RodneytheAmerican's Bio
I had an interest in coins when (in 1976) I was 11 years old and started with a Whitman Lincoln cent book that I got for Christmas. I quickly lost interest due to lack of parental support and only briefly resumed coin collecting in 1986 when I took an interest in the then-new Silver eagles. For a few years I collected bullion and proof Silver Eagles. I was only 22 years old or so and didn't have the means to buy very much. 30 years passed with zero collecting activity.
I am heavily involved in mineral collecting and in 2015 I went to an estate sale looking for minerals and I noticed a 1965 Special Mint Set for sale. Since that was my birth year I decided to get it and that started the real beginnings of serious coin collecting. I started by getting the rest of the silver Kennedy coins and have a complete set (1965-1970 and 1992 to date). Since the 1965 coins of my birth year weren’t made of .900 silver I was looking for a nice silver coin of my birth year. I happened to notice a 1965 Silver (.800) R1 coin from South Africa that was not a clad coin. This ended up being the beginnings of my interest in South African silver One and Two Rand silver coins. In the span of 2 years I quickly had collected almost a complete collection of South African silver R1 proof coins. To accomplish this I bought raw coins and had them graded. I am now working on the R1 uncirculated silver coins as well as silver R2 proof coins. During this time of renewed collecting after a long hiatus, the South African Mint released the new Silver Krugerrands. I was on the mission to collect them the minute that they were announced! I really like the design and they are affordable. The privy-marked coins will be key to having an outstanding collection as these are very low mintage and problematic to obtain.
In summary, I am relatively new to coin collecting but am very serious about it. I have an interest in Silver Kennedy coins and Silver Eagles but my main interest is South African silver R1, R2 and Silver Krugerrand coins. I generally buy raw coins and submit them to NGC for grading. This gives me lots of graded duplicate coins to dispose of. I do have a small network of friends in South Africa who help me get coins from the South African Mint and from other sources. I’m grateful for their help (M.L. and E. N.) since it is difficult to get good South African coins in the United States. I am open to trades as I have many slots to fill in my collection and I am sure that I can help others fill their slots with the graded and raw duplicate coin that I have.