The Longest Journey Starts with the First Step

Christmas is 12 days away now. My youngest sons will be with my ex-wife 1000 miles from here. Why is this important? It is worth noting because it was my youngest son who this summer re-ignited my passion for coin collecting when he became enthralled with state quarters.

Over the years my coin collecting has been on a low burn. I started with ferreting through my parent's change for that odd looking or different coin. I got myself a few folders along the way and them saved for albums so I could enjoy both the obverse and reverse of the coin. I never considered graded coins until just recently. I think the challenge of amassing a high quality graded set is a journey I am ready to begin.

Since many of these coins can be rather pricey, I talked about the cost issue with my wife. You see we are both teachers and disposable income is at a premium in our house. So now, I have a monthly budget for coins. In the past several months I have learned to become extremely frugal with my coin purchases. I scour and search the on-line auction sites for those coins priced to where I can afford them. I refuse to pay more the 35 cents per dollar of book value. I have been very successful so far at keeping the cost down to about 25% of book value. I would love to buy large estate lots and drive that number down further but I do not see it happening due to lack of resources. So, I will face this challenge one coin at a time and I'm good with that approach.

For now, my collection will be focusing on modern coins. I do have a bias to Winged Liberty Dimes, Franklin Halves, and Indian Head Pennies but collecting those will have to wait. For now, the collection is current mintages. I have been holding back on the Presidential Dollars though. I think I will wait for my son to come back here for his summer vacation and maybe he will like to collect those so it will be something we can do together.

On that note, I have a picture of an Alaska Quarter I recently acquired. Other than it is a Silver PR70, there is nothing that really distinguishes it except that my son loves the Grizzly Bear on the reverse. I can't wait to show it to him this summer.