What spurred you into coin collecting and why do you still pursue the hobby?

I started collecting coins courtesy of my father and my uncle who collected coins when they were kids in the 1950s and 60s and exposed me to the hobby when I was a kid. I still pursue the hobby at 26 because I love the historic value and the challenge. My question is; how did you get involved in the hobby and why do you still pursue it now?

 

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When I was in grade school my dad bought a metal detector and I went with him everywhere. When he dug up his first buffalo nickel I was hooked. Its in the blood...

 

Started when I was eight. The search for coins thrilled me as I would go bank to bank and exchange rolls for currency then go to another bank an get rolls and go through them. I have lots and lots of coins still my my collection that I plucked out of circulation. When Mom and Pop came back from their Reno trips, they gave me Morgans and Peace. When I collected from my paper route customers I asked them to give me coins for payment if possible. Still have some great finds left like 1932-S Wash. VG, 1914-D Buff. F, 1938-D Walker in EF, tons of Franklins and my fav is the 1927-D SLQtr. in EF. Still active as I look more to Slabs.

 

I too was in it in the 60's and 70's and got back into to it heavy in the 1990's,

I too was in it in the 60's and 70's and got back into to it heavy in the 1990's,

What got me in to it was a quarter I got in change at Kroger, it looked funny. The reverse had very thick lettering and looked doubled. I took it to some coin shops and they said it had mechanical/machine type doubling and was common but something about it kept bothering me. So I found out about doubled dies a bit and sent it to J. Wexler and it turned out to be one of the, probably the rarest Washinton Quarter doubled dies there is know, 1971-P DDR-001 with only 6 known (or still known) and mine was the highest graded one. Made Coin World, Numismatic News and the rest is history!
Now finding and selling doubled dies and other die varieties is about 40% of my hobby.
Two things I learned and learned well:
1. Most coin dealers, even long in the buisness coin dealers know very little about true doubled dies. They know the "Red Book" ones and that's about it.
2. Trust your gut, it rarely tell you a lie!!!

 

The veterans out there already know my story, but there's a lot of new folks here...

I had the "typical" start in coin collecting as a child... Whitman folders, inexpensive foreign coins.

After a time I "hit the wall" not being able to afford what I needed to complete sets, so I lost interest and went dormant for many years.

Then, our daughter Thalia Elizabeth discovered a certain monarch on the Canadian Cent, and the rest is... history? No, but it is a good story I think...

http://www.irwinsjournal.com/ijonline/ijqueen.htm

Her interest in coins got me back into the hobby. I joined a local club and was an officer for two years.

I give presentations (it's a key feature of our club's twice-monthly meetings) on topics of interest. They tend to lean toward the "story" behind the coin, which has always been fascinating. Holding an Elizabeth I 1/2 groat, for example, I wonder who else has had it. Looking at an inexpensive coin from the Seychelles Islands, I wanted to know where they were. For me, that's the fun part.

 

My grandfather pulled me aside when I was about 5 in 1984 and asked if I was interested in seeing old coins and he pulled out usual starter coins, buffalos, morgans, mercs. and told me how to handle them and what the mint marks meant. One thing lead to another and I started getting into it more and more. He gave me alot of interests that I am into today, but coins was the major contribution.

Wish he was alive now to see how far its come along, especially since I got back into the hobby 7 months ago.

 

Been interested since the 60's, started buying from the mint in mid-80's - go serious a few years back and became extremely interested in older coins and the history. Now I am hooked and find it a great stress relief from work.

 

When my dad passed on, I was named executor, he had lots of coins, I had to ascertain what they were and assign some value or dispose of them, I found it interesting, I have been involved for about 8 months now.

 

Boy Scout back in 1954. Found old coins in a creek while on a camping trip and started collecting. I like to metal detecting too. -O)

 

What got me hooked, Was the fabulous artwork it,s stunning!! Along with the
History!!