Increasing your collection

Nothing to us is worthless....even a damaged coin has a story behind it.

Speedy

 

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Speaking of coin stories. In the summer of 1968, I had graduated from Cal State Los Angeles and was ready to go to graduate school in South Dakota. I took a job with the National Geographic Society in the little Mexican town of El Rosario, Baja California del Norte. We were collecting dinosaur bones and mammal teeth. It was the best job that I ever had. We lived on the beach in what amounted to a MASH compound.

I was an arrogant and competitive young man at the time, and tried to compete at anything possible. I arm wrested every Mexican that I cound find, but never Heraculo, a 72 year-old Pala indian that was built like a WWF wrestler. Anyway, I thought that I was a pretty good pistol shootist. The little town of El Rosario had a sheriff, Chu Cho. He was a really nice man that looked a bit like Cesar Romero. He packed a Ruger Mark II .22 caliber semi-automatic pistol. I had done a lot of shooting with such a gun. The local Mexicans were awestruck by Chu Cho's expertise with his pistol. He could "shoot the head off a chicken"! (This was really "old" Mexico. The raod from San Diego to Los Cabos had not yet been constructed. It took 18 hours to drive from El Rosario to San Diego in those days. There were no modern buildings, and very few Americans anywhere.)

I challenged Sheriff Chu Cho to a shooting contest in the desert. In retrospect, this was incredibly rude and foolish. I was 22 and completely unfettered. A crowd of Mexican fishermen and peasants gathered around, including Chu Cho's unofficial deputy. There were cowboy guns and holsters, sombreros, cerapes, a white mule, the whole nine yards. This was right out of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

We started, with his gun of course, shooting at match boxes at about 30 feet. It was pretty much a stand-off. Neither of us missed. Then I pulled a Mexican Peso out of my pocket and placed in on a cactus about 75 feet away. Chu Cho shot first. bang. It was the first miss of the afternoon. I took the gun, aimed carefully, and squeezed off a round. The peso flew into the air and the little dusty crowd erupted in cheers. I eventually walked over and found my coin. Yep, it had a 5 mm dent in the middle. I pocketed the trophy and we called it a day. :thumb:

A few months later, I bought a new truck, which I still have, and took off for Rapid City. I left some of my possessions back in Alhambra. When I returned from grad school two years later, my parents had moved to Glen Ellen, Sonoma County. I inquired about my famous peso. To my absolute horror, my dad had thrown it away. I incredulously asked him why he had kept newspapers, rocks, and coat hangers, yet threw away my wonderful Mexican coin. He replied that "it had a dent in it and was damaged." He truly had no soul. :headbang:

In all the time my father was around, throughout my childhood, I never heard him tell a joke or come up with an insightful fun thing to do. The man, who was an international banker, tossed out my prized Mexican peso because it had a frigging dent in it.

If I still had that coin, I would have shown it to you guys by now.

 

A retired movie director would still go out to the multiplex when given the chance to see a flick. Coin collecting is not just about buying coins it is also the coins themselves, the stories behind them and the people who tell them. Now I will never see that Mexican peso that you shot but everytime from now on whenever I see a peso I will think about that story for even if it wasn't my story, that story became part of me.

 

Wonderful story buddy, that put the yeast in the bread dough

Bone

 

I've sold a few things on ebay recently...purely to get more money for buying coins.

I have been on a bit of a coin binge as of late...spend about $400+ in the last 2 months.

Being poor sucked...seeing all the coins you wanted but couldn't have...there are still loads I want now but can't have.

I guess the coin meant more I guess if I saved up for weeks to get it.


I remember waking up early in the mornings to check the post to see if it had arrived,..and being mega upset if I didn't...knowing I'd have to wait at least another 24 hrs

Now, I get one every few days...still a Little bit of a buzz.

 

Quick Dog, great story. Thanks for sharing it. I can relate to your coin problems. Nobody is ever going to look at my collection and say, 'Great coins!'

 

Luckily my mom REFUSES to let my dad get rid of anything, coins, old toys, IMB Stock he's had for the last 10 years... HAHA

 

HI BEN, at the start of this year I said I was not going to start any new collections until I finished my B.U. sets of Jefferson nickels and my Washington set 1932 to 1964 , And then DOUG :headbang: sent me down the path of no return and I can't find my way back, and then Victor:headbang: put me down that Kennedy road and here I am with two coins left to finish my B.U.set and 10 coins to go with the Washington set and Im out there looking for gold and Kennedys. Ben please do not show any more pictures of Morgan dollars I just have to finish something this year:goofer:

 

First off it is great to read how others approach collecting hints at why one does such a thing. ^^ This is what I have found to be the best way to go about collecting coins as well. I would say I fit the 'collector by nature' type. I have about 50 boxes of comic books and I have always collected books and etchings.

I started some time ago with coins through an obsession with Rome and everything Roman and at one point when I was much younger I decided I wanted a Roman coin of Claudius (I was a big fan of I, Claudius and the Julio Claudians) but quickly found that I was not going to be able to afford a Julio Claudian coin of any type so I bought a very cheap Constantine but that did it for me. I started buying Roman coins and after a brief break in college where I just couldnt afford them I have been collecting. I can tell you my obsession is based the history each coin represents.

I soon realized I liked almost every coin I saw and started buying examples of other types of coins as they took my fancy, more modern world circulation coins, Conder Tokens, Persian and pretty much any other type. These days though I am most interested still in Roman Imperial (I would buy Republic or Greek if I found one I liked and could afford), Conder Tokens, and General World coins from every time and country.

I have thought about buying World coins in bulk but I decided against it because the only real rule I have when it comes to coins is I just want one good example of each type and I dont care about the value. I dont buy coins that dont interest me and of the ones that do I dont want to double up, the only way I would do that is if I found another example of that coin in better shape. With Roman I will buy uncleaned just for fun and preserve only the best ones to be in my collection, the rest go into a bag and when I buy Roman coins one at a time I will only buy the coin if it is a better portrait and better condition then the one I have, type of coin doesn't matter. But in the end I will collect at least one of any type of coin that I find interesting. In he end the most coins I have bought in one purchase was 150 uncleaned late roman coins.

sorry so long, I dont know anyone who shares my interest away from people I interact with on the internet

 

Really excellent piece of writing quick dog :thumb: