Do you remember your first coin ?

[jimjum12]

We were in a small country store many years ago that had a case of collector coins. I talked my Dad into getting me an 1849 Large Cent for a couple dollars. Not long after he gave me one of the Silver Dollars he had been given over the years by his paper route customers (as Christmas presents) when he was a kid. It was an 1882-CC. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

[AnkurJ]

My first coin purchased a coin show is one of my favorite Morgans. It was in a SEGS holder and everyone asked me if I was nuts. But I loved it anyway!

 

It now resides in a NGC MS63* CAC holder!

 

[jimjum12]

My first coin purchased a coin show is one of my favorite Morgans. It was in a SEGS holder and everyone asked me if I was nuts. But I loved it anyway!

 

It now resides in a NGC MS63* CAC holder!

 

 

My, that's sharp. ...and you still have it. My two are long gone.....the Morgan was stolen by a "good" buddy. GOD BLESS.........

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

[fishfinder]

(shrug)No.

[skippy]

I can't remember what I had for breakfast. You want me to remember something that happened more than fifty years ago? :-)

[Mozin]

No way. I do remember that it was a penny taken off the card table at home back about 1949. Who in the world would remember what it was?

[coinman_23885]

I remember my first true numismatic coin which was a raw 1900 Morgan Dollar (MS62) that I paid $20. It even had faint rainbow toning, but it was not enough to command a premium. I was 11, I think.

[Old Pueblo]

The Bicentennial mint set with the blue cardboard border and coins suspended in cellophane.

 

BUT!!

 

The coin/s that really pushed me over the obsessive compulsive edge was when I inherited the Liberty Nickel set from my Grandfather. The old Whitman card even has a slot for the 1913! I keep it for sentimental reasons.

I put the coins in a Dansco because some of the coins would fall out of the Whitman.

 

Most of the original Liberty Nickels are graded Good to fine, and I still have the lot.

But now OldPueblo Liberty Nickels are ranked 7th. (I guess I should rename the set to Grandpa's Libs)

 

Cheers

 

 

OP

[AnkurJ]

Wow some of you guys are old.

[okbustchaser]

Yes, I not only remember my first coins--both the coin that got me started and the first coin I ever purchased--I kept both of them when I sold most of my collection last year.

 

First, the coin that got me started as a 12 yo back in 1967...a type 1 quarter that I found in a park. WOW--BARE BOOBS!! I was a goner for life. Since I've carried it as a pocket piece it's in much worse shape today.

 

 

The first coin I ever bought was later that summer The the store owner refused to sell anything to me until I could explain to his satisfaction that I had gathered enough information to know why I wanted this coin instead of some other one. (Besides the obvious fact that it was from the 1700s.)

[cpm9ball]

I got my first Morgan dollar in 1957 while gambling at the local poolroom when I was 10, but I don't remember the date. Before that, coins just went into the piggy bank.

 

Chris

[mommam17]

1864 2 cent piece, well worn. Cost-$3 in 1968.

[BillJones]

I bought this 1838 No Drapery Half Dime from my mother's cleaning lady in 1960 when I was 11 years old. This was my first "old coin" (pre 1900). I could not get over the fact that it did not turn the magic age of 100 in 1948 ... it turned that milestone in 1938.

 

From an early age I was drawn to the older coins and not the modern ones I collected from pocket change. I'm still the same way.

 

[mkman123]

dont remember it as I may have sold it to get better stuff as I have evolved as a collector.

[skeeter]

Got started recently after retiring from day job with time to review the batch of Morgans along with pre-64 other coins that my wife inherited.

Rather than selling them,it became interesting to learn more about coin collecting.Now I buy a few and sell a few with the little bit of knowledge acquired.

 

Although sticking with pre-64 and silver dollars for collecting coins, I did purchase from a neighbor 2000 state quarters in rolls and sell them in 50 state uncirculated sets or in albums. Probably breaking even but it's a fun project.

 

The first coins purchased were a few very nice uncirculated 1921 P Morgans and a 1882CC. Researched enough to pay about 75% of the value learned from blue book and ebay.

 

My main hobby is shooting skeet however really enjoying coins.

Skeeter

[L1ncolnF4n]

My first purchase was in '97 (I was only 7...man I'm young). I had been pulling pocket change to fill my new Whitman folders but when I finally saved $20 to go to a coin shop to finish the few pieces I needed I dug through junk bins first. In the $2 bin I found an 1864 2¢ in XFish that I promptly bought. I then asked the store owner what he would pay me for the coin I just bought as I pointed out to him that it was a 180º rotated die. He was dumbfounded that a 7 year old found such an error and handed me a $100 bill. I had no idea what I could buy with that much so I just left and showed the fact that I walked into a store with $20 and out with $118 to my parents. I'm sure he overpaid dearly for the coin but at the same time I think it was as much a gift as a buyback to get me started on my journey which is still going strong today.

[jimjum12]

My first purchase was in '97 (I was only 7...man I'm young). I had been pulling pocket change to fill my new Whitman folders but when I finally saved $20 to go to a coin shop to finish the few pieces I needed I dug through junk bins first. In the $2 bin I found an 1864 2¢ in XFish that I promptly bought. I then asked the store owner what he would pay me for the coin I just bought as I pointed out to him that it was a 180º rotated die. He was dumbfounded that a 7 year old found such an error and handed me a $100 bill. I had no idea what I could buy with that much so I just left and showed the fact that I walked into a store with $20 and out with $118 to my parents. I'm sure he overpaid dearly for the coin but at the same time I think it was as much a gift as a buyback to get me started on my journey which is still going strong today.

 

.....what a cool story. With something like that as a start.....you'll probably be a lifer. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

[BKW]

My first old coin (i.e. not collected out of pocket change) was an 1888 Liberty Nickel that I begged my grandmother for from her "collection" - a bunch of older coins (mostly wheat cents) she kept in a box in a drawer . I was probably around 10 when she gave it to me. If I recall it was probably in the low VF range (I no longer own the coin). Come to think of it, I don't have a single Lib Nickel in my collection right now. I may just have to remedy that...

 

 

[johnny9434]

mine was the 3 piece bicentenial coin set in the blue box that flipped open. got it right from the mint itself

[mtnstyne]

Found after the spring thaw in the foothills in Montana in the mid 1980's. My buddy and I were hiking and saw it glimmering in a small dry creek bed, I remember it was so shiney at that time from having dirt wash over it that it looked fake. Now it is dull and boring, but still my first coin.

 

[jpcienkus]

Found after the spring thaw in the foothills in Montana in the mid 1980's. My buddy and I were hiking and saw it glimmering in a small dry creek bed, I remember it was so shiney at that time from having dirt wash over it that it looked fake. Now it is dull and boring, but still my first coin.

 

 

IMO, Not boring. Every time you at that coin, you will be transported back to the moment you first saw it. What a great memory to have.

 

My first coin(s) were actually 4 different collections framed that my grandfather bought for me when I was a kid. They hung on a wall in the house I grew up. After my mother passed away in 2006, it was the first thing I claimed from her home. 2 of them are penny collections, 1 has a silver certificate in it and the other is 20th Century coins. Nothing very valuable, but I'll always treasure them.

[Crohnos01]

Wow...so cool to find that coin in the dry creek bed. That's what I love about collecting... How did that coin happen to be there? Who dropped it? Maybe a miner with his mule crossing what at the time wasn't a dry creek bed... So many stories that you could imagine with finding a coin like that...

[timo16]

I can remember since I just started buying coins last year. Technically, my first coin was a 2011 silver American eagle but first collector coins were a walker and a barber quarter. I actually bought them as junk silver but the walker was VF. The first coins I bought out of a book of collector coins were a Barber half, dime, and 2 quarters along with a mercury dime and two standing quarters.

[Coindude]

My first purchased coins were an 1882 and 1884 Indian cents. The 84 was corroded, the 82 was just smooth and probably a G6. I still have them and will never sell them. I'll get pictures of them sometime if I get a chance and remember!

[RockMyAmadeus]

I don't remember my specific first coin, but I do remember my first coin related purchase...I was 10, the semi-annual book buying thing was going on in school, and they offered this cheapo plastic Lincoln cent folder. I got it, and that was the end of that.

[JIM F.]

I remember the first coin I ever bought and sold for a profit (flipped). This was when I was a teenager in the 1970's. Bought an AU 20 cent piece in Phoenix, AZ for $40 and sold it for $50 the next week when my family returned to Santa Barbara, CA.

 

Bought it in a coin store and sold it to a coin store.

 

 

 

 

[mtnstyne]

Wow...so cool to find that coin in the dry creek bed. That's what I love about collecting... How did that coin happen to be there? Who dropped it? Maybe a miner with his mule crossing what at the time wasn't a dry creek bed... So many stories that you could imagine with finding a coin like that...

 

Everytime I see that coin I think I need to go back to that spot with a metal detector..

[jimjum12]

.....super idea about the metal detector. I like this thread.....no better way to get to know a person than through their fond memories.....GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

[PovertyRow]

I was about 12 so it would be around 1962-1963. I went to a coin shop and looked through the twenty five cent box. Came upon a damaged 1804 half cent. I was intrigued by both the age and the fact I had never heard of a half cent before. That coin started me collecting for many years.

[SkyMan]

Haven't a clue.

 

I do remember the first coin I specifically bought as a toner. I bought it ~ 25 years ago. Even though it's nothing spectacular by my current jaded standards, I've kept it as it was my "first". IMO it's still an attractive coin.

 

PCGS MS66FB (rattler)