Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
I knew it had to happen eventually.
My coins have gained in value, and some have beat the inflation rate. That’s assuming I would ever sell the damned things, or could get a competitive price for them. I never intended them as an investment, except perhaps one of those “let’s leave some cool things for the grandkiddies when we die” kind of investment. But, still, it’s nice to know my purchases weren’t entirely foolhardy.
Coins are beautiful.
My fascination began at around age 8, when my dad’s mother gave me some old coins (some American, some international) she’d been saving in her safe deposit box. The coolest of the cool were the large cents my dad had acquired while cleaning out the basement of some museum in Boston. Acquired, not stole, since he was told he could keep anything interesting he found in the basement.
Or at least that’s his story, and he’s sticking to it.
He found a whole jar of Indian Head pennies, which somehow disappeared. Perhaps his brother took them? No one knows. (Not quite as heartbreaking as the mysterious disappearance of my father-in-law’s centuries-old samurai sword, but still . . . And besides, that sword would have ended up with Karen’s brother, so it’s not like she, the youngest daughter, would ever have had a shot at it.)
Those large cents are nearly worthless, since I think the best of the lot is in Very Good or perhaps Fine condition. But it sparked an interest. For a long time when I was little, I would get rolls of pennies, nickels, and sometimes dimes from the bank, and pore over them looking for “finds.” In those days it was common to find wheat ear pennies (but never an Indian Head cent), and you could even occasionally find a buffalo nickel or Mercury dime in circulation. Rare, like once-a-year kind of rare, but always exciting.
The first thing we did when we got married was, we bought a pet snake. And one of the first things we did when I started earning a real paycheck (paltry though it was), was to buy a few coins. I didn’t have much money to put into coins, so it’s not like I shelled out a lot of cash.
Jake does not share my fascination. I showed him the coins when he was very young and impressionable, except I don’t think he was ever impressionable. He didn’t care for them. I showed him the coins tonight, and he looked at them for all of about two minutes. Or less.
I’m not sure why I fell out of the hobby. I think it’s because I got swindled by a couple of dealers and sold coins for much more than they were worth. As hobbies go, this one punishes the ignorant most severely. If I do get back into it, this time I’m going to do my research, and not simply buy coins ‘cuz they’re pretty.
D.
There’s nothing wrong with collecting things because they’re ‘pretty’. That’s qhy I have the stamp collection I do. I think going into a collection as an investment opportunity is a mistake – it needs to be something you like, and derive pleasure fromrather than a way to make money. My mother and her husband are big into philately, and she deals a bit. None ever gets what their collections is ‘valued’ at – they get what people are willing to pay for it.
Yes, I know, I know . . . and I have no intention of buying coins I hate just because they make terrific investments. (Morgan Dollars, for example, which I find butt ugly.) Mostly, I want to do my research so I’m not taken advantage of.
I have a coin collection. Only Husband knows. I never talk about it because no one else is ever a coin person and the coin people I have met are usually pricks I don’t want to talk to. I’m so happy you’re a coin person who isn’t a prick.
Amazing. I, too, have a coin collection. When my brother died in 1989, I inherited one third of his very big collection. My other brother and my sister sold their thirds right away, but I kept mine. My brother loved his collection and loved collecting. I hate to part with his “treasures”. I had the collection appraised again last year and I can say that the value has tripled since 1989. With gold at an all time high today, the value would be much higher than a year ago when gold was around $1,000/ounce. Still, other investments have done better than that, but I’m saving these coins for my grandchildren so I can tell them about their great uncle whom they never met.
Lyvvie, Lucie: what kinds of coins, if I may ask?
I was collecting a 20th Century American “type set” — an example of a coin of each type minted in the 20th Century. Fun thing to collect and not too terribly expensive.
Here are my crown jewels:
$20 US Gold 1924
$20 US Gold 1904
$10 US Gold 1898
1 oz. Krugerrand 1978
1 oz. Krugerrand 1979
Canada $50 Maple Leaf 1984
US $20 Gold 1987
1 oz. Krugerrand 1978
$5 US Gold Indian 1913
$5 US Gold Indian 1909
10 Pesos Mexican gold
$2.50 US Gold 1900
$10 US Gold 1910
And then I have lots of silver coins – basically every type of American silver coin, some very old, and some very rare, and many of those kinds of “sets” you mentioned. Then, a lot of odds and ends including some Confederate money and other collectible bills.
My brother loved his collection. His birthday was yesterday. Tomorrow I will go to Father Ryan High School to award a scholarship that my family established in my brother’s name. Years ago I gave away the two top valued gold coins to each of my brother’s two best friends’ first child (not sure of that grammar), but had to quit or exhaust my supply after the babies kept on coming. My brother had them all in special holders. I had to rent a huge lockbox to hold it all.
I hope to be like your grandmother and pass these down to my grandchildren, but I will also be passing down my brother’s legacy. He never married and had no children. I adored him! He was my big brother.
P.S. I keep these in my bank lockbox in case anyone out in cyberspace is wondering.
Another P.S. – Don’t ask me about MY stamp collection or I will definitely hog your blog.
Ooh! A gold collection. I envy you. If you ever want to add to it, you should get one of those St. Gaudens (pictured above). They’re stunning.