What got you hooked?

[mtnstyne]

OK, so sometime in about 1989 or 1990 I was walking in Montana in the hills with a buddy. It was just after spring thaw and the valleys were clean and you could tell where the runoff had cut into the land. Walking along we found shining in one of these fresh runoff areas was a 1878 Morgan and it was so shiny it looked fake.

 

Ever since then I have been hooked...and I swear someday I will go back to that hilly area with a metal detector and see if maybe there is more.

 

Now I just buy Morgans when I can, and when the price seems right. I buy just about any that I can get for under $15 but those aren't much to talk about. Just curious as to how many of you got started.

[Old Pueblo]

Met a guy in florida 1976 with the passion and enthusiasm for collecting coins. Hap (1957-2007) became a close friend and teacher. He explained Mint State, Proof, tone, coin grading all while showing me awesome specimens of Morgans, Seated liberties, Barbers, and Bust coins. I would visit regularly just to look at those beautiful coins.

I was hooked. Hap sold me a Raw MS 63 1879-s Morgan, I think for a sawbuck. He told me to buy US Mint coins that I liked and helped me get on the mailing list for the US mint. I have since purchased proof sets, mint sets, and commeratives along the way. Then the ASE were introduced in 1986 and I started buying those buggers too! I have several complete or nearly complete Danscos because of Hap infectious enthusiasm for coin collecting.

Hap and I lost touch in the 80s and then were reunited in the mid 90s. Hap had his own thriving coin dealership in Fort Myers Florida where he lived with his wife of 30 years. He passed in 2007 and I received the best letter I have ever read from his wife about our friendship.

I Had that Morgan Hap sold me graded by PCGS after he died and it came back MS 63. It is one coin that I will never sell.