I had the same thing with my fiancé when she asked how much value in my collection when she saw how many slabbed and raw coins I had. I pulled my coin diary up on my computer and showed her. I never saw someone's jaw hit the floor before. LOL Then I told her that value was at 50% of book value and  current going rate at auctions. Then I showed her the gold and silver melt down values.... was dumbfounded. I told her the coins (especially the rare ones) are worth more than the metal they are made from, but I'll never get book value.   

Friends and family are often surprised when I tell them what a coin might be worth, especially the kids. When someone pulls out a 2020-W quarter and I say "it's worth a couple bucks in that condition" they get all excited. Then they start looking for errors, posting here, are told what they have and keep posting "DDOs" that are not... It's a vicious cycle. In all seriousness, value can be one of the major factors in drawing in a young collector at first. Love of artwork, craftmanship and history are a hard sell sometimes. Tell them that they can find coins worth a couple bucks in the change jar and they are all over it. Middle age fortune hunters are a completely different story. 

A coins age is probably #2 on the WOW factor list (after price) in my experience. Anything made in the 20th Century seems to amaze most yn. 

3 hours ago, Fenntucky Mike said:

A coins age is probably #2 on the WOW factor list (after price) in my experience. Anything made in the 20th Century seems to amaze most yn. 

Sadly there is no one left, born in the 20th century, who is not old enough to drink. That's painful.

Anyway... What usually got me as a babe was age and size, first size and then age. I loved looking at a few old silver dollars as a kid. Which may be why silver dollars and 1 oz silver NCLT was such a grab for me early on. I'll probably never have a major collection of Morgans and Peace Dollars - especially by registry standards - but I will always keep some. But I'm also learning as I go along that I'm more of a type collector than someone that focuses on a series.

I don't know that value was something that explicitly factored into my thinking but I loved the idea or REAL silver.

1 hour ago, Revenant said:

Anyway... What usually got me as a babe was age and size, first size and then age. I loved looking at a few old silver dollars as a kid. Which may be why silver dollars and 1 oz silver NCLT was such a grab for me early on. I'll probably never have a major collection of Morgans and Peace Dollars - especially by registry standards - but I will always keep some. But I'm also learning as I go along that I'm more of a type collector than someone that focuses on a series.

I don't know that value was something that explicitly factored into my thinking but I loved the idea or REAL silver.

Totally agree on the size of a coin being an attraction at a young age. I guess for me when I didn't have a concept of what money was the size was cooler, once I knew I could spend it, value trumped all until I grew out of adolescence. No matter the order, I would put those as the top three. For me. PM's will always hold an attraction for me mainly because in my pre teen years (late 80's) you could still find pre 65 coins in change with some frequency, that was always a big thrill for me. My family has always been a big PM family anyway, one Christmas I bought a 5lb copper ingot for a swap gift and that thing changed hands at least 6 times and rightful ownership was fought over everyday for many weeks (still is). Each year my dad brings it out and struts around, much to several individuals chagrin.  

There's no way my wife is finding out what the coins are worth till I'm dead.  Or that will happen right after she finds out. 

22 hours ago, Fenntucky Mike said:

My family has always been a big PM family anyway, one Christmas I bought a 5lb copper ingot for a swap gift and that thing changed hands at least 6 times and rightful ownership was fought over everyday for many weeks (still is). Each year my dad brings it out and struts around, much to several individuals chagrin.  

See, now I just randomly want a 5 lb copper bar. It would go well with my 1 kilo silver bar. 🤣 A lot cheaper though.

1 hour ago, deposito said:

There's no way my wife is finding out what the coins are worth till I'm dead.  Or that will happen right after she finds out. 

 

The mistake I make is being lazy and letting her handle the insurance, which leads to questions. Lol