nothing like young numismatists and a big bag of treasure !!

I recently had one of the most fun coin experiences that I've had in a while...and it was from giving and not adding to my collection.

First of all, I must give credit where it is due.. a friend of mine from the NGC Chat Boards ( and also another coin website of friends) named "Antthe" has been buying large amounts of world coins "by the pound" and has been enjoying picking through them for interesting finds. I believe that his floor was probably gonna collapse from the weight so he graciously offered 5 pound bags to the first takers. I immediately thought of my 3 nephews and PM'd him. A week or 2 later and Antthe had sent me a 5 lb sack of neat foreign coins ( not only were they free but he paid shipping).

Now I'm not a saint--of course I perused through them and even found a couple with sailing ships from Malta and Portugal. However the point was to keep the flame of interest in numismatics burning for my 3 nephews. ( ages 6, 9, and 11). So when I told my younger sister I was coming to visit one evening, she had a surprise for me..my favorite dish, lasagna ( she makes it like mom too !!) and my nephews got a surprise from Uncle Jackson..the big sack of foreign coins !! ( quick note: my brother-in-law works for Coca Cola and was a reservist who is currently driving transport vehicles in Iraq, any prayers for his safe return are appreciated)

Okay, so back to the coins...I couldn't resist, I simply cleared a spot in the family room floor and proceeded to dump the whole bag !!. Clanging and jingling and a few wild rollers..the coins spilled out..and bedlam insued !! You'd have thought that a pinata had burst as 6 hands and 3 blonde heads go diving toward the pile. After I finished laughing, and suffering the half-hearted admonishments from my sister, I decided to seperate the combatants and proceed in a more orderly fashion.

I found this part rather interesting and I'm sure that Freud, Jung or Erikson may have also...we arranged an order for "selecting" two coins and then around around they went...taking turns until the grand pile was reduced to 3 even piles--one in front of each of the boys. The youngest tended to choose the largest coins in the pile...the middle child ( who is artistic and deeply intelligent) actually looked at the designs and chose the "pictures" he liked..and the oldesr of the 3 went almost exclusively for older coins. It was enlightening..each had a little of the traits of their Uncle Jackson..

I spent the rest of the evening helping them to learn how to find the coins in the Krause catalog..and also showing them where these countries were on a world map. I know that my sister and the boys really miss Keith ( my brother-in-law) but I think for a night they also really enjoyed having a man, Uncle Jackson, in the house...I left with a lighter step than I've had in a while...maybe I'll buy a sack of wheaties and each of them a penny album and I can do this again soon..and maybe I'll get lucky and my sister Kathleen will make lasagna again.......

One of the coins from the hoard that I kept for myself..thank you again Ant, it all started with your kindness...