When I was a little kid growing up in the late 70s I started collecting Lincoln cents from circulation. My folder was only a sheet of paper that I would scotch tape the pennies to, and pencil in the date underneath.
Right around the time that the small
SBA dollar coin was introduced people seemed to not want the big old Eisenhower's anymore. My uncle owned a bakery, and upon learning that I was collecting coins, whenever he visited he would bring me a big
Ike dollar or a $2 bill that he'd gotten from customers and that was always a special treat for me. Fascinated by those big cartwheel dollars, whenever I went into the local grocery stores I'd ask if they had any "big" dollar coins. Once in awhile they had a couple and gladly exchanged them for cash. I guess I could say that was my 1st experience in buying coins.
My best memory was when my childhood buddy came to me and said that our elder neighbor Mr Martinez, (already retired at the time), had an amazing coin collection I should see. We ran across the street knocked on his door, sat with him and his wife, and chatted about coins for a minute. Then he brought out a Whitman folder marked "
Indian Head cents", and inside was a full set of what he said were all extremely fine to uncirculated coins, and that he would not settle for less. Every single coin had partial to full mint luster
well except for 1 hole that was empty. He says I'm only missing that one, the 1877, and asked us if we'd like to accompany him to a coin shop on Saturday to buy the final coin. Needless to say we were delighted to go
On the Saturday before we left to make the purchase he says he brought something from his banks safe deposit box to show us, and he pulls out a shiny UNC $20 St. Gaudens gold coin, until that moment I thought big
Ike dollar's were cool, but this was just mind blowing for a 10 yr old kid.
We accompanied Mr Martinez to the coin shop, me and my buddy were like kids in a candy store, too busy looking around the shop, every once in awhile I'd look over and see Mr Martinez and the dealer, each hunched over the display case, having a long and intimate discussion with coin in hand. Finally a handshake and the exchange, and we left. On the way home in the car he says "so what do you think?", and shows us a shiny red 1877
Indian Head cent Last time I heard about him was over 25 yrs ago, and sadly to say the news was that he had passed, I've always wondered what ever became of his collection. I'll never forget Mr. Martinez and his coin collection or the impression that he left on me.
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Posted 06/21/2017 07:30 am
I also remember thinking that 2016 (when the series ended) seemed like an eternity away...how time flies!
