What got you started?

[ant]

when my dad passed he had left me his gsa morgans that is what started me

 

82,83,84 gsas & 3 peace dollars

 

thanks dad i miss u!

[Zoins]

Then I got into stamps, but didn't like the idea that I couldn't pronounce the hobby

What's a stamp collector called?

A philatelist ... or just a stamp collector

 

Actually, I just ordered a FDC because it has a design matching a SCD. Collecting SCDs is interesting because if you go by the event you can get a few related items that are not metal rounds. I'm also looking forward to the 30th Anniversary Star Wars stamps coming out in May.

[Oldtrader3]

In 1955 at age 12, I was hand tilling a patch of soil for planting tomatoes in Hyannis, Massachusetts. While tilling, I dug up a dirt crusted piece of copper. I later soaked the copper in some water and dishwashing detergent and the dirt clod/copper turned into an 1804 half cent. As I recall, the half cent was probably about fine with some porousity. I don't know what happened to the coin, because my mother later threw away all my possessions.

[MunkyMan95]

because my mother later threw away all my possessions

 

 

HUH???

[JKK]

What's a stamp collector called?

The Postal Service's mint.

[Zoins]

What's a stamp collector called?

The Postal Service's mint.

Unfortunately for the USPS, their mint is poorer than the Treasury's NCLT, SHQ, P$ mint

[stinkycheese1]

When I was 7 I was watching red robinhood on the TV (the cartoon) and the character red robin got a gold coin for his birthday. I saved up all my birthday money, christmas money and bought a 1/4 oz gold american eagle for $89. That was my first gold coin. That's how I got into the hobby, I've been collecting gold coins ever since. Unfortunately the coin that got me started is gone; I traded it and a bunch of others for a saint gaudens. I had someone offer me alot on it $890 he said "what if I gave you an offer you couldn't refuse.." but I didn't sell it I still have it.

[Oldtrader3]

The coins that mother tossed didn't hurt as much as an almost complete, mint, uncancelled set of Jugoslavia, Montenegro and Czechoslovakia (plus other Balken states) stamps from the partition, treaty of Paris in 1918. To her the stamps were just useless paper waste which because they belonged to me, had to be destroyed. All this driven because she was pi**ed at my father and if she could reach him through me, so much the better. Keeping score counted much more to her than acting like a rational normal human being and treating your children with small modicum of respect. None of her (5) children went to her funeral. When she died, my sister even asked if I had put a stake in her heart to make sure that she was dead.

 

When she died, I paid off her debts, had her quietly cremated and shipped the ashes to my brother in Massachusetts. She had blown her sizeable inheritance through some raz-ma-taz, slicky-boy, Merrill Lynch broker in Florida who churned her account down to nothing with Moose pasture, penny Canadian mining stocks before I realized what she had done. I told her (based on my trading experience) about the Canadian market trader's tendency of fleecing unwitting widows and orphans, particularly in the U.S.. However, she already knew everthing (by her own self exclamation!) and was just SO(!) much smarter than her much better educated, (3) experienced children with MBA's in Finance. She singled out and made fun of us almost daily about our company matching 401-K's and modest 10% ROI on other investments, year after year. In her estimation, we were too stupid to know any better!

 

She ended up on the street with Alzheimer's, no money, a fried brain and no friends. I put her in a nice retirement home for (3) years before she died and she still gave me a ration of never ending sensless verbal harrassment during that whole time, and conived to steal money from me. Believe me, none of her children has missed her. She was the haridan from Hell, incarnate. I am a christian and can forgive her but I believe that she was a sociopath who was possessed by demonic spirits and world is a better place without her.

[toyonakataro]

I don't remember well, but I think the first U.S coin I got was a clad kennedy half when I was about 6 years old. I was excited to get such a large coin....whitch got me hooked on U.S coin, I think. But I may be wrong because kennedy halves do nothing to me now. The first decent U.S coin I bought was a 1853 half dime in EF-AU when I was about 11. Since I loved it very much , I polised it with eraser to make it look better.

I still collect half dimes, but I don't polish them anymore.

[rrantique]

Always interesting to hear and to see what was the "spark" that ignited everyone's interest in coins. Makes for some fantastic reading. Thanks everyone for posting

[gedis3]

I don't remember well, but I think the first U.S coin I got was a clad kennedy half when I was about 6 years old. I was excited to get such a large coin....

 

That's how I create Young Numismatists...

 

When I go yard/garage sale hopping on saturdays, I always take a wad of kennedy halves with me. If a kid is selling cookies or small toys at his parent's sale, I'll get something from them and pay with one of the halves... most of them act like it is the most fantastic thing they have ever seen! I have also seen kids going through quarters at yard sales looking for a particular state quarter, and I'll "trade" them a kennedy half or whatever state they are looking for if I have it for "eagle back" quarters.

 

The next generation of coin collectors is on the way... you just have to keep them interested.

[Bruceswar]

One day I walked into a coin shop and got a penny holder. Took the folder home and HAMMERED Pennies into it. I also went back that week and goy my first real coin. A Morgan dollar. 1887 Circ. 12 bux. When I say real coin something other than a coin from circulation. From that point on I started adding to my collection, and it has now grown quite big. My knowledge is a bit better as well I now need one of these to hold it all...

 

[construct]

Like many others here, I got my first coins as gifts. My grandfather used to give us grandkids silver dollars back in the 1960s when you could still get them at the bank. I also got some Barber halves from my grandmother. My mother gave me her Lincoln cent board with the cents she pulled out of circulation in the 1940s. I then began to search bankrolls and hoarding silver. The first coin I bought was an 1852 3CS that I bought mail order. It's a no problem "Good," and it cost a little over $3. I've still got it.

[Allan Ong]

Answered an ad for State Quarters from the Littleton Coin Company. The rest, as they say, is history... Of course, it took some time before I realized that Littleton's prices are murder on your bank account!!

[MikeKing]

When I was a kid, my older Sister told me about Littleton. I don't know how she knew about them, but she knew I liked stamps and coins and that's how it all started.

[okbustchaser]

Age 10 while playing in the park I found a type 1 standing liberty quarter.

 

WooHOOOOO! Naked boob!!!!!!! I was hooked forever.