember correctly, the Mustang was a pretty good buy, but it needed some work (water pump replacement), which I had done at the local community college automotive department. So, I picked up the car, pointed it north and drove up to Monterey, no problems with the car. By the time I reached San Jose, the following day, I noticed that the temperature waring light came on. So, I checked the coolant level and found the reservoir nearly empty! It seems that the coolant was not replaced by whoever worked on the car. So, I replenished the coolant and drove on.

Hindsight always being 20/20, I probably should have kept that car, but then I probably should have kept the 1970 Porsche 914, my first, and only sports car. That was a cool car. Oh well, such is life....

 

When I was in my teens, the internet had arrived.

Prior to that, I was a young kid just starting to collect and greatful to come across anything. Going to the local coin shop was a huge reward and treat digging through the bins.

For my eighth birthday, my parents got me a book on coins. Yes it was a very general book, however the back had around 11 pages of “Ancients” (Greek and Roman) which really peaked my interest.

As a kid, I obviously did not have any money but would go through the book and stare through it for hours! The Ancients section blew me away as they looked so different.

I finally saw a few simple common Fourth Century Romans at a shop in Florida during March Break and took two of them home with me. Around that time the internet started to gain popularity. I was still too young to go and buy online, however there were now beautiful colour photos available to look at online rather than old blurry black and whites.

Looking back at that catalogue, it was my bible. It introduced me to lots of things such as, what was out there, and how much allowance money I would have to save up!

 

One early internet service I recall that maybe died out before its time was a version of paypal that would send, by post, a physical US dollar cheque to US sellers. Can't recall now what it was called or how it worked (probably very weak security by today's standard) but the number of times, as recently as 2020, when Ive been infuriated by US sellers who refused to take credit cards and don't accept paypal suggests that service died too soon. Especially on NYINC or ANA bourse floors I've been appalled by the number of dealers today who will take a paper cheque from strangers but won't take a card payment by any means, even with say 3% premium. Of course as a European I don't have a US account and can't summon up large amounts cash as a visitor no matter how full my £ or € bank accounts are. That old cheque by mail service would have been handy.

For many primitive sellers it seems the internet still hasn't been invented and we are still in the "coin collecting before the internet" era

 

It's been my experience at NYINC that there are a number of dealers on the floor who are happy to take paypal or credit cards when you buy coins from them over the Internet (such as through VCoins), but make clear that they expect cash for coins bought on the floor. I guess the trade-off is that they're generally far more willing to give a discount if you pay cash than they are online. I prefer not to speculate on their reasons.