Thoughts of a newbie

For my first journal entry, and as a newbie, I like to say that so far as a coin collector it has been a wonderful experience. I have learned so much and yet haven?t even scratched the surface. As a collector for less than a year, I feel I have accumulated a nice set of silver eagles so far and plan on finishing both of my sets, from there we will have to see where the coins lead me. I think sometimes we forget that learning is a big part of being a collector. Yeah we own the coin, but do we know the history, how they are made, what they are made of, why that coin design was chosen, etc., which now leads me to the message boards. I love the message boards. I sat back and watched from the sidelines for a month or two, really amazed with all the information that everyone was so willing to share with each other, finally sending in my first couple of posts and being welcomed by so many, almost like your family, you don?t see a lot of that in the world today. I am going to close here, probably bored everyone enough, but would like to thank everyone for all their input and assistance so far in what seems to be a wonderful hobby!!!