How you got started collecting

I got into it through Boy Scouts as I went for the coin collecting merit badge. Getting the twentieth century set was a lot of work!

 

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My day was a merchant marine seaman and used to bring me coins from foreign countries that started me off when I was very young!

 

I received a type set and a Lincoln cents display from my grandfather when I was a kid. Both were framed and hung on the wall at my mothers home. That's when the interest started, but it didn't spark until much later in life.

 

My story maybe a little different as a kid or young adult I never really had any interest in coins until a few months ago after I retired.

My grandfather liked coins and my father collected coins, all though they weren't big collector's I still have the coin my grandfather carried with him everyday.

It was youtube that really peaked my interest all these big finds, and the big money in your pocket. (Yeah Right).

But after I realized that I wasn't going to get rich who would have guessed it I really like this hobby and I love collecting coins, I'm not an expert by any means but I feel maybe it's in my blood.

I haven't had my DNA checked yet but who knows maybe its in the blood, I'm glad I found this hobby maybe I should have listen to my dad and grandfather who knows I could be like paddyman98. Lol

Dave
Here's a pic of my grandfather coin

 

He is good and should be praised for the teaching know-how, what good comes from having knowledge of a certain matter if you can’t pass it on

 

I always liked US history and antiques and I am a born collector and love hunting for stuff. Probably 15 years ago, I was at an Antique mall and started looking at coins. I bought a Walking Liberty half and that was all it took. Within a few years, I had a complete collection, Morgans, and other odds n ends. Well, then I got robbed and left the hobby for several years....Now I am back at it again. I always liked to look at an old coin and wonder what all it has purchased in all it's years.

 

My uncle gave me a silver dollar (Morgan) for getting good grades in first grade. That was 1960 and they still circulated. Being 6 years old it was the first one I'd even seen. I was hooked.

 

I was a 10-year-old ring bearer in my godfather's wedding in 1969. As a gift, he gave me a new Lincoln cent Whitman folder and a Red Book. My dad had collected coins since he was young, so he helped start me out by giving me some old wheat cents to fill some spots in my folder. I was hooked. Unfortunately, I haven't been active with American coins since I was a young adult - so my collection has pretty much been sitting idle for about 30 years. Most recently I became interested in collecting ancient Greek coins.

 

Yes I love 2 cent pieces and I am actively trying to complete the set. That was my same reaction when I saw the first one and also the 3 cent pieces as well.

 

I actually used to give my kids a few special coins from the toothfairy. But when they just wanted to spend them I've bought them back. I used to give them recirculating Cheerios Dollars too now all those are stored away.

Lately my kids were interested in my 2, 3 cent and half dime pieces. But just a slight passing curiousity it seems.

 

When I was a child, I'm 61 now; I grew up like most kids of my generation searching for the holy grail of coins a 1909-SVDB, 1922 plain, and 1955 doubled die Lincoln cent.I never found any of these but, it wasn't was for the lack of trying!LOL! When I became a teen, my step-father gave me a copper, very worn 2 cent piece. I loved that coin and only parted with it because I needed gas money. It wasn't until my early 20's and met my wife and settled down that I became serious about collecting. Standing Liberty Quarters is my favorite series. BTW I now own the 1909-SVDB, 22 plain in lower grades, and the 72/72 doubled die 3 strong reverse in ms-64. All the later coin sets in high grade and various favorites. I love collecting coins!

 

I always enjoyed coins, and would go through my father's jar of pennies (and foreign coins he got when travelling) but I never got into the hobby. I bought bullion as a hedge investment, then one day I looked at a Sept. Severus denarius and started to read up on the history of that man and his family -- unbelievable (we think we have messy politics NOW?! HAH!). I was hooked. I'm not working on ancients right now - starting with something a little simpler - but I'm always looking for a great Geta (with wreath and spiked beard) denarius. a nice Antonius (Caracalla), and probably a nice Elagbus (with Priapus on the reverse... you know, just for history's sake . Each coin I look at lets me see a little of the history of the parent country - the event/person/location depicted, the artistry, the metals it's made of - fascinating.

 

I lived in Venezuela for 12 years starting in 1956. My Dad worked in the oil fields in that country. Started collecting when Venezuelan coins shifted from silver to clad in 1964, I really liked the Fuertes (5 Bs). When we moved to the US in '69, I came across a wheat penny. It was dated 1944. My Dad explained that there was a steel penny made during the World War II, but couldn't remember the year. I was running my hand in the couch we had searching for more loose change. Came across a penny, believe it or not, it was dated 1942. My Dad said the steel penny must have been made in 1943! At that point I was hooked! My initial quest was to find one of those "steel pennies"!

 

I'm a later starter. When I sold and closed up my parents' home, I found coins in just about every container in the house, some with old coins. Some were all foreign as they had traveled to some 130 countries. Also, my husband had never spent a penny making about 4-5 gallons. Since I had just retired, I had time to start studying what I had. I really have the "bug" now, and hope to eventually get them all organized.

 

Forever

 

When I was about 10 my dad gave me a half dollar and sent me to the corner store for the Sunday paper...I was used to using a Franklin for the paper each weak but this one caught my eye...a 1916 with the mint mark on the obv...I was fascinated by it, but it bought the paper anyway. I was hooked after that experience.

 

I guess you went hungry that day.

 

I did..... However I promise I have had years to make up for that missed meal.

 

What? No ricochet biscuit?

 

Many of us "weird" ancient collectors started off with US coins. I am a hoarder it seems, so I still have my US collection of hundreds of capped bust and SL halves, and countless other stuff. I haven't looked at my US coins in maybe 20 years now, but could never sell them. About 1998 I discovered ancients, and have been doing that ever since.