Can't really think of a better post to come out of lurking and start participating in. First off, thank you to everyone on here. As I get back into this hobby, a lot of the discussion here has helped me in answering a lot of the questions that I have had as to what has changed in the twenty years since I have seriously collected.
As for myself, my first exposure to the hobby goes back around the point that I was six or seven years old. We had a giant glass Cutty Sark bottle in the living room that held pocket change. From the memory of someone that age, the bottle was gigantic and in retrospective, I assume it was about three feet tall and about a foot in diameter. It was extremely heavy, and my best guess is that it must have been some sort of novelty item. Anyhow, it all started when my grandfather went to put the day's pocket change into the bottle and noticed a
Mercury dime. It got him to wondering what else might be in the bottle that he simply never noticed.
It became my job to sort them out, and anything that was "interesting" was mine to keep. He showed me the basics, breaking them into series, and then once that was done, into decades, then into years. It took me the better part of quite a few days after school and part of the weekend to do it, but I did. What I remember is that we sat on the floor, and he pulled out brand new Whitman folders for Wheaties, Jeffersons, Roosevelts, and Washingtons. I believe that was also the largest coin that would fit in the mouth of the bottle, as Kennedys and Ikes were too big - although we did find the ever-pesky Susan B. Anthonys, if memory serves. We spent the next few nights picking the best examples to fill the folders, and the "misfits" that we did not have folders for went into an envelope. Nothing fantastic, but special to me, there was some worn
Buffalo nickels,
Mercury dimes, and I think a couple of Walking Liberty quarters. Most of that was filler, I am sure. The albums and that envelope are in storage now, thirty-five years later. While a part of my collection, in a sense, they are more there for pure nostalgia.
About five years onwards from that point, we were at a flea market. There was someone there selling 2x2's out of an album with all sorts of varied coins. Most of it was silver and commemorative. I had my
Red Book with me, as I had learned to do, and we saw that everything he was selling was graded on the high side and he wanted full price. We passed on it, and as we walked away, I remember him telling us that he would make us a deal on whatever was left at the end of the day. End of the day rolls around, and before we are even up to the table, he tells my grandfather that a hundred dollars takes the album. Guy said that he is tired of carrying it around and his price is roughly half of the face value of the coins. Needless to say, it followed us home that night.
While there were not a lot of stellar coins in there, by today's standards, it was a step up from what I had. There were Morgans and Large Cents, there were Barbers of all denominations. It was, for lack of a better term, magnificent. Today, I still own a few of those coins, like the CC Morgans that were in the lot, along with some of the nicer uncirculated specimens. The lion's share of that collection is long gone, though, helping pay some college expenses back in the 90s. I made my (grandfather's) money back 30-fold from a family friend who is also a collector. He still has every single one of those coins, which makes me happy.
Over the next twenty years, I occasionally pick something up, but the actual idea of collecting is gone, for the most part. For no reason at all, about six months ago, a local antique mall had a vendor that was blowing out inventory. Apparently, the owner passed away and his wife did not want to deal with it. At the time, she had everything half off of the last stickered price. Picked up a bunch of randomness in 2x2s, for pennies on the Blue Book dollar. She actually helped me pick out coins that her husband was particularly fond of, including the ones that he did not have on display. Again, nothing of significant value here, but the thrill of it all came flooding back. There were uncirculated
Mercury dimes (at least two of which are going to a
TPG soon, because they appear to have full bands), nicer grade large cents, late silver in higher grades, etc.
Over the last few months, I have started lurking here. Part of me was certain that this would just be another phase, and I would lose interest. So far, that has not happened. I think that part of it is that when I had previously collected, my funds were so limited that I could never get anything appreciable in my collection. Times have changed with age, to a degree. Now, I find myself bargain hunting through slabs in my preferred series, and I am rather enjoying the thrill of the hunt. I definitely am not savvy enough, yet, to pick up raw coins of any potential value. My rule there is to not spend any more than I would be afraid of losing on it.
I guess that is it for now. Hopefully, I will become a bit more active around here, as I continue to get back into things.
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Posted 02/15/2016 1:18 pm
, ball cards, etc...). Wasn't until years later, after college, marriage and baby that I was recently gifted my father's collection. That sparked some interest back into the hobby, but it wasn't until I traveled out of town to my wife's friends wedding. I was bored to tears while waiting for the rehearsal to start, so I proceeded to walk around the small town and moseyed into a local antique shop. Then I saw it...
to the Community, jmferris! 
