JTO's Bio
I started collecting coins at the age of eight. Like many collectors I started when my father gave me a proof set from the year in which I was born. I was hooked. How beautiful those coins were... and are. The silver coins had a magical tone and how I restrained myself from touching them, I don't know.
My first real collecting effort was placed toward filling a Capitol Plastics Twentieth Century Type set. I was able to do that with pocket change and a little help from my allowance (doing odd jobs, mostly weeding for my mother.) I checked my pocket change and was able to fill Lincoln Cent album II, but it was the type set that held my interest. Type coins from the 18th and 19th centuries had coins that were so old that, they not only no longer made but also they were not found in circulation. If I could get just one, every one was a treasure to hold. To touch a coin from the time Lincoln was alive and to have a cent from when Washington was alive was captivating. That latter coin, a 1798 large cent, was a modest Fair-2. I still have the coin and in just the right light with just the right tilt I can just discern the 1798 date.
Now my passion in collecting is the same as it was 50 years ago: type sets. I have varieties on the theme including the 18th and 19th and 20th centuries. I also include gold with the exception of the small eagle varieties (18th century gold)
I have a 99% complete date and mint mark set of 20th century copper, Nickel and silver coinage. I have no 1913 nickel and most of the other 20th century issues, save the key dates, are raw. Now the quandary with these is do I send all of my accumulated treasures off for someone to judge and put in sonically sealed plastic for the sake of this forum? So far the answer is mostly no. Buy and enjoy the coin not the holder and more importantly BUY the BOOK BEFORE the coin.
Last, I leave you with, what I think is the most important rule of all: enjoy the journey not just the destination (completion of ...)