What Was Your First Coin, And How Did You Get It?

My first coin that I collected was a 10% off center cent from 1960. I got it as change for a candy bar at a "Howdy Doody" convenience store here in Texas.

I was 8 or 9 and thought I was going to be rich. I was sure that it was the first and only coin that had ever made it out of the mint with an error.

If ebay had been around way back then, I would have listed it for sale for $1,000,000.

As it was, I did have several people offer me a lot more than it was really worth, but I didn't want to sell it. I was hoping to get an offer of at least a few thousand dollars.

I started checking to see if anyone else had ever a coin like mine and learned that the value was a lot less than I thought. I sold it for $50 back in '70 or '71 to someone who thought it was worth a lot more.

The coin started me off as a collector and set my main interest as errors. They were hard to find back then, but once in a while I'd find a coin with a Cud or strike through and a few off-centers.

The next big hit I had was working in a game room when I was 17. One of the kids said he put a quarter in a game but it didn't work. I gave him another quarter and I checked the game to see if it was broken. He had used a saddle struck quarter and it was stuck in the slot.

I've had lots of errors over the years, but nothing can beat the feeling I had finding that first off cent coin.

Mine was a 1914 dime. Purchased it at a store that bought and sold mostly trading cards.(e.g. Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Magic, etc) When I bought it, I had thought this was one of the coolest things because I had never seen a coin so old before. I still have that coin.

1909 VDB cent for 75 cents back in May of 1991. it was my first purchase above face value. before then I raided my parents change to fill in coin folders.

oops, corrected date

How boring my story is in comparison...

I was given a 1999 UNC Mint Set in a mint gift box as a birthday present from my Uncle. Kept it for 5 years before looking into the U.S. Mint product website. I don't remember a specific coin being given to me or going out to search for anything for an album.