Just wanted to hear how everyone got started in the hobby. I know it wasn't to make a profit some where down the line. (although I'm not against makin' a buck or 2 myself) But , I personally became fascinated with coins as a kid when I used to visit my grandfather in upstate New York. Boy , did he have a collection!!!! He would show me his collection which were impeccably stored in Albums & coin flips (of course I was only able to look , never touch) But I remember seeing those big old Morgan dollars, Indian head cents, Buffalo nickels & what I now believe were capped bust halves. I could not believe that they made coins like that. Those coins were so strange to me (well back then anything older than 20 years was strange to me). He saw that I had an interest in the coins & he started buying me some junk coins. (definitely not anything uncirculated or valuable) I just thought it was so cooooool , even though my friends thought I was a dork. I remember one year for my birthday , he bought me a big ol' belt buckle with two horseshoes on it , & he crazy glued 2 buffalo nickles on it. (which of course I ended up prying off with a screwdriver LOL) Man , those days are looooooong gone now!!! But ever since then , I was hooked. So , if anyone wants to share how they got their start(s) in coin collecting, please respond. I'd really like to know.
I was about 10 and my friends and I would ride our bikes to the local banks and buy rolls of pennies,nickels,dimes,quarters and half dollars. We would pick the ones we needed for our Whitman books and exchange for more. One day I got a roll of dimes and opened them up and it was a whole roll of Mercury Head's !!! Mostly commen dates VF-XF. Went and got some more rolls but they were Roosevelt's. We just had worn commen date coins and all of us wanted a 1955-S penny or a 1950-D nickel. Even though I still love this hobby I think those days were just plain old fun !! Then I got a girlfriend and my coins went in the closet for many moons. THE END.
You know what's funny chief? Now that I started collecting hardcore over the past 10 years, It's my wife that's in the closet!! LOL (HOPE SHE DOESN'T SEE THIS)
An old babysitter's husband got me into collecting in general. My interest wasn't solid in coins until recently after doing some vending and finding silver quarters. Now, I'm collecting silver quarters, small cents and ASEs.
I can allways remember collecting coins. when i was 5 my old man gave me an allowance of 25 cents...1968, i'll never forget that brand new shinny quarter. I remember all the worn out change would turn me off but the shinny new coins were great! i collected pocket change till i was 18 then i got a job at a small store, woa....silver cirtificates coins indians , back in i go, then at a flea market someone was selling morgan dollars for 10 bucks apiece.sure they were commons but they were in ms condition! i have to say in 99 or 2000 e-bay changed my collecting life.
i finally have everything i wanted as a child, one of every coin minted for the last 100 years!...almost....but i'm getting there.
Well Mr_met, I am also a 3rd generation coin collector. My Grandpa Ed was bitten by the numismatic bug back in the 1950's and it never let up. Though my Dad took an anti-venom for it, he was the one that started me collecting (at age 4) and since my Grandpa's collection was stolen back in the 1980's, we had to restart from scratch, looking through skads of penny rolls to fill the holes in my little blue Whitman album, and if the mood struck us, we would get a roll or two of nickels and try to complete my 1965 - present album. I remember feeling like the richest kid in the world when we went to the coin shop to buy my first 1800's coin, an 1893 Barber dime in good condition for a whopping $5. Now its book value is only $9, but if anyone offered me a hundred dollars, I wouldn't take it! Too many good memories!
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