STORIES - what is your numismatic moment?

I was just thinking of one, but I have more:

It has happened in the Easter of 1973 when my parents took me to my mother's birthplace which is in "Upper Hungary", you would call this Slovakia if you are normal, but anyways my relatives were living in questioanable quality houses.
But anyways, all the houses were - so-called - all traditional.
We ended up with all Easter processions, when we have just recognized that there is much more discover in the attics of my grandma's uncle's house: So we went up and discovered about 2.5 kilos of coins from Austria-Hungary and Bohemia & Moravia coins, that has indeed started my serious OLD collection.
[still have some on the swaplist]
I still remember, that the relatives were happy that I remove them , as they thought it is a bad OMEN to have some of those withchy woman coins like Maria Theresia, and more... and I was the happiest kid ever, leaving Czecoslovakia with 2 kilos of coins which I was not aware of what it is ...
Now, I know, and still some of those are for swap.... but most I will hold, even if doubles, just because of the ... memory....

In 2007 I came from Serbia to USA just to visit :)

I was a part of some student exchange program and they put me to work in a restaurant for few months. The restaurant was in a small town where old people live.

Soon upon my arrival I got fascinated with US State Quarters and wanted to collect them all.

One day I was asking my co workers to look through their change because I was missing few quarters that I wanted to take with me back to Serbia. One of the customers saw that and asked me if I would like to have some older US coins as well. Sure, why not.

He went home and brought me about 15-20 old US coins. He gave me wheat cents, buffalo nickles and silver dimes and quarters. While he was handing those to me he said, "Be careful with those. Don't spend them or lose them because they have more value than regular coins."

As soon as I took them, I drop them all on the kitchen floor, in front of him. They were all over the restaurant and I kind of got embarrassed.  :)

I still have those exact coins.

Lovely, Pajaskot

Back in 2004, I attended the first Mumbai Numismatic fair with my dad. I was the wee enthusiastic sub-prime shopper and my dad was the stern bank lol. We looked around alot of the tables/stalls where you had your regular coin dealers and I didn't pick anything. At that point of time, I didn't really have money to spend and I was very careful whenever I asked my dad to put down cash on anything numismatic related.

But then we saw this fellow with his small table selling anything but coins and I literally just caught a glimpse of a small gunny sack of shiny copper coins behind him from the corner of my eye. No one paid this particular seller any attention. I was so curious because India didn't have copper coins in circulation for decades. Turns out he had a sack of 1940/1942 quarter annas in unc condition. They must have been hidden in a vault somewhere all these years. I was so eager, but thankfully my dad negotiated the seller down to buying the whole sack for ~Rs2500 (around ~$60 back then). Big money especially for me back then ! Then the guy saw us as serious buyers and pulls out 3 coin sheets with 56x Rs1 silver coin with the entire series from 1835-1947 (except 1939). Again my dad negotiated that down to ~13k despite my insistence that it was a crazy amount to spend (my eyes almost popped out of my head when my dad actually asked him "How much?"). I'm glad my dad didn't listen to me (although I was supposed to be the knowledgeable collector!).

Turns out, I ended up with 1130 unc quarter anna coins 1939/40/42 which your average ebay dealer charges ~$3 to $5 per piece. I sold the Rs1 series a couple years ago for 12x what we originally paid :-). It was extremely handy money when migrating to a new country and going back to school!

I have the quarter annas...~700 or so still remaining. I'm forever thankful to my dad who has encouraged my numismatic hobby these past 25 years and still does :)

thanks a lot it seems that dads do count....

In 1986 I was walking through my home town ( a little village of around 900 people) and I saw a building that had just been knocked down. Being an inquisitive young boy I went to explore and I discovered an old 1900 penny in amongst the rubble. It looking like one that Fluke could have done something with because it had quite a bit of verdigris on it. I was so pleased to get something that was more than 10 times as old as I was that I drilled a hole in it and wore it round my neck on a leather thong (what a heathen) But that one find started my passion for coin and stamp collecting.

A few years later I was at a sports exchange with another school and the boy that I was billeted with had an interesting story too. The public bar across the road from him caught fire and burned to the ground. When the fire had been put out and everything had cooled down he went across to look around. He found that the poker machines had all popped open and the coins had spilled out. A lot of them had fused together with the heat but many of them were still ok, and in amongst the regular New Zealand coins was a silver 2 mark coin from Nazi Germany. Lord knows how that got there, but that started him off on his collection.

About 20 years ago, I was visiting my folks back home and bought a rusted biscuit tin full of old worn British India copper coins from a kid selling knick knacks on the sidewalk . I don't know what made me do it... they looked old and cool and were spread out on a sheet among old flashlights, plastic combs and plastic wallets.
I returned home after the vacation, stuck the tin on a shelf and never looked at it again. About 15 years later, I was bored one day, spotted the tin and proceeded to scrub and clean the coins. The ones that were still dark I threw into a cup full of vinegar and scrubbed till they were bright .
I identified some of the coins using google/Numista, joined a couple of other coin forums ..... and I was thoroughly hooked.
Fast forward a couple of years and I was home again visiting my folks... I met with this kid who told me a story about going to a coin exhibition with his Dad and buying a gunny sack full of British India coins... he even gave me several nice ones. Here's one of them...

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces18116.html

thanks ashlobo..... small world isn't it?

Quote: "@josephjk"​About 20 years ago, I was visiting my folks back home and bought a rusted biscuit tin full of old worn British India copper coins from a kid selling knlck knacks on the sidewalk . I don't know what made me do it... they looked old and cool and were spread out on a sheet among old flashlights, plastic combs and plastic wallets.
​I returned home after the vacation, stuck the tin on a shelf and never looked at it again. About 15 years later, I was bored one day, spotted the tin and proceeded to scrub and clean the coins. The ones that were still dark I threw into a cup full of vinegar and scrubbed till they were bright .
​I identified some of the coins using google/Numista, joined a couple of other coin forums ..... and I was thoroughly hooked.
​Fast forward a couple of years and I was home again visiting my folks... I met with this kid who told me a story about going to a coin exhibition with his Dad and buying a gunny sack full of British India coins... he even gave me several nice ones. Here's one of them...
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​https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces18116.html
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​thanks ashlobo..... small world isn't it?
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haha, yes it is... I have one more story about my neighbour Uncle Janggu ... But I'll keep that for another time ;)

In 2005 I was 8 at the time and I was collecting State Quarters, but i wanted to see what coins from other nations looked like. I knew people who had travelled the world and they gave me a coin from Austria and a coin from Hong Kong to get me started. I also went to a flea market and got more coins and banknotes there.

My dad (born in the 50's) gave me almost all the silver collection of my grandfather (born in 1911), he won it in a game at the new year party maybe in the 90's, the coins remained in a towel for years, but going back to the house of my grandpa a cousin gifted me lots of coins from all around the world, and like 3 kilos of old mexican coins, that's my whole collection (plus what i have exchanged and buyed) but since i dont owrk i dont have much money to invest in numismatic stuff :/, so i keep my days searching everywhere i can, people seem not to care much for coins (not everybody), so they usually gift them or sell it for a low price

I started my collection with a couple coins from my uncle. I was maybe around 14-15 years old and I didn't knew very much about coins and it was very difficult for me to improve my collection since I didn't knew any other collectors around to make swaps. Father of one of my neighbors (then a child around 8-9 years) had been working in Italy for a very long time and when he came back to Romania carried with him all kinds of currencies from Europe and North Africa. To get those coins from my neighbor I had to draw for him so many pictures of cartoon characters of that time like: Tom & Jerry, Spiderman, Son Goku, Batman and many others. The good part is that I got all his coins because I was so motivated.

Mine is somewhat of a virgin story compared to most

Mine started in 2014, in which I needed to find a hobby after my health took a serious nosedive. I saw videos of people making 'coin rings', this intrigued me and made me decide to give it a shot with its relatively low physical demand. I looked on eBay for some cheap bulk lots to learn on as well as all the tools necessary to do it. Over the first 2 months I produced around a dozen rings, then I started searching for coins with specific designs which would make up the rims of the finished coin rings. Soon after I did one or two rings, I found it harder and harder to damage these coins, then it dawned on me I was starting to like collecting, rather than changing into something else.

Even though I am British, I started with U.S state quarters as I used a couple to make coin rings. That is when it began for me and I have never looked back since.

I thought my life was destined for the toilet after my profession was effectively rendered impossible due to my condition, finding the love in coins gave me the drive to try and make a go of this hobby as well as giving me some kind of purpose in life. But the golden egg for me was finding Numista and its great members, but two of those I am most grateful to is Phil and Neil, without them my collecting passion may have ended early.

I owe my sanity to coin collecting as well as it being a genuine passion, but my gratitude is now and will always be towards Neil and Phil for the fantastic welcome as well as giving me help to start with but in a manner that was caring and genuine instead of snubbing me as an amateur. I owe them a great debt more than they or anyone else realises. I still remember the day I looked at a coin for the beauty it was, my reaction is fused in my mind and I still remember the day when I read replies from them about some half crowns I posted, in which they corrected me but in such a compassionate way, I can't and wont ever forget that.

Quote: "Fluke"​I owe my sanity to coin collecting as well as it being a genuine passion, but my gratitude is now and will always be towards Neil and Phil for the fantastic welcome as well as giving me help to start with but in a manner that was caring and genuine instead of snubbing me as an amateur. I owe them a great debt more than they or anyone else realises. I still remember the day I looked at a coin for the beauty it was, my reaction is fused in my mind and I still remember the day when I read replies from them about some half crowns I posted, in which they corrected me but in such a compassionate way, I can't and wont ever forget that.

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x1000 - I'd also like to add yourself, Andrey, steve27 and Quant.Geek to that for my experience. You're all super amazing and I hope I can return it in some way to a new member in the future.

My story is kinda new too. Had a good life despite being a bit of an introvert a small disability/childhood always slowed me down a little. Worked a good job and had the most loving supportive fiance one could wish for.

Unfortunately a drunk driver ruined that a couple of years ago, and life/guilt kinda drove me down into a tailspin. It's been some rough years. Anyway, I signed up to university because I felt it would be less stressful than a job (At the ripe old age of 31!) to do history, but life continued to be difficult. Like, when you seem to just be subsisting instead of living and nothing brings you enjoyment. Anyway a few months ago my mum was talking about some old coins my late granddad left her; I took a look and fell in love. She said I can have them as she has no use for them. (If anybody remembers my original 'my collection' list from a month or so ago, this is what it was.

Since then I've thrown myself into it. I'm learning so much. Barely any suicidal thoughts or questioning life, instead it's 'coins coins coins.' I might even open a little coin shop next year. And you guys are all amazing

Quote: "oggy"​My story is kinda new too. Had a good life despite being a bit of an introvert a small disability/childhood always slowed me down a little. Worked a good job and had the most loving supportive fiance one could wish for.
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​Unfortunately a drunk driver ruined that a couple of years ago, and life/guilt kinda drove me down into a tailspin. It's been some rough years. Anyway, I signed up to university because I felt it would be less stressful than a job (At the ripe old age of 31!) to do history, but life continued to be difficult. Like, when you seem to just be subsisting instead of living and nothing brings you enjoyment. Anyway a few months ago my mum was talking about some old coins my late granddad left her; I took a look and fell in love. She said I can have them as she has no use for them. (If anybody remembers my original 'my collection' list from a month or so ago, this is what it was.
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​Since then I've thrown myself into it. I'm learning so much. Barely any suicidal thoughts or questioning life, instead it's 'coins coins coins.' I might even open a little coin shop next year. And you guys are all amazing

​That's an awesome story! Thank you very much for sharing it with us. I hope you're doing well and get your future coin shop hopefully running! :)

I've also got a little story to share with you guys, it's not as exciting as most others around here, but hopefully worth reading. ;-)

Since I was a little kid I've always been into collecting stuff, it first started with bottle caps, beer coasters and other nicnacs (is that how you spell it?). I got my first coins from Ireland in 2000, which was the first holiday I spent abroad. I think I was about 3 years old then. Later on I got some more coins (mostly Belgian and French) from friends and family who went on a holiday to those countries. My dad used to work in a German coal mine because of his geological studies so I got a bunch of Deutsche Mark's from him. As I got older, this pile of fairly modern coins got bigger and at one point I all threw them in jar and put it on a bookshelf. I didn't actively collect coins, but I did enjoy the fact of having a big jar filled with coins! I think my oldest coin at the time was a Belgian 20 Centimes coin from the 1920's. I liked that one the most because of its age and also because it was my only coin with a hole in it!

I remember that when I was about 12 years old my Dad decided that it was time to let go of his stamp collection because he had lost interest in it. He let an auctioneer examine his collection on a stamp and coin fair and he brought me with him. I got a little curious at those tables that had all these coins and stamps displayed on them and I started to look around. At first I went to a table that had only ancient coins displayed on it, and I looked at those coins completely fascinated. Apparently I got the attention of the seller and he gave me one of his coins! It was such an epic moment for me, because suddenly I was the owner of a 2000+ year old coin! I was completely speechless and didn't know what to say anymore, except for a very shaky "thank you". This was the coin that triggered me, immediately after we got home I ran upstairs to my room and emptied the big glass jar of world coins and spent the entire afternoon looking at them and at my new Roman coin! I was so fascinated by them that I looked at my humble collection a couple of times a day for a few weeks straight. It's weird that one coin can change your complete perspective on coins in a matter of seconds.

After that, I became more and more interested in coins and history and that's basically how my obsession for coins started. It really is like a disease. Now I mainly focus on banknotes because they too have a nice history and most of them are just stunningly good designed.

Well iam a forth generation coin collector. So the men in the family always had something to talk about or do together. God I wish I still had some of the coins still, but life got in the way. Funny no woman as coin nuts. But there is hope in my son wife. Funny iam hoping I found someone to pass it on to. To early yet.
So I have been in and out of collecting my hole life. Always under the surface. Well my wife got me one of those sets 50 country's coins and bank notes. She most of knew things were going to get bad. Then she got me a 5 lbs lot of world coin from E-bay.Then I found numista. It kept me going. I would work alnight her sister would help her at night. Then come home and take care of her in the day. When she would be sleeping and I had time I was right here. Kept my mind from going to mush. Then after she died it gave me something to do.Yes there are a lot of people here I can never thank enough. Phil, Tony , Neil , bam , zac uk , rick, casper, David,Imreh and so many more. I was thinking of walking away from numista, Then Lee sent me something I always wanted most of my life. An English silver penny, something I have wanted from high school on ,or earlier. Top 5 coins I wanted. I still have not fully ID it. But look at it at least once aweek. I think I want to keep it that way.
It is strange how are hobby has help us in so many ways. And the people who share are hobby are so great and helpful. Thank you all
yours daryl

Imreh bet you that you did not think your post would go to the very root of being human. Love, caring all in the form of being a coin nut. It is even world wide. May be there hope for us

RE:DARYL
Dear Daryl, I have to confess I did not, but my great appreciation goes to you and others to make this happen! Somehow this inpersonal virtual life is weird to me, specially related to Numista. I am confused by the fact that - unlike facebook, LinkedIn, or twitter - I am not even supposed to know your name. weird and unnatural.
But anyways, thanks for sharing I respect all your views here, and honestly and genuinely wish to make this numista place a lot more human

RE:LOTUS
I am fascinated and appreciate the dealer, how he was psychologically skilled to get you into a good grow path of a hobby, which develops other skills as well.

RE:FLUKE
I think it is always great to say thanks to people, who guide on the way, specially for the simple reason, that a lot of these of people are not even aware that they have been influencing your habits, so it is great to bring them confirmation on their "good supportive behaviours"

In general, being a Dad myself of three adults, I appreciate the "Dad support stories"

... and to add one more MOMENT, which I have already shared in another post, was when my oldest son, now 23, then 6, accidentaly - while playing on the beach - digged out a Septimus Severus Denarius on the shore of the Danube just 200 meters from our home. Which is "normal" as Septimus had a military camp in my village, the real sad point point is whatever I tried I could not get the kid involved in the enthusiasm :(