New Young Collector (Not Me)--Bit Of Help?

Small children in my experience love big coins. How about getting her started with Kennedy halves? You probably see these some in your drawer, but she probably doesn't see them in her pocket change, but she / you can easily get them at the bank and can complete most of a set from circulation. And they're big. And shiny.

I will go ahead and say it...

You cannot go wrong with Eisenhower dollars! It only took two to get me hooked.

They are big, can be shiny, and are most definitely unusual.

We NEED more YN's like myself!!
very nice trying to encourage a new coin collector.

Whoa, such discussion while I slept!


So, first things first: I work at a gas station, for whoever went "kids and change?" I've had customers as young as three, which is pretty interesting because it means literally laying on top of the counter (our counter is super-deep and kids can't push stuff across it easily--but I can't grab it from the other side!). Obviously when I get a toddler Mom or Dad is somewhere nearby, but yeah, I definitely get little ones with their own pocket change.

My concern with offering to buy her an album or folder is that I don't want to come off as a creeper. Fellow collector with a moderately-sized collection who offers an unusual coin: probably okay. Fellow collector who produces a folder and some coins and a flip and . . . . yeah, I'm pretty sure we'd lose a spooked customer. In the last couple of years there've been some pretty grotesque missing-children cases out here. I definitely want to tell her mom where Hobby Lobby is, though--if nothing else, she can pick up a couple of coin tubes and not have a bunch of quarters lying around underfoot (and for the little girl there's also the "COOL!" factor of having some paraphernalia associated with what's usually thought of as a "grown up" hobby).


I have a bunch of foreign coins I've picked out of my drawer, and they're not as usual as Euros/pesos/Canadians, either--you'd be shocked how many coins from Ecuador and Britain I get. I might hold off on that until next winter when our snowbirds fly in again, though; easily 75% of the stuff I find comes when the weather gets nice here and nasty everywhere else.


I love the ideas that are being thrown around! I hesitate to give her an SBA, but I have some 2001-D Sacagaweas in flips that look like they walked out of the Mint about two weeks ago--one of those might be nice. So now I'm torn between the Buffalo nickel, an Ike, and a Sac. The latter seems like it might have the greatest "ooooh!" value just because (unless you're like me and spend lots of dollar coins), how often do you see a gold coin in American change? But, I also like the idea of giving her something very old; of course, if I'm right about her age, the Sacs I have would still predate her (now I feel old) and I remember at that age feeling like ANYTHING that predated me was super-old.

I go on third shift tonight, so I have a couple of days to think about it. Thanks for the ideas, everyone--you've given me a lot to think about!

@Echostan, great idea, except I currently only have one War Nickel (mine is an S). I do have a few steelies, though. Whatever I give her is actually coming out of my own collection, not something I'm buying.

I still think most here are missing the point that this girl finds her coins in change. Attempting to have her start a collection of coins she will never find in change will make her forget this hobby fast. And also, what interest does her parents have on this hobby? If not interested, who will furnish all the coins? Attempting to have her try for coins that just never appear in change at her age is just wasting time unless her parents also are involved. A little discussion with her parents is possibly a necessity prior to any monitary gifts.

Just Carl, this is why I want to give it to her with a couple of nice staties (picked up a gorgeous Nebraska tonight, too). The idea is to give her something to further her collection, AND something interesting that will just give her something to consider outside of the State Quarters, once she completes her set. The first coin that ever got me interested in numismatics was a 1908 IHC, when I was eight. I lost it--or, possibly, it was stolen, because right around the same time a whole bunch of stuff came up missing out of our house--but I stayed interested, and you can bet that when I found a 1908 IHC in my drawer at work, the thrill was all the greater because it "just might be" the same one.