Old Timers Please Share Your Coin Collecting Stories And Beginnings

Great stories - really brings back memories!

I wouldn't call myself an old timer, but I did get a reasonably early start collecting coins. When I was 6 or so, I was allowed to unlock my piggybank and play with the brown money (not the silver money). I would organize my savings in piles by date and would try to find a coin to fill a gap. I'd do this a few times a month and felt accomplished when I could string together 10 dates in a row.

Around 1975 my brother and I started getting a little more serious about our collection. We bought cent, nickel, dime folders and started to fill in the dates. Once we exhausted our piggybanks, our sister's, and the parents coin jug, we would go to the bank where we pooled our birthday money to buy $50 bag of cents. We could barely carry it from the bank where we would spill the coins out in the back of our dad's 1968 Ford Country Squire. In about the time it would take our parents to enjoy a breakfast out, we'd have flipped and picked every LWC we could find...and an occasional IHC. We did this for nickels too but not as often. Like the others here, we were mainly limited by our funding and in those days, we easily searched nickels in 20 minutes so there were more thrills searching the cents over an hour or so. We found many great dates/mm coins, but honestly, we had no idea on rarity or value...just another hole filled for us. No 1909S or SVDB, no 1909 VDB either, but we did find 1909, '10S, '11D, and '12S. I think we found a few more semikeys, but I split up the coins a few years back and sent them along to my brother for his album. I(we) also found a 1950D Jefferson in AU+ condition. Honestly no real memory of who found it or when, but it was shiny enough and old enough to put aside. I'm glad we did!

In 1979, we picked up a pair of paper routes and routinely collected change from our customers to look through. Snagged a number of silver coins that way, quarters and dimes, and tossed them into a cloth bag. With more funds, we kept up buying bags/rolls of coins to search, and I recall that even in the late 70s and early 80s, you could expect to find silver in rolls. I set aside my tips for several months and bought myself a Radio Shack metal detector. I dug up every relatives lawn looking for treasure. Found plenty of silver, LWCs including a 1909, silver spoons, and gold/silver jewelry. For my $50 investment, I made it back easy in the first year.

Collecting died off a bit after the paper routes, but I did have a job at a local restaurant where I was expected to count the drawers twice a shift. I found plenty of Silver Certificates ($1 and $5) and a number of red ink $2 notes that way. And a number of Franklin halves and silver quarters and dimes. One day I was cooking and heard the sound of silver being poured into the register. A waitress just cracked a solid roll of silver quarters. I dropped my spatula and claimed every silver quarter from behind the grill. Realizing that there may be more in the cash box, I claimed those as well. Ended up buying 4 solid rolls of silver that night. I was 17 then and lucky to have decent money on hand to be able to do that. No 1932D's in the rolls, but I remember giving away silver quarters to my friends and patrons that day in 1985.

Off to college after that, and the detector and collecting went into hibernation for about 30 years. I still sifted my change, but that was about it. I took up the hobby again a few years back when my kids started getting older and I began to worry that they might spend some of my hard gained (and not so hard gained) finds. Renewed my interest looking at the old coins and remembering the early days. Finding CCF also helped make the return more permanent. It's a great hobby, for young and old, to enjoy and pass along.

Happy New Year everyone!

Dustin, your dad was a national champion powerlifter? That's awesome!

There is one story I can contribute.

In the early late 70's and early 80's I was a budding collector in Morgan silver dollars while I was in the United States Air Force in Montana.

From my perspective, I was tearing apart the silver dollar collector scene by cherry picking dealers and making a tidy profit.

My cherry picking beginnings started with a conversation with a Montana coin dealer. He advised to purchase a book and study it from cover to cover (of which I did) before purchasing any Morgan silver dollars. The book was Comprehensive Catalog and Encyclopedia of Morgan & Peace dollars, 1st Edition.

I went to back his shop (about a month later) and to test my newly gained knowledge. He got cherry picked by me.

At this dealer and other dealers I was purchasing O/CC, 7/8 tf, and other VAM varieties. I also knew what to look for and also cherry picked high grades Morgans.

At one point, I put my Morgan dollar collection up as collateral to secure a loan to purchase more silver dollars to buy & sell.

I became enamored with proof-like Morgans and drove to Deer Lodge, Montana to visit the coin shop of Dean Tavenner (if you are a silver dollar connoisseur you should recognize his name).

While browsing in his shop, he asked me what I was interested in. I said proof-like silver dollars. I got my lesson of a lifetime from him.

He pulled out a few proof Morgan dollars and told me to examine them. He then pulled out several proof-like Morgan dollars and also examined them.

He then proceeded to give me a lesson on proof-like Morgan dollars: ordinary proof-like and deep mirror proof-like.

He then gave me a tray of proof-like Morgans to select from and buy. I spend a good period of time selecting the choicest and deepest specimens. In all, I purchased ten DMPL with the deepest fields and frostiest devices.

You have to remember that back during this time (late 70s and early 80s) there was no grading and encapsulation services (ANACS was in its infancy for grading certificates only and not used by these dealers). Coins were sold and purchased raw.

I am true believer of buy the book before buying the coin.

Now there is a paradox to this saying. What happens if there is no book for the coin?

Then write the book! http://www.potus-sgm.com/

Thanks Means a lot!!




Yes, he was although I try not to talk about it too much, just when it is storytime

Ok It's my turn . It all started about June 1963 when my uncle gave me a 1905-O Barber half dollar . wow I never seen a Half like that ,I was intrigued by it . so about a week later I decided to buy my first Red Book and try to find any information on this coin . What caught my eye was the mintage ,it was 505,000 . Compared to a lot of other coins in the 1950's and early 60's this was Barber Half was like having the Holy Grail .
That my friend is how it all started . Roll hunting at any bank was outrages compared to today . I only went for Lincolns and Jefferson's , Dimes ,Quarters and halves didn't faze me at that time because they were still minting silver coins in 63 and 64, so who new to save them ? I remember going into almost any bank and asking the teller if they had any old silver Dollars and most times they had a few in their draws . Again who new to save them , they were more or less a novelty piece .
So anyway to make a long story short ,I quickly branched out with Lincoln's and Jefferson's by the rolls & rolls & rolls ! Then I got cocky and started collecting every denomination from Half Cents to Half Dollars . Getting back to coin stories from the past , I was buying $50 bags of wheat cents for like $70 ,all the silver proof sets I could handle for $2.10 each , and many other numismatic goodies really cheap .
BTW I did have some down time between 1984 and 1992 .

Thanks!! But I really don't care about my post count. I just try to contribute to this great community as much as I can.

I'm not quite to old-timery yet, but my dad--who was born in 1927--collected Lincolns and assembled an almost complete LHC collection from 1909 to 1958, using only coins he found in pocket change. The only ones missing are 09-SVDB and 31-S.

I've thoroughly enjoyed this topic. Thanks for introducing it.

It's amazing how similar many of our paths have been.