My six year old was given a couple Morgan dollars by his grandpa and it struck some kind of nerve in him and now he is hooked on old coins and silver. I never collected coins (wasted my money on baseball cards) so this is new to me too. I took him to the local coin store today (Cherokee Coins in Louisville...the man there was great) and he had a blast. He used his tooth fairy money and came home with a 1845 large cent, partly because it was minted 100 years before his grandpa was born. I got him the 2017 Red Book which he is now reading in bed. Any advice for a young collector would be appreciated.
Lovely........simply lovely. Best advice I can give? Let the two of you have a whole bunch of fun hunting up stuff you like, and stay away from expensive purchases (for now) till you get a bit more dry behind the ears.
Foster the young fellow's interest and do so while teaching responsibility. If he's interested in history, use coins as a tangible connection to it. Most importantly though, the coins are not what's important. The time spent with and sharing something with his father/family is, and is something he's likely to remember for the rest of his life, long after they toys and like things are forgotten. Welcome, sir.
A really great old man helped me a lot when I was much younger. I was given two framed 20th century type set. And we gathered up xf and above to fill them out. One obverse and one reverse. I no longer have them nor pictures of them. And while I was OTR my Dad took them somewhere and got $150 for all of it. Oh the sorrow. Unfortunately I do not have a wife or kids to pass my coins along to. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
That is wonderful, welcome to CT, I tried to get my son interested in coins. He was very excited when he was younger going through coins with me. Turned into a teenager and now cars and girls and snap chat is pretty much the thing. I really appreciate the time that I had with him doing it. Maybe when he gets a little older he will look at it again. Now my father is disabled and I have introduced him to coins. He has really enjoyed it thus far and keeps him intellectually stimulated away from the talking picture box. We spend about an hour at least 3 times a week looking at coins and he has started doing it during the day now. Who knew coins would bring father and son and then father and son together.
Welcome. Sounds like you have a natural numismatist. New collectors often hear, but rarely heed: "buy the book before you buy the coin". The Red Book is a great start. For information, resources, and activities specifically for Young Numismatists (YN), check out the American Numismatic Association. Most importantly: have fun!
Wow, awesome story! That is great. I have a little one and when she is a few more years older I plan on showing her my small collection as well. If it sticks great, but it is very hard to compete with Frozen you know...lol
Just a suggestion, turn him loose on a box of cents from the bank sometime - make sure they are not all new - ask the teller. He will find wheats, but there is always that off chance he could find IHC's - I have searched probably 1.5 million cents over the years and have churned up 34 of them from two 1858 FE's on up to 1907.