Speed Coin Collecting

My hunting for silver coins has led to a rediscovery of the coin collecting hobby from childhood.  Back then I would look through my change on a daily basis and pick out coins for my collection.  Nowadays,  I use a credit card for virtually every purchase and rarely get new change.  So I haven't been adding much to my coin collections.

However, I realized as we were sorting the coins (especially pennies and nickels), that we were seeing a lot of older coins.   So I bought my daughter coin books for halves, quarters, dimes and pennies at the Half Price book store.  (When I find the nickel book, I will also buy that one.)

Instead of waiting for loose change, I've been purchasing boxes of rolled coins.   This has really sped up the process of collecting coins.  With 90% one penny box (2500 pennies), we've nearly completed the 1959 to 2009 collection book.    The oldest penny we found was a 1936.  With 90% of one quarter box ( 2000 quarters), we've nearly completed the the state quarter book (96 out of 100). We've almost all of the Washington quarter book, missing primarily the silver quarters from 1959 to 1964.

After reading about the Top 10 Most Valuable U.S. Coins Found in Pocket Change ,  I  found an error "wide AM" 2000 penny worth about $10-20 retail.  I actually found it on with 10 pennies of starting to look for one, but haven't seen one since.  I also found a list of other error coins, but haven't found any yet. 

Anyway, I think I'm having more fun than our daughter and even more fun than my childhood. That's because purchasing rolls from the bank has compressed 2-3 years of looking through loose change into only a couple weeks.  Each day, we see great progress towards completing the collection.  I wish I had thought of the idea when I was a child.

For more on Crossing Generations, check back every Thursday for a new segment.

This is not financial or coin collecting advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC