What got you started?

I posted earlier. On that camping trip, we found many old coins in 1953-54. One I found, was an 1875 s/s and was a twenty-cent coin. Also, several cents of Flying Eagle, Indians, and Lincolns before 1940. Also several nickles from the same time from the 1860s to the 1940s The best finds were about twenty to twenty-five Stone Mountain Half 1921. There were others and I cannot say for sure about all the types. It was a lot of fun back then and collecting all these years. I found the very first ones and we dug all that day and next till we had to go home. We had more coins. We had many of the same so we divided them among the other Scout's campers.

 

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I used to sit at the kitchen table with my Dad. He'd go through all his loose change for interesting coins. When the U.S. coinage changed to silver he'd carefully count everything twice and then put the coins into paper bank wrappers. Those were the days...

 

You know this sounds very familiar to a coin-related dream that another member posted about well over a year ago.

 

I did post it a very long time ago but felt I would do it again since we have so many new members Bradley.

 

I remember that date because it was one of the better looking IHC's that I got that day. If only I knew to keep it!

 

Well I'm a youngster being only 24. But I have been in and out of collecting since I was really young. I'm into it pretty hard now. It started when my Grandma took me to a coin shop that's no longer around called Sanders coins in Northern Utah and she bought me an Indian head cent but not a normal one it was about the size of a pencil eraser but me being only 4 or 5 of course I lost it sadly. But every other weekend she would take me there to the coin shop and buy me a coin she still to this day has all of those coins in her coin purse thing. But I have built me a pretty Large collection. I'm working on a walker set and my Morgan set currently.

 

When my father was killed in an auto accident, my mother told me that our father had a coin collection that was to be split between my brother and me. Now, he coin collection wasn't/isn't what most of us would understand, but my brother and I had a fun time going through my father's coin collection. When I took my half of the collection home, I started to set up a system to identify the coins (Thanks to Coin Talk). My brother took his half and put his coins in a large "Pickle jar" and put the jar in his garage.
That was in 1997, 6 months after I got married.

 

My dad. As a kid plugging those holes in a Whitman’s folder became a habit.

 

Mom got me started collecting wheat pennies at around age six!! I just couldn't stop!!! Then I found Coin Talk and the affliction got worse!!! Now I don't just look for coins I need, I also look for errors and varieties!!!

 

Boy Scouts - winning a 1941 to present Lincoln Cent Whitman album which had incorrectly filled holes. from these I completed acJefferson Nickel set.

 

After a second grade field trip to the bank to open our first accounts, my grandfather started taking me in to get rolls to hunt and to the local coin store to work on my collection. I also got a lot of help at the local show as a YN and made out like a bandit every 4th of July young YN essay contest on the Collectors Universe forum circa 2000-04. I lost interest in coin collecting and sold my collection in my teens (foolish), but came back stronger than ever a few years ago. Currently I'm working on a handful of American and Canadian series, and I farmhand for a fellow coin collector for three silver quarters an hour. I work as many hours as he'll let me.

 

Was the president dollars. Bought a roll of p minted of each president cashing my check. Yes I did say payroll check.

 

So glad you kept it

 

Great thread. OP gets thanks

 

Mid to late 1960's. My mom and dad started saving wheat cents and silver coins, since they were both recently discontinued (lots of Americans were doing it). A few years later, they showed me the cigar box containing the coins. I was fascinated, and started sorting by type, date, and mint-mark. Half a century later, here I am....

 

My grandmother was the catalyst to my lifelong coin collecting obsession. I was about 7-8 years old in 1966 and she first gave me a Sucrets tin filled with IHC's. It seemed grandma had individual Sucrets tins designated to store buffalo nickels, mercury dimes, Roosevelt silver dimes, Washington silver quarters, etc. Looking back I wish her storage containers were much bigger Unfortunately we weren't from much in the way of family riches. Our wealth came from the interactions, caring and compassion we got from our demonstrative grandma. I owe my passion for the hobby to her.

I'm doing my best to pass the same passion down to my grandkids. Only one of them is old enough to understand what I'm trying to impart on him. He's six now. The other two grands are only 2 y/o and 18 months. They'll get their turn in due time. The six y/o has taken to the collecting somewhat. I'm hopeful.

Great thread, fun stories and the spanning of many decades keeps the stories engaging.

 

When I was about 8 years old, one of my uncles came to stay with us. We spent days sorting a bag of Lincoln cents. I was hooked.

Not too long after that, my dad started taking me to work with him at a large department store. I worked in the cash office counting and rolling cents. My pay was $1.00 per day in wheat cents. I built a nice Lincoln set over time.

In 1970 my dad won a contest of guessing how many cents were in a gallon can. I rolled them and got to keep about 10 rolls. They were all 1970-S. Still have them and have never searched them. After 50 years, that's still on my list of things to do.