How Did You Get Your Start? Small Town Values...

My grandfather did something similar and was the attendant at the local landfill for several years before he passed. He knew my love for history and reading and I acquired quite a few nice old war time books he saved out for me. One was a collection of WW2 hardcovers complete with maps and diagrams of artillery, where it was being used and such. I don't know what happened to those, probably my younger brother again who also loved WW2. Thanks for sharing.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

That looks like something Meucci would do, which is yet more proof of your good taste.

 

We had a cue manufacturing business just down the street from me when I was much younger. Berkshire Products I believe it was called. I knew the owner, Norm Stalker very well. I could not believe the craftsmanship he put out. If you could afford it, he could make it. Rhinestones, semi precious gems, MOP inlays, the whole nine yards. Ones with multiple weights, all were hand wrapped with any material you could think of. He shipped all over the world. All of the Stalker family around these parts were all pretty industrious craftsmen.

 

No offense, Dave, but Meucci cues are typically sub-par. The balance is poor, the ferrules are plastic and the joint is weak.

The Joss West cue above was custom-made by Bill Stroud who was one of the best cue makers in the world.

Chris

 

Well, I like 'em whippy, so I'm a Meucci fan.

Joss used a similar treatment around the joint to Meucci; it's why I made that mistake. Oddly enough, after a few very rough years financially, I only own a Mali at the moment and it's remarkably stiff.

 

I started when I was in Junior High School back in the late 60's after a friend got me started collecting Lincoln cents. When we were in High School we attended several local coin club meetings but since I didn't have a car my activity was limited. I started buying annual proof sets after I got a part-time job but everything was put on hold while I went to college and grad school. After I started my first professional job I started back up but got put on hold again while raising a family. Following a divorce almost 5 years ago I started back up in earnest. Thinking back when I first started my father told me a story which made me cringe. When his bachelor uncle passed away in the early 60's he and his brother inherited his estate. He was a retired farmer and not a wealthy man but had several 5 gallon pails full of coins. My dad and his brother took the coins to the bank. I have always wondered what I could have found in those buckets of coins which most likely accumulated from the 1920's on.

 

My dad showed me a Morgan he found while he was working/digging on a chicken farm before he went into the Army. I was 10yo and I kept asking to see it so he gave it to me. It's still my favorite Morgan. My husband also collected coins as a kid and his dad left him his world coin collection (bowling ball-sized bag full of coins) about 5 years ago. I've had a blast ID'ing them-predominantly North and South American coins and am currently concentrating on Brazilian coins.

 

I think you and I are singing the same song here, both being baby boomers!

 

I started with the Whitman blue folders for Lincoln cents as a kid. Then my father who had some interest in coins got a 2c piece I traded for I also started hanging around some antique shops at age 7-8 (another interest) and worked for a lady cleaning stuff and moving stuff around. There was an older gentleman that stopped there on occasion that collected and sold coins. This was in the mid 80s. I bought a 1817 large cent from him for $5 he also had coin auctions and if I could round up $40-50 doing odd jobs and selling stuff I'd get my father to take me if he could. We'd both buy stuff and I'd spend every dime I had. When we moved at age 12 I didn't do much with coins as I had no access until I got to be 15 and moved in with my grandfather before that I was well acquainted with farm work as that was about all there was to do around there once I moved to my grandfathers I started doing more woodworking then I got serious again about antiques too and started going to auctions. I still have a few I bought in high school including a 1837 no stars dime after high school I started my own business and would pick up the occasional coin when I ran across them at auctions or estate sales. And I always had the passion for the stuff. About 5 years ago I got an iPhone and finally got online. I clicked on a ha coin auction ad bored one night and instantly saw all the stuff I always wanted and never saw. As my finances were better now so I started buying coins as I had no real focus at first I bought all over the place. Eventually I had so much and just liked buying stuff I like without needing for a collection I started dealing

 

As for pool cues the only one worth mentioning I have anymore is my McDermit. I used to play pretty serious in my bar going days. Usually played for a beer a game and on good nights I'd pretty much drink free. Also played in leagues off and on as my work schedules allowed. Been out of practice the last 5 years tho

 

My Dad got me interested in coins. During WW2 he collected coins and currency from the countries he passed through. These coins were kept in a very cool hand-carved box sitting on top of his desk. When I was very young I would empty the coins on the floor and using a magnifying glass, look at each, amazed at the varied designs. My Dad also had a few US coins, among them a silver three cent piece that he found as a young boy while turning over a garden for his Dad. When I turned ten I helped my brother with his paper route. Taking the money he gave me for helping, I bought the 1909-1940 and 1941- Lincoln Cent albums. Although we lived in a smallish town, there were three coin shops. I spent a lot of time in them pestering the shop owners, but I learned a lot. At twelve I got my own paper route and bought Buffalo and Jefferson Nickel, and Mercury and Roosevelt Dime albums. Back then there was a lot of Buffalo nickels and Mercury dimes in circulation so many of the slots got filled. Some of my paper customers after a snow storm, paid me to shovel their driveways and walkways, and in the summer I worked for an older couple doing whatever needed doing for fifty cents an hour. That is when Standing Liberty and Washing quarter albums were added. At sixteen I got a job as a dish washer and then at 17 pumping gas. I pretty much forgot collecting at this stage due to girls. After college, the military, working "real jobs", marriage and finally retirement, my dad passed and his collection came my way. This renewed my interest and my collection has grown every year since.

 

Your story reminded me of me and my dad. I have a copy of his DD-241. He enlisted with a bunch of buddies on Dec 11, 1941. Here's some of the currency he brought back from the Pacific.

 

Edit

 

My Grandfather collected coins when I was a kid and whenever I would get a silver coin, I'd just pass it on to him. Grandpa would take out his coins sometimes when I was a kid so I could look at them, but that was it. It wasn't until years later that I got into collecting seriously.
I had a friend of mine who lived in Michigan back in 2010. When I saw him then, it was the first time I'd seen him in ten years. While we were catching up, he took me down to his basement reading area and had me look at over 20 plus coin magazines. Most dating back to early 2000s to the current time. He told about collecting gold and silver coins. He showed me a few 2 1/2 gold Indians he had, and asked me if I would find out their current value. Now let me set the scene. Imagine a mob type guy, who grew up on the streets of Detroit, dressed ( still ) as if it's 1975. I didn't know a thing about coins. So I went to ebay to look up completed auctions for his coins. I can't remember exactly, but he was happy they went up in value, he had had them ten years by that time. He wanted to buy more gold indians and told me a some guy from some coin broker place was calling him asking him to buy some gold Indians. Well looking at ebay, I said "just buy them right here." Now, this coin broker guy wanted to sell my old friend 3 gold Indians, 1910, and two 1911's, and my buddy being old school, didn't even have the internet. Catching up with him, it was sad in a way because he was a decade behind the times. Not going to get into why, but the whole point was this coin broker wanted 2700.00 for 3 common 2 1/2 gold indians. I told my buddy it was a bad move. He did it anyways! When they arrived in the mail he wanted me to look at them and give my opinion. I had NO clue. All I knew is that he overpaid. Or did he? One of the 1911's the guy sent was a D! A pretty strong one. It could clearly be seen. So maybe he got lucky, I don't know. I don't know if the coin was cleaned or not because I didn't know anything about cleaned coins. Here's the funny part. I had NO clue then the 1911 D 2 1/2 gold Indian was a key date, so I never bothered to look up the value. I just thought he got shafted big time. I lost touch with him again shortly after that. I don't think the coin broker knew it was a D he never mentioned it. He also made a curious comment. He told me that he had a client dumping all his gold coins and buying silver because silver was expected to go up to almost 50 dollars an ounce within a year. It was, that tip, that actually got me started. I wanted to see if his "source" was right. I made some money when silver went up and now I've got a great new hobby.