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 Replies: 17 / Views: 3,332 |
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Valued Member
United States
103 Posts |
Being kind of new to the community, I think it'd be interesting to find out how everyone got interested in coins and precious metals. Since its not that much of a mainstream hobby within the younger generation in this day and age, its always intriguing to find out the roots to one's passion. I first got interested when my father was very ill when I was 14. My uncle, a very wealthy coin collector (jealous -.-), used to give me silver eagles and other 1oz pieces of silver whenever he came to visit my dad. Jeez he was talking about how "Silver went up to 11 dollars an ounce today, hold on to these!". Now 4 years later its up to 35 dollars an ounce :D. He gave me about 20 ounces of silver, some proof sets, and some mint sets. Ever since then I've been buying silver a little bit at a time....but living in the generation where consumerism and technology is king, its hard to invest most of ones intake in silver/gold - as much as I would like to. So whats your story?  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1064 Posts |
When I was 12, my grandmother gave me many coins she had saved, to give me when she thought I was of a responsible age. Of those, I recall a beautiful BU Standing Liberty quarter, can't remember the year - I traded that to a another carrier friend for 50 of his paper customers. I also recall a cool blue 1893 Columbian Exposition half dollar, that I had to spend on the Boston subway to get home - toll guy was very happy to take it! Also, in the late 50's, early 60's, the Boston Jordan Marsh store had a very large coin section on the 1st floor, lots of display cases in an open floor setting - I would buy coins there whenever I could scrape up a few dollars, but being bad with money, I didn't keep them long, and then when I was old enough to own a car, all was gone. Started up again in the early 90's,, and have a couple dozen US silver and gold coins, mostly halves and dollars; I think I like the heft of those vs the smaller coins. I don't really go through rolls or change much any more, mostly what I have came from ebay, stores, coin shows, family gifts and the mint, but the mint has gotten a little expensive the last few years. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1213 Posts |
I started in my early teens also. Two or three times a week my dad would take me to the bank when he got home from work and I'd trade rolls and select the ones I wanted to keep. Completed a full Lincoln Cent collection (found the 14-D and 09-S, but had to buy both the 31-S and the 09-S VDB). Also completed Jefferson nickel, Roosevelt dime, Washington quarter and Franklin halves by searching through rolls. So I am a roll-searcher from way back & I still enjoy the thrill of finding something neat in a roll. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2661 Posts |
I was given a couple of IHC's and Buff by my step grandfather when I was young. They didn't really interest me at the time but I put them away and still have them to this day. I became really interested in collecting after I went on my 20 year world tour with the U.S. Navy and took a liking to all the different coin designs of world coinage. So from 1980 until 1990 I collected my change form all the different countries I went to. I purchased my first Morgan dollar in 1990 and have been collecting U.S. coinage as well. I now collect some of everything. Been into bullion since 1986 because I really loved the Walking liberty design on the ASE. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
931 Posts |
My brother was a coin collector when I was really young. He had some desirable coins (1909 S VDB, 1889 cc Morgan, etc.). I started buying Morgans from magazine ads and proof sets. When I hit about 15 and discovered girls I blew my collection on movies and.diamond jewelry. I often wonder if the girls still have them. Maybe they would give them back? Anyway when gold was around $700 I decided to jump in and bought a bunch of Indian Half Eagles and a few Indian Quarter Eagles. Since then I've been acquiring Gold and Silver bullion coins and some Morgans. Now I have the fever and I'm picking up some key dates here and there. My house is payed for and I have all the Muscle Cars that I need all payed for, so my mad money is going into coins and PM's. In my opinion it is much better spent on this hobby than vacations or toys. I have rediscovered my love of coin collecting. I received a severe back injury snowmobiling at work last Winter, so I needed something to do while waiting for the insurance companies to let me get the surgery that I need. It's a grea way to kill downtime.
Edited by junior e
05/15/2011 5:16 pm
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Valued Member
United States
299 Posts |
Dad was a coin collector and Mom did stamps.
So I had a bit of introduction to the basics growing up. When Dad bought a beer, he always paid with a bill ( you could get a draft for 65 cents back then) so he could get change back, which he immediately examined. He once found a dime worth eighty some dollars.
That was yther seed that festered for years.
I was executor of the estate when Mom died.
I had been investing in silver and mines for several years already.
I had to value the collection in order to split the estate, so that woke up my interest. One Bro got the coins, another one go the stamps, a third got the furniture. Not being one to quibble over small things, I got the larger share of the cash, which I proceeded to begin building my own collection with - a nearly complete set of Morgans
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3345 Posts |
I became a coin collector when my grandfather and my grandmother were both living in a nursing home and we had to sell their house. Over the years they had collected thousands of coins, mostly Mercury dimes and Walking Liberty halves, but also Buffalo nickels, morgan/peace dollars, and silver dimes, quarters, Franklin halves as well. Anyway, they were all stored in jars and coffee cans, and my uncle explained to my brother and I that the dimes/quarters/halves/dollars before '64 were silver, plus the fact that they didnt make them anymore. So I bought a RedBook and the fun started there. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7191 Posts |
I had a small Lincoln Cent collection in the old Whitman folder. My 6th grade teacher looked them over and wanted to trade for a 1913 s that I had. We based the trade on blue book pricing and I was blessed with many Indian Head cents as well as filling lots of holes in my Lincolns. He was an inspirational teacher. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3670 Posts |
One common root to all these story's, family's, grandfathers, passing the hobby and knowledge down the line.... My mother had a boyfriend from about 15 years back, who gave my a 1974 proof set, and the coin thing had kind of been in the back of my mind, and I still have that basic 10 dollar proof set on my table here.... Last year I got into buying many old rare vintage antiques, toys, collectibles via ebay (I split investments 50/50 collectibles vs. gold an silver, even though only buying the ladder these days) in the summer when money is good as I bar-tend at a great restaurant Lakeside Tavern on the majestic T.N. river, and I always struggle in the winter slow times, so figured I could sell the collectibles during that slower winter time.... I sold most of my stock in fall and early winter, and was looking for a new angle, when one night I asked myself what about gold an silver coins? After thinking about all the shops attempting to buy gold and silver back in the third week of January of this year, and so I said lets search for gold and silver on ebay and see what we find. Within an hour, I was in after seeing all the bids, and interest. You see, I let what the public is into and buying in mass, dictate what I buy and sell. But first and fore most, I gotta like it as well, lol.... Most of the money I made this winter, like a great lot of 64 Dale sr. 1/24th die-cast all sold on ebay, and turned that collection into most of my silver an gold, as I did that with most of the other vintage toys I sold. I still have 8, and we gave 750 for the entire lot, and I cleared a little over 2 grand on those 64 cars.... Problem is I took to much a liking to the coins, and you can't get emotionally attached to the inventory when you buy an sell, so I think I will pan out as more of a collector in the long run, than a dealer of coins/bullion.... Edited by Silverhawk74
05/15/2011 11:53 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4008 Posts |
Some great stories in this topic and it is a joy to read them. Thanks a LOT to all who take the time to share with their fellow coin / bullion collectors.  I had a few Indian head pennies as a kid and a Lincoln Cent book that I got about 2/3 full before losing interest. Then came college, a wife, kids, a house or two, a career, many investments in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc., and retirement in October 2004.  Then, 45 years after not collecting anything, I started to get this peculiar itch concerning silver coins. I saw the ASE design in a magazine and thought that it was the most gorgeous coin ever minted. The AGE design is also terrific but a little too spendy to be collecting very many of them. Since then, I have purchased a tube of 20 ASEs, a tube of 20 Kennedy proof halves, a tube of 50 BU Roosevelt dimes, and most recently 3 very nice Morgans from 1879-81. I also have a dozen silver and brass $10 casino gaming tokens that contain about 0.6 oz. of .999 silver each. I will be selling these tokens at some point in order to buy more coins or perhaps rounds / bars. Next up on the collection agenda will be some of the XF grade Walking Liberty half dollars and perhaps some Washington quarters, both from APMEX. They get these half dollars in from time to time but they don't get too many of them at a time. When they do show up, it is time to pounce!  My goal is to collect 1000 oz. of silver and maybe 40-50 oz. of gold. Haven't even started on the gold yet but would like to if the price will pull back a little more.  This will be my EOTWAWKI fund. If the world keeps on turning and I don't, then it will go to the next generations to come. There very well may come a time when they will look up and say, "Thanks, Gramps. We REALLY needed this!".  |
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
Quote:
When Dad bought a beer, he always paid with a bill ( you could get a draft for 65 cents back then) so he could get change back, which he immediately examined We've got a local place that still has 50¢ draft, and the best fish sammitches. I got started around 5-6, putting coins in Whitman folders to learn numbers, and stamps in a Harris book for geography. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4008 Posts |
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We've got a local place that still has 50¢ draft, and the best fish sammitches. - BiggFredd Whoa! I could go there and move in for the duration! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3670 Posts |
We have a mean Po boy sandwich at work, and some say it is Vietnamese catfish and not grouper, but I say who cares, it eats good....
Grouper is so good, just not enough to meet supply and demand for such an endangered species....
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
One of the very few things I liked about the Big Bear supermarket was in the meat department, you could choose from 4-5 kinds of made to order phish sammitches, and very reasonable, like under $2.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4008 Posts |
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Grouper is so good, just not enough to meet supply and demand for such an endangered species.... - Silverhawk Grouper is an endangered species? Wow. Who would have thought? They are a deep water rock fish, so not fishable via those miles long trawler nets. One would think that they would be relatively common, like sea bass.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3670 Posts |
Well Ed, I know certain species like the Goliath grouper which lives on deep wrecks is endangered, and is protected closely, and they get reaaal big. I saw a 500 pounder landed on a fishing show the other day, and it looked like a brown Hugo coming up through the last ten feet of water, what a hog, lol....
The smaller red ones are probably still in good numbers, even though I doubt that will last with supply and demand. If they were truly endangered, we would not be selling them across the planet....
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Replies: 17 / Views: 3,332 |
Posted 05/15/2011 1:42 pm
