I'm spending time off work this week reviewing and organizing my collection. I have a lot of coins. Most are not valuable in a monetary sense but are interesting artifacts of history. A hundred year old coin may be "worth" only $20 but holding it, studying it and feeling its tangible weight is momentous.
In the Seventies there was a big supply of coins commemorating the Bicentennial (our nation's 200th birthday in 1976). These came in fancy boxes with coins in "proof" condition (uncirculated). Some have booklets describing the imagery. I wasn't attracted to these kitschy coins but my parents were. As immigrants, they hungered for symbols of their new home. They bought dozens of these and left them to me.
Reviewing my collection, I've decided to part with half of it. Some of the coins I'll sell, some I will give away. It makes me especially happy to give old and foreign coins to children -- I hope to spark the same love of numismatics that I had. I'd enjoy creating that interest in adults, too, but most seem uninterested in the hobby.
If you're interested in coins for your kids or yourself, e-mail me. Any coins I pass on to friends are gifts.
Did you collect coins, stamps or other items growing up?
I collected (and exhibited!) stamps as a kid. I have a few trophies and medals from exhibitions that I won in my age category (my collection was topical: horses). I have a box of coins that was my dad's, and because I worked in retail for a long time in the 80s and 90s (the cash era), I bought unusual coins that I got as legal tender from customers. I also have a bunch of money from other countries that my mom and dad would collect for me. I have a buffalo nickel, a German coin with a swastika on it (!!) and a few really old coins, but nothing that's really worth much. Numismatics and philately, FTW!
ReplyDeleteWow! What great stories. Things like this enrich our lives. I also have a WWII coin with a swastika on it which feels very spooky to hold. I'm impressed your stamps won awards; I didn't know it could be a competitive sport!
DeleteOh that is so cool! I didn't know you had a coin collection. As you know I'm a lifelong collector and my dad encouraged me to collect coins when I was little - he was the "tooth fairy" and would leave me special collectors coins instead of usable money under my pillow. I also collected shells, rocks and miniatures. No stamps though. I'm glad you're hanging on to some of your collection!
ReplyDeleteI'm keeping the coins that mean something to me. Thanks for the nice comment.
DeleteRobert has coins and paper currency from all over the world, nothing very old though. My parents collected some over the years from having cash businesses. None of us kids caught the bug though.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid I collected rocks and then polished them in a rock polisher and made jewellery out of them. That was the only thing I collected.
Enjoy your time organizing your collection.
Suzanne
http://www.suzannecarillo.com
I think of you when I handle my oldest coin -- a 1856 French Napoleon one.
DeleteMy Dad was a stamp collector and he tried to get me interested, but it never worked. He kept collecting new edition Belgian stamps for all three of his children and I now have the album stashed away somewhere. Then I collected key rings when at one point in the late 60s, early 70s, they were a fad. I still have some of them. As an adult, I realized that I had the collecting gene after all, and collected vintage paperbacks, vintage Barbie dolls and their clothes, brooches, kitchenalia, you name it. My husband has a modest coin collection, most of them of no real worth, but certainly worth keeping for their historical value. I love anything with historical value. I hope that you will be keeping those who have the most value for you, and not in monetary terms! xxx
ReplyDeleteYou're right -- it's the history that pulls me toward coins and everything else old.
DeleteThat's cool you collected coins! I did too! I still have my album full of foreign coins and some older English coins!
ReplyDeleteHey, wanna trade some?!
DeleteI'm admittedly still angry at myself for misplacing my mom's inherited coin collection. (It may still be in my in-laws garage and might turn up when we begin to clear the estate).
ReplyDeleteMy mom and had amassed a funny little collection that we stored in a 1960s electric kettle!
We mostly had original buffalo nickles, wheat pennies, though one was a steel penny! I also had a Susan B Anthony and Sacagawea dollar, half dollars, money from England, Japan, Germany, Canada, and some i never identified.
It probably wasn't worth more than face value but it was fun. I'm still hoping the kettle turns up.
Money is in incredible part of culture - seeing who and what we put on our symbols of value. Naturally I'm drawn to the old old pieces. You can really feel when a piece of metal ages. My favorite inherited piece is my cast iron for that reason (my great grandmothers!)
Things like this turn up unexpectedly when you're going through old boxes. I hope you find them. They possess real sentimental value, especially connection to family who's no longer around.
DeleteHey, is that a kettle over there?!