How I Finished a Collection

Dear Journal:

Like many coin collectors, I started as a child, probably 9 or 10 years old. I can remember going over to my grandmother?s house in San Gabriel, California, and she would tell me stories about life in early California. I would stare at her in wide-eyed disbelief to hear how when she was a child, her family used to travel to see the Rose Parade in Pasadena in a horse and buggy. No internet, no ipod, no TV, no cars.

On occasion, she would give me an Indian Head penny or silver dollar as a gift. She was not an avid coin collector, but over the years had pulled some coins out of circulation that she got in her change and put them aside. She never bought a coin in her life, but managed to find some Indian Head cents, Buffalo nickels, and Morgan and Peace silver dollars.

This was the start of my interest in coin collecting. My mother, who was also not a coin collector, encouraged me and assisted me in starting and building my collections. I put some of those coins that my grandmother gave me into cardboard Whitman coin albums. My mother and I went to the bank on many occasions to get rolls of coins to look through, trying to find dates that I did not have. The condition of the coin did not matter, as long as I could read the date and fill the hole. I had an album for Indian Head cents, Lincoln cents, Buffalo nickels, Mercury dimes, and Washington Quarters. I never started an album for the silver dollars. They were too hard to find and beyond my budget to buy.

In those days, you could find many dates in circulation to fill your album. There were always a few you had to buy, but not many. I don?t think I ever paid more than a few dollars for a coin in those days. Over the years, I enjoyed collecting the pennies because they were easier to find and inexpensive to buy. I got most of my Indian Head and Lincoln penny collections done, but there were always a few key-date coins that were impossible to find and too expensive to buy. Because of that, I never actually finished any of my collections.

I lost interest in coin collecting in my teenage years (probably not uncommon for many collectors), and didn?t even think about the hobby for many years. Girls, cars, sports, and school were more important at the time. My old coin albums were at my mother?s house, and I didn?t even know where.

Many years later, when my own children were small, an interest in coin collecting was rekindled. My wife encouraged me to take up the hobby again, though she may now regret that decision. I found and reclaimed my old dusty coin collections from my mother?s house, and enjoyed going through the old Whitman albums and the steely-gray silver dollars I got from my grandmother. One of the first things I decided to do was to finally finish my favorite childhood collections, the Indian Head and Lincoln cent albums.

Of course, none of the coins in the albums were graded and most of the coins were only in average condition, certainly not worth pulling them out to grade them. I actually like having them in the old albums, and have no intention of grading them. It brings back good memories of my early coin collecting days with my grandmother and my mother.

I bought a few more ungraded average-quality coins to fill the remaining holes in the albums, until I got to the final three coins ? the Lincoln 1909-S VDB, and the Indian 1877 and 1909-S. It was here that I hit a roadblock. These last three holes would require a more sizable investment to fill, even if the coins were only of average quality.

I thought about it for quite a while. How should I finish my collections? Should I just get 3 low quality pennies to fill the holes? It would still cost a lot. Should I just buy reproductions or copies to fill the holes? That would cost the least, but is that how I want to finish my cherished childhood collections, that my grandmother and my mother helped put together. I should I buy some nice coins to finish them off? Do I want to go out with a bang or a whimper?

I ultimately decided to buy nice-quality graded coins to finish out my collections and to honor the women in my life and the influence they had on my coin collecting.

- The 1877 Indian Head cent in honor of my grandmother, who first started me in coin collecting

- The 1909-S Indian Head cent in honor of my mother, who helped me build my coin collection

- The 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent in honor of my wife, who helped me rekindle my coin collecting interest and supported me in my efforts

These are the only graded coins for my penny collections, but I plan to add them to my registry anyway ? three pennies for three women ? I am now done with those collections.

One final note - my grandmother passed away in 2000, but I still think about her whenever I pull out those steel-gray circulated silver dollars she gave me over 40 years ago.