I’ve been collecting coins, off and on, for nearly 60 years. My father got me started during World War II when he gathered some indigenous coins for me while serving with the 9^th Air Force in Europe. After the war, he branched out into U.S. commemorative silver pieces and Walking Liberty, Franklin and Kennedy half dollars. For most of these early years, I was pretty much a passive collector, the recipient of what Dad had acquired.

The romance of coin collecting – the realization that taking an old coin in hand is like holding a little bit of history – was slow in taking hold. Also, I did not like the new grading systems that took hold in the 1980s, and which added intermediate grades in the uppermost Mint State (MS) 60 - MS 70 range. The changes, I felt, tended to degrade nice uncirculated coins which might have picked up a few nicks or scratches while stored in bags or other repositories with hundreds of other coins. As a result, the main beneficiaries were the most affluent collector/investors who could afford to pay hefty premiums for coins in pristine MS-67 and up grades.

Still, I continued spasmodically building the collection in the 1980s, buying mostly U.S. gold coins which subsequently declined in value as the price of gold dropped. There was little rhyme or reason to my collecting.

Ultimately, the incidental collector as I was faces a choice: either get serious and organize the mess, or get real and dump the coins. If the collector gets real, then worst case, he'll be rid of the inconvenience and end up with enough money to buy something nice. If he gets serious, then he might discover a new motivation for coin collecting.

What got me back on the track, I think for good, as a fairly serious coin collector were two recent developments: the Coin Collector’s Assistant computer program, acquired in 1998, which enabled me to organize my very diffuse collection, and the State Quarters program, begun in 1999. The latter did indeed turn many people of average means into coin collectors and helped rekindle my interest in the hobby. These distinctive coins could be acquired for the face value of the coin, offering a sharp contrast with the huge premiums paid by the big bucks set for MS-67 and MS-68 specimens.

For the dedicated coin collector, the supreme pleasure and thrill of discovery motivates a lifetime of collecting, at whatever level. Rare and not-so-rare coins can generate a deep appreciation for art and a history not found in your average water bottle or rock collection. And whether the coins increase in value becomes incidental to the pleasure of having them. In some ways I am still a myopic collector, tending to favor shiny (even if flawed) coins over those that are toned, Click here for a choice I had to make between a "pretty" 50-cent commemorative and one that while it looked a bit grimy was of at least equal value.

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