In the 60s, my grandmother got me interested in coin collecting. I am not even close to being a numismatist. Even coins from the 60s are starting to be 50 years old, but there were so many minted that a coin not in mint condition has little value. But still, when I pull out some change, the older-looking coins always catch my eye. Most of the the time, the coin is recent, but just dirty.
Today, I was about to slide a nickel into a soft-drink machine, but stopped to check the date. It was a 1942 D! I thought of my grandmother, who died in 1974, and slipped it into another pocket for safekeeping.
Oh, and "always check, it might be mate"? That's horrible chess advice!
Now I've truly outed myself as a nerd. Interested in math. Collected coins. And, yes, President of the Chess Club in high school.
Update: According to Cointrackers, that nickel has an estimated minimum value of $2.00. That's probably less than the inflation-adjusted value of $0.05 in 1942 vs. now. But better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.
Update: Added photo.
Cool.I enjoy watching History Channel's Pawn Stars and seeing various old coinage.
Posted by: Brando | July 13, 2011 at 07:07 PM
And some of those coins really are old!
Posted by: Gary | July 13, 2011 at 07:37 PM
I think we'll all agree that $2>poke in the eye.
Glad to see that you're blogging about stuff other than bar passage, Gary! Soon you'll be posting pictures, too, perhaps?!
Posted by: Alfred Brophy | July 13, 2011 at 07:52 PM
LOL. Those charts are pictures, just not photos. But with a scanner and some Photoshop (r), I put up a photo of the coin.
Posted by: Gary Rosin | July 13, 2011 at 11:27 PM
The tough thing about coin and stamp clooections is trying to realize value on them. If you take your grandfathre's stamp collection to a store that deals in such items they will likely give you little more than face value. My dad got so mad about it that he started using old commemorative stamps to send us letters. Coins are a bit better especially if they are silver. Then their melt value alone is likely to be about 25 times their face value. At the top of the silver bubble I think dimes were worth about $3.10.
But they can be fun to own if you enjoy them. My son enjoys coin collecting so he is the proud owner of my dad's colection that dad accumulated over at least 80 years just as your grandmother accumulated hers.
Posted by: Bill Turnier | July 14, 2011 at 11:30 AM