Hey Hive People,
My passion for coin collecting started in my pre-teen years. My father loved collecting coins as a kid, and I guess some genetics played a part in my passion for it as well. I took many years off from collecting, but fortunately, metal detecting has brought me back to this passion!
I have always considered myself more of a numismatic collector. Sure, I love silver and gold, but my thrill comes from imagining a person from 100 or more years ago using these coins as currency. Well, when currency was actually backed by real substance! When numismatic collecting also entails precious metals, the best of both worlds collide!
While I do not go out and intentionally buy silver just to stack, collecting throughout the years has given me quite a collection. I managed to find most of what I have in silver. I hope some of these are of interest to you guys. I will go in chronologic order of when I obtained these.
Ready, Set, GO!
On my first trip to Alaska in 1994, my family and I went to the Alaskan Mint. My first silver coin! This is my favorite design they ever did. My parents saw my interest and bought it for me haha. This is priced over 150-200 dollars now and is only 1 oz of silver. A beautiful coin. It is in mint condition, only the case makes it looked scratched. There is some discoloration, likely do to air contact.
Back side of the coin
My dad's "Best Man" in his wedding is considered our uncle! An awesome guy! When he saw my interest in coins over 20 years ago, he gave me all of his Morgan and Peace dollar collection. What a gift! I owe him a lot of thanks for this! The Morgan Dollar (1878-1904)
More from the collection given to me...the Peace Dollars (1921-1928, and again in 1934-1935)
Over 20 years ago I started my numismatic collecting with the US Type Book. Essentially, instead of collecting all the years and mints of a certain coin, you try to collect all the different types of US coins. My favorite book for sure! I have not added to this book in over 20 years. I still collect wheat pennies and such. Fortunately, I almost completed the book as a pre-teen. Most of these were bought at coin shows when I was a kid. My dad may have given me a couple of these coins from his collection...but as a kid, I saved up my allowance for these. Now, they are worth much more. I guess coin collecting has been an investment over the last 20 years!
The only silver here is the three cent piece on the bottom right side. It is a special coin to me because it is the smallest silver US coin made (1851-1873). It is 70 percent silver. Due to it being more rare now, it is likely worth over 50 dollars.
The top coins in this picture are 5-cent silver pieces from the 1800s before the 5-cent nickel was invented. Imagine a world when a 5-cent (half-dime) piece would be made of 90% silver haha. The War nickels from 1942-1945 were 35% silver to save nickel for the war effort. All the dimes on the bottom are silver as well...well except the last coin which is clad (1965-present...damn clad!).
This page shows my silver quarters and half dollars. I really like the Turban Head (1807-1836).
More silver...silver half dollars/dollars. I still need to get the seated dollars for my collection. If I can't find them metal detecting, I may have to head back to the local shows. I have to finish this book!!
This was gifted to me in my teenage years by my parents. This is the chain I wear everyday. It was minted around 80 BC. It's amazing how well silver holds up after 2000 years! The front side is Apollo.
Back side of coin
This was given to me on one of my trips to Mexico. Love the design of this silver oz. Minted only from 1978-1980.
Back side of coin.
My brother gave me this as gift a couple years back. A wonderful coin paying respects to the legendary Walking Liberty design that you can see in my coin book above.
Last but not least... my silver found metal detecting. I hope there is more silver to come haha. These have all been found in the past 6 months!
I hope you guys enjoyed my silver collection. I do recommend metal detecting! Also, if you want to just sample what numismatic collecting is like, pick up a US type book and hit up the coin shows!
Best of luck guys!
Cheers!