Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;rosethe, post: 746159, member: 21556&quot;]Thank you all for your comments. I appreciate it.</p><p>Mystery45- I am not trying to unload any part of his collection, not even the silver bars or junk coins. Unfortunately, I don&#039;t have any children to pass anything down to either. No chance of that. </p><p>I am in complete agreement with Siwash, I would loathe to give up any part of it. I just didn&#039;t have any idea of how impressive the collection is.</p><p><br /></p><p>Since I don&#039;t have any heirs (except the cats :goof<img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> I&#039;d like to tell you all a little of what I remember about my father and coin collecting and coin hunting. </p><p><br /></p><p>With your permission....</p><p><br /></p><p>My father was born in 1914. A young man of the depression. At 13, he sold papers on a street corner, and put the coins on his mother&#039;s dresser each night to help support the family. He went to the CCC camps. Then he worked parking cars at Tiger Stadium. A rich man came to have his car parked, offered my father a &#039;tip&#039;, but my father said, &quot;I don&#039;t need a tip, I need a job.&quot; The man found my father work as a welder. Then the war broke out. </p><p>After 4 years at war, he was able to return to his welding job, it was held for him. 32 years later, he retired, in the early 70&#039;s. But, in the 60&#039;s he started collecting coins. He&nbsp; had me searching rolls for silver dimes and pennies with good dates. If I completed what was on my TV tray, I got to have a Jiffy Pop. </p><p>He did &#039;gentlemen&#039; dealings for coins by mail. All on the honor system. </p><p>My mother passed when I was 5, in 1966. It was just him and I. </p><p>They came out with these machines called metal detectors. Only two knobs on them. One for volume and one for strength. He took up digging full time. I used to go out with him. I dug the holes. We found endless &#039;pop tops&#039; and bottle caps. Lots of coins, the occasional piece of silver or ring. All in all, he had jars and jars of silver coins, which he occasionally sold off. He had jars of jewelry and gold. The class rings, we&#039;d try to return to their owners. My hand always out for the potential &#039;tip&#039; from the grateful owner. :goof:</p><p>My dad was greatly effected by the gas shortage of &#039;73 and what he thought would be an economic meltdown. He told me about inflation, and how you&#039;d have to bring a wheel barrel full of paper money to buy a loaf of bread. I lost faith in currency as tender. I always knew that you needed metal in case of disaster. He started investing in gold and reading books on the coming &quot;economic collapse&quot;. He told me of a Swiss bank account in which he had Krugerands. :secret:I never understood why that was illegal, until the mid &#039;80&#039;s. </p><p>He continued to metal detect. I can&#039;t tell you of all the things I saw. But I am sure that that first &#039;generation&#039; of hunters pulled all the best stuff from the ground. He found lots of gold rings, with and without stones, a platinum pin with 32 diamonds, and many other treasures. I think he sold things off for scrap, and bought gold. I remember tubes and tubes of $20 Lib gold pieces. Gradually he sold them too, for his junkets to Vegas. Can&#039;t fault a man for working that hard all his life a small bit of pleasure. His pension from the company went &#039;poof&#039; when the company went under, so his collection was his retirement. </p><p>Now all that is left is that tube with 21 $20 gold coins in it. which I am grateful to have, along with the other pieces in the collection. I remember going to coin shows and shops too. I never had a great interest, I was more into semi precious stones and my rock tumbler. </p><p><br /></p><p>I am, at the same time, proud of what I learned from him and the treasure he left to me, and ashamed at what a financial mess I am in (with the divorce :crying<img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> only 8 years after he passed. I think I should have done better. </p><p><br /></p><p>Thanks for listening to Jim&#039;s story. An average guy, who apparently knew what to pick. :kewl:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v431/rosethecopycat/Jim.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />[/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