Thursday, November 5, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
A Type Set of U.S. Coins, A Medal, and a Canadian Voyageur
This is a lot of fun posting here because it's the first time I have put all these pieces together in one place on the computer. In most cases below, you can click on a picture for a larger image of it. I hope to update this post, and keep it at the top of the blog. Later posts may add some musings, as well as examples of other sets that exist within my collection so far. [Update: apparently, the Update button does not move the post up to the head of the line! ^^]
Remembering how it all started
Once upon a time there was an small checkbook box and a piggy bank each filled with collectible pocket change. It was long before I collected the coins pictured on this site.
Three early influences led me to fill those now inaccessible containers of coins. I suppose it all started in the mid-1970's in Kansas. We neighbor kids sold lemonade from the tree-lined corner of 2nd and Green, and eventually an older couple living nearby 2nd Street took an interest in us. They even let us put our stand in front of their house to catch better car traffic, or perhaps it was just to watch over us, since our parents had long since gotten used to our independent streaks. He owned a metal detector, and he and his wife invited us kids a few times to search for buried treasure in their front yard and back yard. We'd swing that metal detector back and forth over the grass with him, listening for the telltale electric squeals, and doggone it by and by we'd get a hit. We'd dig it up and there'd be something we could all share, like a small roll of Lincoln wheat-back cents. The afternoon's hunting would end with wonderful sweet drinks his wife brought out for us, and a bit of conversation about the day's finds in the yards. We never did catch on that he was planting those little coppers and trinkets just for us. And the thrill of the hunt and the celebration of the catch spurred me. From then on, I always kept an interest in checking my pennies and keeping the wheat-backs to push into a simple Whitman coin folder. Checking my pocket change once around this time, my heart leapt for joy when I discovered a 1919 Lincoln. Wow! Something from ancient time in the palm of my hand!
Soon after came the national buildup to the USA's Bicentennial. Those years when I was in 5th and 6th grades were a lot of fun, especially the 1976 summer of the Bicentennial. Days were burnished with colonial history, patriotic happiness, colorful parades, summertime picnics, and new coins emblematic of the extended celebration. I was twelve that summer of '76. Ever after, I got a kick out of adding to the piggy bank all the 1776-1976 quarters, half dollars, and Ikes that came my way. The Eisenhower gave me extra fascination. So big and heavy, and it came in two varieties. How I liked to find the rarer version with big block lettering! Later, it helped that my brother and I started a paper route in 1977. The previous paper boy had done only enough to just get by, I guess, because my brother and I got a big wind-fall of money from folks on our route who hadn't paid their newspaper bills in awhile. The change with which they paid often added to my hoard of bicentennials, and maybe a few silvers.
The third big excitement in my early collecting was a small stash of silver coins that Grandma Rena's daughter-in-law, Mrs. H gave to me and my bro. Mrs. H wasn't related to us, but her mom was a close friend of our grandma. And like Grandma Rena, her daughter-in-law Mrs. H gave us affection like we were her own.
Now our grandma lived in a small town, and Mrs H's family lived just outside it, on a nice big farm surrounded by the big sky of southwestern Kansas. Well, it must have been before 1965 that the family had gone on holiday in Southwest USA and visited a casino. She won a bit at the slots I guess, and stored her winnings in the kitchen at home. During a visit we paid in the early 80's, the conversation somehow turned to coins, and she excused herself. After a moment, out of the kitchen she came, surprising and delighting us with a glass jar of silver coins. She had felt inspired to share with us her long-held stash. She was ready to pass it on, and felt we would appreciate what she had set apart all those years. Would we ever! And so it was that she gave us about $5 in face value of quarters and dimes. All were coins of bright silver, as if minted the day before, and to us was a gift of real treasure.
Three early influences led me to fill those now inaccessible containers of coins. I suppose it all started in the mid-1970's in Kansas. We neighbor kids sold lemonade from the tree-lined corner of 2nd and Green, and eventually an older couple living nearby 2nd Street took an interest in us. They even let us put our stand in front of their house to catch better car traffic, or perhaps it was just to watch over us, since our parents had long since gotten used to our independent streaks. He owned a metal detector, and he and his wife invited us kids a few times to search for buried treasure in their front yard and back yard. We'd swing that metal detector back and forth over the grass with him, listening for the telltale electric squeals, and doggone it by and by we'd get a hit. We'd dig it up and there'd be something we could all share, like a small roll of Lincoln wheat-back cents. The afternoon's hunting would end with wonderful sweet drinks his wife brought out for us, and a bit of conversation about the day's finds in the yards. We never did catch on that he was planting those little coppers and trinkets just for us. And the thrill of the hunt and the celebration of the catch spurred me. From then on, I always kept an interest in checking my pennies and keeping the wheat-backs to push into a simple Whitman coin folder. Checking my pocket change once around this time, my heart leapt for joy when I discovered a 1919 Lincoln. Wow! Something from ancient time in the palm of my hand!
Soon after came the national buildup to the USA's Bicentennial. Those years when I was in 5th and 6th grades were a lot of fun, especially the 1976 summer of the Bicentennial. Days were burnished with colonial history, patriotic happiness, colorful parades, summertime picnics, and new coins emblematic of the extended celebration. I was twelve that summer of '76. Ever after, I got a kick out of adding to the piggy bank all the 1776-1976 quarters, half dollars, and Ikes that came my way. The Eisenhower gave me extra fascination. So big and heavy, and it came in two varieties. How I liked to find the rarer version with big block lettering! Later, it helped that my brother and I started a paper route in 1977. The previous paper boy had done only enough to just get by, I guess, because my brother and I got a big wind-fall of money from folks on our route who hadn't paid their newspaper bills in awhile. The change with which they paid often added to my hoard of bicentennials, and maybe a few silvers.
The third big excitement in my early collecting was a small stash of silver coins that Grandma Rena's daughter-in-law, Mrs. H gave to me and my bro. Mrs. H wasn't related to us, but her mom was a close friend of our grandma. And like Grandma Rena, her daughter-in-law Mrs. H gave us affection like we were her own.
Now our grandma lived in a small town, and Mrs H's family lived just outside it, on a nice big farm surrounded by the big sky of southwestern Kansas. Well, it must have been before 1965 that the family had gone on holiday in Southwest USA and visited a casino. She won a bit at the slots I guess, and stored her winnings in the kitchen at home. During a visit we paid in the early 80's, the conversation somehow turned to coins, and she excused herself. After a moment, out of the kitchen she came, surprising and delighting us with a glass jar of silver coins. She had felt inspired to share with us her long-held stash. She was ready to pass it on, and felt we would appreciate what she had set apart all those years. Would we ever! And so it was that she gave us about $5 in face value of quarters and dimes. All were coins of bright silver, as if minted the day before, and to us was a gift of real treasure.
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