Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;KBBPLL, post: 7838097, member: 104064&quot;]My grandfather passed out his coins to his 5 grandchildren in 1972. They were literally a pile of raw coins that he kept in a box. He put the pile on a table and the five of us took turns picking one. Afterwards, there was some horse trading. I somehow ended up with a 1948 Canadian dollar, half dollar, and the 1947 Maple Leaf dollar, quarter, dime, and nickel. When I later found out that the 1948 $1 was worth more than a thousand dollars, I was hooked.</p><p><br /></p><p>Grandpa was the head librarian at the Chicago Tribune during the 1940s-60s period. Back then, major newspapers had actual libraries. He hobnobbed with Colonel McCormick, and in his younger days during the Roaring Twenties, he played trumpet in speakeasies and strip clubs, and carried a revolver in his trumpet case. His predecessor at the Tribune had connections all over the world who mailed him coins. When this man died and grandpa took over, for several years the coins kept arriving. I suspect many also came from journalists returning from foreign assignments. His pile of hundreds of coins were from dozens of countries, mostly low value early 20th century. </p><p><br /></p><p>As it turned out, grandpa had lung cancer and when we all got together and distributed his coins, over Thanksgiving, it would be the last time we saw him. He died a month later. Looking back, I&#039;m sure he got immense joy out of watching his grandkids drooling over hunks of silver. We still all have all of them, although I&#039;m the only one who kept an interest in coin collecting. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1347814[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in