Any Coin Collectors Here?

[V.D. Brenner]

Ive been collecting coins since grade school, but have recently kicked it up a few notches. Anyone else immersed in this?

 

[Josephine]

Kind of. I collect anything older than I am. I also collect bicentennial quarters, but as I need to save up for the not-sekrit -anymore vacation, I've been told to deposit those. I might save one each for my girls though.

 

[LizzieMaine]

My grandfather was an avid coin collector, and as a little girl I picked up an interest in it from him. Handling a lot of change in his work, he managed to assemble a pretty comprehensive collection of 20th century/late 19th century coins -- no gold, but lots and lots of silver. One of the great tragedies of my life was when we had to sell the entire collection to a smelter during the silver boom of 1980 in order to pay bills -- I pleaded against it, but we didn't have any choice, really. I did managed to snag a few of the coins before they went, though, and I still have them, along with a 1923 silver dollar my grandmother gave me for my 10th birthday.

In my own job, I handle a lot of change and keep an eye out for interesting items -- over the past two years I've found a 1966 British shilling, a 1960 French franc, and a Norwegian gambling token all passed as quarters (I really do need to have a talk with the kids at the concession stand.) A couple times a year I'll come across some pre-'64 silver, usually a dime but occasionally a quarter, and I've even had a couple of dateless Buffalo nickels slip thru. It's hardly the sort of collection my grandfather had, but it's still interesting stuff.

 

[David Conwill]

I used to be. I guess I still am, I methodically comb change for old coins, but I haven't actually purchased anything in about ten years. I was deep enough into it at one point to know that you designed the penny back in 1909 and that obverse design is still going strong. Pity they made you take your initials off the back, though.

-Dave

 

[Flivver]

I collected coins as a kid...I started in 1956 when I was 5.

It was amazing what could be found in change back then. Coins back to 1910 or so were commonplace. And it was still possible to occasionally find coins dating back to the 1880s...usually Liberty Nickels and Barber Quarters. I don't think I ever found an Indian Head Cent though.

I never bought coins from dealers, except for a few Indian Head Cents for a dime apiece at a local coin dealer. I went through my parent's change on a daily basis. I also looked at the change of my grandparents, aunts, uncles and anyone else that came to visit although my parents took a dim view of this activity and I had to ask visitors when the parents weren't in the room!

But my collection really took off in 1961 when my best friend got a paper route. The local newspaper then cost 50 cents per week and most customers paid in quarters and halves. My friend's Mom wouldn't let him save anything above a dime so he let me pick through his quarters and halves each week in return for helping him on collection days.

At that time, it was also possible to purchase silver dollars at the bank, at face value, of course. Whenever I got money for a birthday or Christmas, my Mom took me to the bank where I would convert it to silver dollars. Sometimes, an accomodating teller would even dump out the bag of dollars and let me pick the coins myself! I got some amazingly good ones that way.

But, this all came to an end in 1965 when the Government stopped minting silver coins. Apparently the price of silver had risen sharply because the previously fixed prices for precious metals were alowed to float. So in 1965-66, silver coins disappeared quickly from circulation as they became worth significantly more than face value.

That pretty much ended my coin collecting days, although I still look at my change hoping to find something interesting. At least I resisted the temptation to sell my childhood collection back in 1965 as my parents had suggested.

 

[Vintage Betty]

Funny...my father asked me to help him sell his coin collection last year, but so far I found his investment hasn't paid off, and he is better off keeping the coins! shakeshead I have another box to look at for him and advise on the value.

Which is how I came to be owning a complete edition of Scott's Catalog, year 2000, A-Z. :eusa_doh:

Still trying to figure out if I should sell the books or not.

 

[John in Covina]

Canned Corn

I have a very small collection. No Gold but some silver, older wheat pennies. Nothing too valuable either, but i'd like to get a few more coins such as the standing liberty quarter in a nice condition. Someday some gold maybe.

I do have a couple of the printed one dollar bills that are the BIG dollars before 1923 or so printed money was all on a larger sized bill.

 

[The Wolf]

I have a penny book with cents from 1950s back to indian heads. Aside from that I loosely collect coins or bills I run across that are pre-1946. I have a lot of nickles, many pennies and some assorted other coins.

Sincerely,
The Wolf

 

[duggap]

Counterfeits

I don't collect but I have something you might find interesting. I metal detect for civil war artifacts and once I found five counterfeit half dollars and the two piece mold they were made in. They were apparantly made by a soldier from the nearby military post. They are dated 1893. I bet some soldier just about doubled his salary with those. He must have gotten scared and dumped them. They all came out of the same hole.

 

[Foofoogal]

I have been picking up a few silver eagles. I am now looking at all my dimes and quarters also.

that is a cool story duggap.

 

[VintageGirl143]

I'm an advid coin collecotor. I have:
silver peace dollars,
morgan siver dollars-O and CC.
steel pennies,
wheaties,
buffalo nickles
Confederate Money
Liberty nickles
Barber quarters
half dollars
As well as numerous european coins from the 1800's-1980's (To much to list)

The only ones I bought were the Morgans and Peace dollars..I paid $12 at a yard sale for all of them. I didnt realize I had a Morgan silver CC ( Carson City), which is rare, but was very excited when I looked at it closer and realized. I would never sell anything in my collection, although my mother insists I should.

I'll post pictures when I can.

 

[MrNewportCustom]

"Accumulate" is a more accurate term for what I do with coins. Whenever I find an interesting coin, I toss it in with other coins like it: foreign, vintage, public restroom tokens, etc. I have many, including some paper money.

I titled this photo, "World Traveler."


Lee

 

[LordBest]

I collect ancient Greek and Roman coins, a Golden Age of coin design, but not exactly 'our' Golden Age.
Syracusan Tetradrachm, 310-305 B.C.

Roman Solidus, A.D. 430-440, Theodosius II

I also collect historical medals from the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries:
Surrender of the Emperor Napoleon, 1815:

 

[VintageGirl143]

Wow LordBest, what an amazing collection! How long have you been collecting and where did you find your coins? I'm a fan of Napoleon Bonapart, as I even named my cat after him.

 

[SamMarlowPI]

i have a huge collection stretching from the 1700s to 1970s or so...practially in pristine condition except for the buffalo nickels...the years seem to wear off really easy and i only have a few where the year is clearly seen...i think the earliest one i can read is 1925...the oldest us silver dollars i have are 1885 and 1887 and a ton from 1890s to 19-whatever...my father has a silver dollar from the 1870s...the oldest coin is a 1771(i think) dutch or danish coin and a tiny tiny 1860ish italian coin...lots of paper money too...nice stack of 1935 silver certificates and even a third reich mark...

i carry a 1900 silver dollar in my pocket because someone punched a bunch of holes in the shape of a four leaf clover and the word 'luck' on one side so i figured it would make a good 'good luck' pocket piece...i can post some pics later of some of it...

 

[LordBest]

Wow LordBest, what an amazing collection! How long have you been collecting and where did you find your coins? I'm a fan of Napoleon Bonapart, as I even named my cat after him.

Thank you Ms Vintage girl. I have been collecting since early 2000, if interested most of my collection can be viewed here:
http://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/index.php?cat=10003
I find them on eBay and various auction houses and dealers. eBay is a rather risky proposition, many fakes.

 

[VintageGirl143]

Thanks for posting the link Lordbest! & eBay does have alot of counterfit coins.

 

[Sunny]

My brother is a very serious collector. He always had the interest from when he was small, starting with the blue penny, nickel, quarter, etc. books. He began working at a very good coin shop/gold and silver exchange in high school. Now that he's nearly done with college his knowledge and skill - not to mention his collection - has grown enormously in depth, breadth, and especially quality.

I remember when he switched his focus from getting pretty good grade coins to getting very high grade coins. (I wish I could remember precisely what grades he focuses on.) IIRC one of his areas is Morgan silver dollars, and he's working on getting a representative of each mint from each year.

Lord Best, ancient coins are another serious area of collecting for him. Often he'll come to me with a new acquisition and ask me what the inscription reads. These are usually in Greek or Latin, and the words are often abbreviated, so it's a real challenge! I've never studied either language, but I've picked up most of the Greek alphabet through math and physics (and occasionally Greek societies), and I did learn the Cyrillic alphabet, so I can usually figure out the letters and sound out the words, if nothing more. Sometimes he really wants some help identifying the coins, but most of the time he's really just testing me. He also gets various European coins from the late medieval and early modern periods, in very high grade when possible. This also tests my knowledge of alphabets, plus history!

My brother views his collection both as a collection and an investment. He's a serious buyer both at coin shows and on ebay. He has bought some coins for very good deals (and no counterfeits) as investments. Several months ago, actually, he sold one of his coins to pay for... serious car repairs, I think. He wasn't exactly pleased, of course! But that's what he bought that coin for: to be turned back into cash at need. That attitude is part of what he's such a serious collector. He must be very sure of what grade his coins are and what he's buying, not to mention that they are the genuine articles AND that the market is out there for what he's got.