Feel free to post about it too. I started in 2003 when my dad unleashed his old collection of wheaties, mercs and buffalos It wasn't much, but it caught my attention.:hail:
My beautiful thrifty wife who collects change, or should I say saves money/change, would put up a Mercury dime, silver Kennedy or Buffalo nickel when she found them. She ended up with a hand full and when I found out about them I decided they need preserved because I "knew" they had to be rare. Well that caused me to go to the coin shop for supplies and that's all she wrote. When I found out what coins where easily obtainable, specially when I learned about proof coins, I was hooked. It's history in the palm of your hand. I can't look at a date on a coin and not want to know want was going on, historically.
Years ago, I think my mother with some help from my grandparents helped get me into collecting. I then expanded my collection to include about 20 Morgan and Peace Dollars and many Mercury and FDR dimes. This was the best I could do as a teenager in the 70s. I sold much of my silver when it was high in 79-80. Then about a year and a half ago, my brother showed me his Lincoln set collection and I was hooked again. I have completed the Peace dollars and am approaching the point in Morgan dollars where all I need are the key dates. I may try to do Mercury and FDR dimes next or try to do the Dansco type set.
My father used to (and still does) walk by the coin dealers at the local mall looking for treasures. He has always stayed away from the higher priced items and stayed with the plentiful common dates and such. He likes to brag that he gets a lot more coins for much less money than I do going for the higher, investment pieces. At first I just followed him and never bought but then slowely I started to take interest And soon I found myself not able to pass up a good deal when one presented itself. That was many years ago but we still enjoy going to shows together, and yes, he still brags about getting more than me.
Errr...noboddy really got me into coins. It all started with me keeping stuff I found in my change, commemorative coins, and foreign ones. Eventually I started paying for coins I wanted. My grandparents did have a small collection though....which I now have.
That's a pretty complicated question so I can't even vote on it. My uncle collected coins and my cousin used to show many of them to me. My father showed me a small collection of silver dollars that belonged to my grandfather and now belong to me. My mother used to give me the Canadian coins that she received as change, which were the first coins I actually collected. So it was a combination of factors.
My grandpa had a small coin collection. i saw his, and became interested - and eventually my grandparents took me to a coin store and got me some stuff. that was 10 years ago... when i was around 8!
My dad. It took me 1 trip to a collectibles store and him buying me a $20 CSA note. (And you can read about the rest of our Indian Heads in my other posts.) Completing my IHC collection got me back into the hobby and hunting Walking Liberty Halves.
This probably sounds stupid but the movie "National Treasure" did. I thought the old US history part was cool. The next couple days later I was in an antique mall and found myself leaving with a couple Walking Liberty halves. Now a few hundred coins later and a lot of $$$, I am a coin collector.
My Dad I can allways remember him sticking his penny collection into whittman (think I spelt that right LOL) folders and I am talking Pennies not cents LOL I was facinated by 1/4d & 1/2d still am to a degree De Orc :kewl:
My grandfather started me out with a 25 pound box of wheaties, with a couple of indian head cents and cull lg cents
My father got me hooked by dragging me along to coin shows and auctions. One day, I saw a few uncirculated wheat cents from the 50s for a quarter each and impulsively bought them. Now, I collect more dilligently than he does, and am also closer to completing my Lincoln set than he is.
Shop at Home TV brought me back, their 5 pay plan on rolls of BU Peace Dollars with a 5 month return privilege lured me in last October, the coins were returned however. I had pretty much thought that baseball & other sports cards wiped out young coin and stamp collectors over the last few decades. I started as a child at the urging of my parents who collected. My maternal grandparents had a business with a constant cash flow of change. Some where I still have " counterfeit " Walking Liberty Half Dollars that were passed in the store. On the bright side more than once someone put a $5.00 gold coin in the juke box instead of a nickel so things balanced out to an extent.
I think I've told this story before here but at my age, who can remember anything. I got started coin collecting when I was a kid because my Dad used to let me look through his change everyday. He knew I was fascinated by those shinny silvery new pennies that just came out so he purposely went out of his way to find as many as he could in perfect condition for me to find in his change. That started it with coins. Then other relatives heard about the great coin collecting kid and offered me strange looking things that looked like a cent but had a 2 or 3 on it so I naturally grabbed them also. Then we went to Missouri to visit an aunt and she handed me all colored plastic and metal coins that she said were worth only parts of a cent. They were called Missouri Tax Tokens and used to pay for things that were less than a cent. I still have the plastic Mills, 26 rolls of 1943 Steel Cents, lots of 2 and 3 cent peices that as a kid I just thought was the world. Ahhh if I only knew then what I know now. Just think the only thing for dimes was the Mercury and occationally a Liberty Head. Not long after that the government changed those really great dimes to ones with some guys picture on them named Roosevelt. Many Quarters were Standing Liberties and also and occational one with that lady's head on it. Those I did save and have today. Then Walking Liberty halves were everywhere but who could afford a coin worth that much? Not me. As I got older my Dad gave me an allowance all in Silver Dollars. Mostly all used to impress girls at an amusement park called Riverview. The girls were fun but I'd really like to have all the coins back instead but that's an old man talking.
As best as I can remember, a couple of my Uncles used to give me Kennedy halves from their pocket change. My Mother also gave me some coins that used to belong to my Father. The one coin that fascinated me most, was a nickel with a big "P" on the back. That was 40 years ago. I've been in love with our hobby ever sinse.
