New Member From Northern Arizona

Dave here, from northern Arizona (near but not in Flagstaff), new to the forum and new to coin collecting.

As background, several years ago, on the advice of a financial adviser my wife and I purchased several US coins of various denominations and grades and one piece of US currency as investments. I had no interest in collecting coins at the time, being more interested in US First Day Covers. They went into the safe deposit box and later my home safe and we forgot about them. They went ignored and unexamined for 30+ years.

Fast forward to 2021. While searching my safe looking for some estate planning documents I ran across the binder containing our "investment" and discovered something I hadn't previously noticed: they're not only cool, they're beautiful! I decided I didn't know enough about these coins and collectible coins in general, so I started reading and digging through the available info and now I'm hooked.

I've been buying things from ebay and a couple of things from the Mint just because I like them. So far my only price/value calculations have been "can I afford it and do I like it enough to pay that much for it?" I haven't yet discovered where my focus will lie. I'm not sure I'll have a focus but right now "non-clad" Washington quarters and Roosevelt and Mercury dimes have caught my eye. I have a copy of the (2022) " Red Book" so I'm getting some idea of what things should cost and why they're valued the way the are. I've learned some things reading the post here and with luck some of the info I glean will stick. I'm late getting started but with luck I now have a hobby which I will stick with as long as I remain on the planet.