Coin Collecting

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zipty6

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I collected coins when I was much younger. Everything, except an inherited Double Eagle, was sold to purchase an engagement ring. The odd thing is that I probably have more coins now than when I considered myself a numismatist.

Run of the mill coins are fun to collect, but a royal pain to move. I'm thinking of anything worth less than $100, probably. Everyone thinks you should sell for intrinsic metal value alone. A large portion of my current "collection" are coins that I agreed to sell for a family member before realizing what a hassle it would be. After the first few sales I just bought the rest myself. They're cool to look at and there's always the possibility that a future grandkid will get a kick out of them.
 

NomDeBoom

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Coins (in general) are a mystery to most people these days. Old codgers on meds fergit that they used to have to dig TWO out-house holes (in rocky 'soil') to earn a nice, shiny silver .50 cent piece- & if ya give the same coin to a modern skewl child (he/she/insert preferred pronoun here) would likely ask, 'What's this?'
If you tell them what it is, they'd probl'y not be very impressed because it 'only sez 50 cents' & a candy bar costs $2...Besides that; they'd have to go through 5 cashiers to know what a $1/2 is, & 'there's no little place for it in my cash drawer'. The fact that it may contain 15 to 20X that in 'silver value' (after 8 generations of blatant artificial price control) would still evade the next 10 people- as most folks can't tell precious metal from pot metal on a bet.
I've actually seen where someone spent a .999 pure, 1 oz. American Silver Eagle at a gas station, 'cuz , 'Well, it SAYS a 'Dollar' right on it'. At least they were happy to get their 'dollar's worth', & that's important these days,
dammit!
Gotta love Mark Dice's YouTube vids where he offers people a choice between a 10 oz. .999 Ag bar OR a Hershey Bar. He does the same with a 1 oz. American Gold Eagle- & most people are either 'too busy', or would just literally rather 'Take Candy from Strangers'.
Seriously, though: Is that really such a bad thing ;-]
 

RickN

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I always liked collecting foreign money. Not really worth much but a cool reminder of my younger and wilder days. I also had an aunt and uncle that would bring me some at times. Coolest thing I have is a 100,000.00 deutsche mark from 1922. Worth about $15 today but back then it was toilet paper or a fire starter.
 
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I always liked collecting foreign money. Not really worth much but a cool reminder of my younger and wilder days. I also had an aunt and uncle that would bring me some at times. Coolest thing I have is a 100,000.00 deutsche mark from 1922. Worth about $15 today but back then it was toilet paper or a fire starter.
Rick, I have a couple of Iraq Saddam Hussein dinar bills you're welcome to have if you just PM me your mailing address.
 

Firpo

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Thankfully I haven’t been bitten by this particular bug……yet. 😉 Guns have managed to keep my attention for most of my adult life. That said I do have a few that have been handed down from past generations that I keep tucked away, a handful being from the 1800’s. For instance here’s one I’m betting has a little value. It’s a one cent coin from 1857, not sure if it’s called a penny.
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This is probably the best coin I have. Its a knockout blazer with mint luster for days. Mint State and almost perfect as far as marks. I have some that are way more expensive, but not near as brilliant is this one in real life. All mint state Indian Eagles are rare but this is just the most common date. There are still only maybe 25-30 that are graded higher for this coin left in the world. I have no idea why this didn't get a 66. I have other 65 and 65+ grades that are nowhere near as good as this one is. Grader need to get laid I guess, Ha. My set of Indian Eagles ranks #66 in the world of the registered sets plus about 20 better ones registered with PGSC. I have been at it a while. You will recognize the screen name and avatar when you get there if you like looking at this sort of thing.


View attachment 294962
That 1932 is one beautiful coin! Thanks for letting us Numismatists view it.
 
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Don't laugh, altogether they might be. Only problem it would take maybe a year to go through them searching for the good ones.
I seen a guy sell a huge collection of unsearched pennies at auction. They brought 1.5 million. Last I heard the buyer was still going through them.
I have been collecting coins for 75 years now and when my Dad gave me my first Silver Dollar for work that I did for him that took a month to do. I at one time had the entire Morgan and Peace silver dollar collection except the 1895 which was only in proof and a Very Rare coin. I saved up until I had a hundred dollars and would go to the banks and trade paper dollars for silver dollars. After the Korean War I became an Ironworker out of Philadelphia, PA and I would go to the banks with $500. dollars every week and trade for bags of silver dollars and search them to find and improve my collection. This became a ritual for me. During the Vietnam War which I was there as a private military contractor for Security at different bases my first wife and I went our separate ways during this time and while I was away she found (Stole) and sold my entire coin collection which included 1794 through 1804 silver dollars in AU to Unc. which was insured for $210,000. Of course the insurance companies don't pay off for stealing wives that steal from their husbands. Only luck out of that deal was she didn't get rid of the pennies you know like how much can one get for a penny? My one daughter said she sold all those dollar coins for around $15,000. The pennies I had most of all the good ones. Collectable Indian heads, 1909 SVDB's and my favorite 1955 DD. My brother was playing cards at McClellan AFB in Sacramento, CA at the time when one of his buddies opened up a roll of new pennies. The guys all commented on how poorly they were struck and smeary looking. So my brother knowing I was a coin collector would save some ten coins for me "cause they were funny looking and might pique my interest". Luck was with me thanks to him. I am sorry now that I never got heavily into Gold. Just a couple of pieces and some crisp paper money. It is never too late to start coin collecting and before it is ancient history.
 

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