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 Replies: 21 / Views: 4,929 |
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New Member
16 Posts |
I just wanted to open this topic to put my spin on how I view coin collecting and this common question "What's your most valuable coin?"
Let me start by saying I love coin collecting. I have been doing it since I was a small boy which would put me around 30 years with this hobby.
So, what's my most valuable coin? It's a 1951 Canada Silver Dollar! Why you may ask? It's not exactly a rare year, it's not a low mintage, it's not an error or variety coin. The truth is its a coin my father found in the dirt on our family farm the night I was born and it was the first coin to start my life hobby of coin collecting.
I know everyone is in it for an entirely different reason from each other and everyone has their own thoughts.
I simply love collecting for the thrill of wondering "Where has this coin been in its life?", "Who or how many people used this coin?" And "What was its last purchase?"
I have lots of varieties and lots of error coins and I love collecting them too, and sure I have quite a few coins worth a lot of money but to me they aren't my most valuable, to me that's a sentimental thing and what the coin means to me.
Here's the thing, there's rare coins, there's varieties, errors, low mintages etc etc but the only thing driving the value of any currency is what's stamped on a piece of metal or paper and said to have a certain value and then once it becomes collectible for a variety of reasons it gets value based mainly on general interest and rarity. Sure that's great and I love coin collecting for it, but it all comes down to nothing but a number on a piece of material at the end of the day.
Kind of like the bank, you put money in, they take it, invest it,'you get a print out that says you have that much money but its technically gone. Could they afford to pay out everyone if all customers wanted their money on the same day, no absolutely not, and that's just the truth and how the world works and why we have them.
As I said before, everyone has their own reasons for everything, I personally think we should never loose our sense of what something's really worth in the eye of the beholder. Does sentimental still stand for something? I think it does and it's what personally drives me in my passion and hobby.
How about you? What got you into collecting and why do you love it?
Thought this would be a nice discussion to get some cool outlooks on a variety of collectors and what drives them.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
814 Posts |
Awesome story!  Mine would be my 1881 Haitian One Gourde (90% silver, about the size of a US silver dollar) that my grandmother gave me 20 years ago.....except that it's been cleaned more than once before. The silver has a beautiful shine, and it still has nice detail. I carried it around with my other pocket piece for a week or two earlier this year to try to wear down some of the cleaned surface, but then I ultimately decided to put it back in the stash, because unlike a common Morgan or Peace dollar, it's pretty much irreplaceable to me. Edited by hcmusicguy
10/18/2014 10:28 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1192 Posts |
My most valuable coin for me is a common year Benjamin half in xf condition that I got from my grandpa when I started collecting coins as a boy. He showed me his coins once I brought mine out to his house. I wish I was going to inherit his coins someday but my grandma died and he started dating a younger woman who will probally just pawn them once she finds them. I offered to appraise them and buy them but he isn't interested in letting go of them. It's all low value stuff I think stuff he collected as a boy in the 1930's, mostly it's sentimental value for me. I will always have that half atleast to remind me of him. My second one is a worn 1900 Liberty nickel that I won as a boy at a pizza place redemption place on my 10th birthday, it was my really first coin. I was super excited that it was almost 100 years old, bought it as one of my prizes. I got a Mercury dime and a Buffalo nickel too that day which made it into my current albums. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7616 Posts |
I have two "most valuable" coins. One is a well worn 1893 Columbian Half my Dad gave me about 1961. The other is a 1939-D Jefferson nickel in super AU condition that I found in a bag of nickels I was helping my uncle go through in 1962. My Uncle had the nickel in his collection for many years. About 5 years ago I asked my then 88 year old Uncle about the nickel and surprisingly, he still had it. I told him I'd like to have it. He called me a few months later and told me to come and get it. I have it framed on the wall in my office along with the story behind it. Sadly, my Uncle passed away about a month ago at the ripe old age of 93. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
627 Posts |
Here is a story I posted a number of years ago. It probably would fit well in this thread. Maybe not my most valuable . But definitely the piece with the best story. They say every coin or bill has a story to tell. I'd like to tell you the story of this Canadian $100 bill, or at least the end of the story, the part that I know about.   A few years ago I was on a mission trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo. One evening while we were having supper, an old African woman came to the gate because she heard that there were some Canadians staying there. She told the night watchman that she found some old money and wanted to trade or sell it for some "real" money. Realize that in this part of the world there are many scams and schemes to get something for nothing. Once I heard what was going on, I offered to go have a look. After being warned multiple times not to buy it from here, I examined it and confirmed that indeed it was real. I then offered her $80usd, which at the time was the current exchange rate. I asked her where she found it and she told me that she had purchased a pair of pants from a used clothing depot and she found the bill in the pocket! That would be equal to 3-4 months income. Could you imagine finding 4 months of wages in a pair of old pants. After I gave the old woman her $80 she asked me for bus money! LOL! So now that you know the end of the story, what do you suppose the first part of the story is? |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
819 Posts |
my most valuable coin (to me, not monetarily) is actually two coins, both 1926 French Indo-China 20 Centimes, silver. One is pictured as my Avatar, although a poor photo. I posted this story years ago on coin community but here it is again for new readers who will never backtrack to it:
In 1967 I was a member of a search and destroy mission from the 101st Airborne near the border with Laos. We came across an old destroyed temple that was overgrown in vines, etc. Looked like right out of an Indiana Jones movie. I told every one in my patrol to by pass it due to possibility of booby-traps, snakes, crumbling walls, etc. One of my troopers ventured inside a small enclose and found an artillery canister stuck in the wall, exposed by crumbled stone,etc. He picked it out and carefully opened it (since it was heavy and could contain a live round) to see that it was filled with these BU 1926 French Indo-China 20 centime pieces. We divided them up equally between all members on the patrol and each of us got two. Don't know the monetary value but they have huge sentimental value to me, especially since some of the members of that team never made it back home..
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Pillar of the Community
 Canada
5394 Posts |
The first one that my late father gave me , an old Newfoundland fifty cents of 1917. It started me on a life long adventure in numismatics.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1471 Posts |
It's definitely in my top 5. The major varieties I have discovered are up there.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
898 Posts |
My most valuable is only my 1904-O MS64 Morgan dollar my grandfather recently gifted to me for my birthday. He originally got me hooked on collecting. My most valuable non-monetarily is the AG-3 or so 1857 Flying Eagle cent he gave me. I've always been fascinated with how old it is and who's probably spent it until the day where he was able to pull it from circulation when he was a boy. Sorry for no pictures. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2517 Posts |
I don't own anything particularly valuable, but here is one of my favourites (well it's sentimentally valuable) and one of the coins that got me into collecting. I used to just keep coins with different designs on them, but this has a different head and got me interested.   If you can see the circulation cameo in my photos, it is beautiful, it's up there on eye appeal. If you can't, imagine this: the fields are a dark brown like dark chocolate (except the open fields on the obverse), and the reliefs are golden brown. |
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New Member
Canada
4 Posts |
My first post and a new member.
thanks to everyone for makeing this fourm what it is.
When I was in my teens I received a coin collection from my grandmother that once belonged to my great grandfater. Searching through it and knowing nothing of the hobby I found a 10 cent 1893 round top 3. For obvious reasons its my most valuable and sentimental coin. Once I learned what this was I was hooked on this beautiful hobby for life.
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Moderator
Canada
10456 Posts |
This is a difficult one to choose. Usually, after writing about a particular variety in my CN Journal column, I tend to sell those coins, with a signed copy of the column. One coin, while not overly valuable, was complimented recently at the fall Coin Expo in Toronto. I showed my 1938 NFLD cent, in a PCGS MS-65 Red holder, and the owner of the finest NFLD collection known (Perth Collection) said, "Oh, that one is nicer than mine."... I suppose the coins glued to my 2014 CONECA Literary Award are valuable to me (even though they are US coins) - it is very gratifying being recognized by peers and experts in your particular collecting niche...  "Discovery follows discovery, each both raising and answering questions, each ending a long search, and each providing the new instruments for a new search." -- J. Robert OppenheimerContent of this post is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses...0/deed.en_USMy eBay store
Edited by SPP-Ottawa
10/19/2014 11:29 pm
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Valued Member
Canada
403 Posts |
My most valuable coin is also, like many here, of personal meaning. I was a kid, happily playing in the dirt on my uncle's property. At some point while playing/digging in the dirt, I heard a metallic "ping" of sorts right in my immediate vicinity, yet I couldn't see anything. I then continued digging and I heard the sound again, but this time I was certain it came from my hole. Then I saw a big green piece of metal stuck to a small clump of dirt. After rinsing off the dirt I discovered it was a 1907H 1c piece, although I didn't realize it was the H variety until much later. But unearthing the coin was what started me on my lifelong hobby of collecting, and one I will always cherish.  PS: Zonad  |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2495 Posts |
I had a 1927 ms65 ICCS 25c, but it's gone.
At present, I have an ICCS ms65 1882-h 10c.
Speaking of fathers....my Dad used to bring home the 'money box' every Friday night from his work.
My brother and I (circa 1964, me 5 and my bro 8) would find numerous, very well worn Vic and Edward 25c and 10c pieces which we 'loaned' from my Dad and this started our coin collections.
These coins I do not have but I'm sure my brother still owns them.
I probably cashed them in during my childhood years at our local smoke shop for Jersey milk chocolate bars, waxed lips and Popeye candy cigarettes.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
Canadian?: - probably an MS62 $10 of 1913. Love the design!
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Forum Kid
Canada
1074 Posts |
my favorite coin and most sentimentary piece is my 1958 cad silver dollar in which my uncle gave to me just at the peak of collecting! but my most valuable piece is a 1902 small h canadian 5 cent in MS-63! nice stories and sharing!
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Replies: 21 / Views: 4,929 |
Posted 10/18/2014 11:10 pm
