Who inspired your love of coins?

[HiHoAudio]

My father.

 

Here is a photo of him at the ripe old age of 25 on his wedding day looking impossibly young and skinny.....

 

 

Everyone in the photo is Irish except my dad who was English. I'll explain why.

 

When my father's English father heard that my dad was to wed an Irish girl he disowned my father, didn't attend the wedding and never spoke to his son again.

 

My father's brother married an Italian girl so he received the same treatment.

 

That's why everyone in the photo is Irish except my dad. (The woman in the fancy hat is my mom's mother.)

 

My dad passed away in August 1990 and it's hard to believe he has been gone for 20 years.

 

But everytime I look at his coins I think of him. And I'm glad he passed his favorite hobby on to me.

[cpm9ball]

It's too bad that your grandfather acted the way he did toward his sons, and of course, leaving that void for the grandchildren.

 

No one in my family ever collected coins. I got my first taste of the hobby in a poolroom at the age of ten.

 

Chris

[Conder101]

Why wasn't his brother there?

 

Who inspired your love of coins?

I did.

[James_OldeTowne]

FANTASTIC post, one of the best I've ever seen here on NGC!!

 

I have had inspiration from too many sources to name one as "the one", and to be honest, neither of my parents were too excited by my enjoyment of coins. If I could name a group, so to speak, it would simply be my peers, including my friends who started my high schools first ever coin club.

[physics-fan3.14]

I've told the story many times before, but my Grandpa gave me a 1986 Statue of Liberty proof commemorative $1 for my first birthday. I've collected coins ever since.

 

I'm proud to say that I'm inspiring my little sister now, who is working on a very nice set of F-VF Merc dimes

[kryptonitecomics]

I did.....nobody else really collected in the family so it's just something I got interested in on my own...just like comic books and sportscards...

[bartlesvilleok]

My grandmother is the one that inspired me. One of her uncle's had given her a birth year set (1926) when she got married.

 

These were kepted in a little leather pouch and I remembered her showing me them to me when I was very young and at the time I thought they had to be fake because they of course looked different.

 

She of course explained to me that they were just a different design and how they changed from time to time. The example she used what the IKE's changing to SBA's which were new at the time.

 

She also had to explain to me why there was not a half dollar and why there was 3 of each coin (each mint) which I asked why didn't they just make a bigger building?

 

I got in troble when I commented about how could something so old looked like it was in such good shape. I think something might of came out to the effect "but grandma these are as old as you but they look new, no wrinkles or anything"

 

Even thou I was suppose to get the coins my father sold the coins after my grandmother passed. Not sure what he got from them but I am sure it was nowhere near what they were worth.

 

[mtnstyne]

No one in my family collected coins. What got me started was finding this coin in the mountians of Montana during a hike after spring thaw in either 1988 or 1989. I have always wanted to go back up there with a metal detector but we were trespassing for one and second I don't know if I could ever find the exact spot again.

 

After this I used to just keep everything silver I found from counting down registers at a grocery store before joining the Army. Never really had a "collection" so much as a bunch of coins and just recently have started collecting.

 

[michael]

who inspired your love of coins?

 

 

 

myself......................................

[HiHoAudio]

Why wasn't his brother there?

 

Who inspired your love of coins?

I did.

 

His brother was there, he just wasn't in the photo. Most likely the large woman on the left told everyone where to sit and if you knew what was good for you, you did as you were told. Irish women pack a mean punch, best not to provoke them.

 

My father was a pretty amazing guy. He lied about his age and joined the Navy at 17 during WWII. He wanted to be a fighter pilot but didn't have 20/20 vision and was denied. "Fine" he said, "Put me on a submarine." Which they did.

 

The sub went back and forth between Honolulu and Sydney Australia sinking Japanese supply ships. He told me it was the best time of his life.

 

After the war he became a policeman in New Jersey until two things happened. Walking the beat one day an eight year old child started kicking him and screaming "I hate you, you put my daddy in jail!" Then he got home and my mom told him to choose between the badge and gun or her and the kids, as she was worried all the time and was developing an ulcer. Talk about a bad day!

 

So he put himself through night school at NYU while still working as a cop, earned a degree in business and took a position at a bank. The first year he was there the bank was robbed and guess who tackled the robber? That's right, my fearless father. The bank rewarded him with a $5000 cash bonus as a thank you, which he used to buy our first house along with his coin collection.

 

He rose from bank teller to Senior Vice President. He was also the only one at the bank who could figure out the 1970 era computer system, and I suppose some of that rubbed off on me.

 

He only collected United States coins and had no interest in other countries. He assembled almost a complete set of classic commemoratives, but was more of a type collector like myself. He loved old silver coins.

 

I look just like him.

[Coincurious7]

My Grandfather. He enjoyed collecting coins. When I was around 6 years old I did something wrong and my mother punished me, which led to a crying fit. My grandfather couldnt stand to see me cry so he gave me a present. I opened the box and it was filled with Susan B Anthony Dollars. (Which I still have most of today, when I was 16 I believe I spent a few for cigs, still kickin myself for that). But I still have 20. They are my Favorite coins in my collection.

 

 

Side note. My grandfather lived in Germany and never made a trip to the U.S.

[okbustchaser]

No one that I knew. One could say that it was Hermon MacNeil since it was a 1917 type 1 quarter which I found while playing in a park that got me started. To a 10 year old kid that naked boob was just plain COOL!

[bartlesvilleok]

No one that I knew. One could say that it was Hermon MacNeil since it was a 1917 type 1 quarter which I found while playing in a park that got me started. To a 10 year old kid that naked boob was just plain COOL!

 

Starting to see why you are so into the bust type coins.

[Coindude]

No one that I knew. One could say that it was Hermon MacNeil since it was a 1917 type 1 quarter which I found while playing in a park that got me started. To a 10 year old kid that naked boob was just plain COOL!

Starting to see why you are so into the bust type coins.

LMAO Bustchaser and Chris!!

 

Anyhow, for me, it was my mom. An old band aid box of coins that together would probably be worth 30 dollars today. I was about 11 or 12.

[rons]

My grandma was my enabler. Not that she had any coins to give me but she sat with me and allowed me to search through her pocketbook for pennies and nickles for my thumb busters. She also helped me with my stamp collection in identifying different countries and their locations. The geography lessons were terrific and contributed to an interest in the larger world around me. I still have that stamp book but doubt there is much monetary value. The sentimental value is priceless:) Just typing this makes me smile in remembrance. You really don't appreciate their efforts until they have passed on. I began an 1897 mint set to remember her by as a tribute.

[Paul Kiraly 3]

I would have to say, my grandmother. She never collected coins. She saved ones she got when she was a cafeteria worker for the JR High Schools. Some kids would bring in morgan silver dollars to eat lunch. Now this was in the mid 1980's. She kept all the silver coins she got from the kids. She saves every roosevelt dime she gets in change. She has done this since ive known her. I have my complete story about my grandmother in my Roosevelt Dime mint state 1946-Date set. When she passes I have A Certified NGC Roosevet Dime that I will bury with her .

[PerryHall]

James Barton Longacre

Augustus Saint Gaudens

Bela Lyon Pratt

[johnny9434]

my uncle did. he lost his legs to diabetes and i used to take him to coin shows cause he liked to go to them. rip nick

[Oldtrader3]

I found and 1804 Half cent buried in the garden in Massachusetts in Junior High. It would have probably graded G4 but was legible and interesting. That was the start, an epiphany.

[BillJones]

I would have to say my parents who were both interested in history, which is the basis for much of my interest in coins. My parents didn’t take an active interest in collection from the aspect of looking at it, but they did gave and let me earn money to build it.

 

My Uncle John also deserves a small space. He gave me the 13th Edition of the Red Book and the two Whitman Lincoln cent folders for Christmas in 1959. Unfortunately he lived in Texas and I lived in Delaware so I seldom had a chance to see him.