The Coin That Started It All-My First Toned Piece

[TomB]

My numismatic experience is likely similar to that of most others in that I spent the first two or so years just wandering through shows, buying what I liked and shifting my interests fairly rapidly. I was also buying in bulk and particularly interested in only white coins, nothing with toning was in my collection. For those of you who are familiar with my collection, you can tell that my numismatic priorities changed over time.

 

Around two years into my collecting I was working feverishly on complete silver sets of Roosevelt dimes, Washington quarters and Franklin halves. All the coins were raw, all were white and quite a few had been previously dipped and/or overgraded. While walking the bourse I noticed what I thought was a very pretty Roosevelt dime, but it was toned! The coin was a 1955-S and I graded it MS66, just as the dealer graded it, and asked how much he wanted. Remember, I was buying overgraded, dipped white coinage and paying $1-2 per Roosevelt for the privilege.

 

The coin was $6. I couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger on such an outlandish purchase. Didn't he know that I could buy an entire roll of these coins for less than $6 each? Remember, I still didn't "get it" at that time with numismatics, but in short order my learning curve went up exponentially. I hemmed and hawed, walked the floor, tried to convince myself that $6 for this Roosevelt wouldn't kill me and finally bought the piece.

 

The coin was intriguing and really jumpstarted my interest in toned coinage. Shortly thereafter I ended up buying a spectacularly toned NGC MS65FB 1921 Mercury dime; talk about a shift in priorities from wondering if $6 was too much to spend for a nicely toned Roosevelt! Anyway, those Roosevelt, Washington and Franklin sets were quickly disposed of and, while I would again build a raw silver Washington set, the second set was original, nearly white and extraordinarily nice.

 

My 1955-S Roosevelt is below, it is not nearly the moose that others are when folks share their coins, but it has a powerful story for me.

[Wihlborg]

 

Tom,

 

I think you shared a great coin, but an even greater story with us tonight.

 

Thanks

 

John

[MikeInFL]

Tom, Great story. I'm sure that the wildly toned coins of the 1950s have started many a toned coin collector's interest in these beautiful works of art. I know they did for me, too....Mike

[Hoot]

Great story Tom! It's a path traveled by many-a-collector who sticks with this hobby and endeavors to grow with it.

 

Nice Roosie too.

 

Hoot

[Jazzy]

An excellent testimonial indeed.

 

I also went from spending $6 on a coin to spending -- well, nevermind.

[Bruceswar]

nice story and a nice coin to go with it ....

[Beijim]

Tom,

 

That's a super story and very nice Roosie. It's funny - I can spend all kinds of $$$ on various pieces and yet find that some of the most memorable (and therefore treasured) coins are the ones on which I spent the least.

 

Beijim

[Outhaul]

I'm not a big Roosie fan, but I do like a nicely toned one.

 

Cheers,

 

Bob

[kryptonitecomics]

Very attractive coin Tom......I bought a 1946 with a nice little rainbow that reminds me of your coin and I paid about $4 raw so you can still finds some descent deals on raw coins.