Poll Question: How did you acquire your favorite coin in your collection?

My favorite is my first. While on a monumental visit to Jordan in 2004, we stopped at the tent of a Bedouin trader who had set out several tables of miscellaneous goods for sale to tourists.  We were visiting a Crusader fort just outside Petra (Shobak, as I recall). There on his table was a thaler-sized Byzantine coin, holed for use on a chain. Next to nothing in price.  $5 at the most. I bought it, brought it home, and immediately began to research whether coins such as that were available.  I didn't know, and I had never even thought about it.

Since then, I sent a scan to a foreign coin dealer to be identified. As luck would have it, right now, I don't even know where the darn coin is. Someday I will find it. I'm not an epic collector, starting pretty late in life, not long before retirement, when available, income is largely directed toward travel. But I love the hobby, and it brings me a lot of enjoyment.

Jim, Colorado

My Dad got me started in coin collecting. I was 9 years old, and he gave me a Flying Eagle cent. I’d never held anything so old.

Art Bernstein, Address withheld

Those who know me know that I have a passion for Elongated Coins. Of the many I have, the one I like the most is an elongated Half Dollar, depicting a gold miner washing material in his gold pan. It has a speck of real gold adhered to the pan. I was lucky enough to find, bid, and win it at an eBay auction. 

Being able to buy anything and everything, from a needle to a car, boat, and plane, on eBay, including any numismatic item you can think of, has made the world much, much smaller, bringing sellers and buyers from around the world together!

I still LOVE going to coin shops and coin shows, and seeing / feeling coins in person is a treat, but even 1,000 shops & shows couldn't compete with the amassed selection that eBay has to offer!

Oded Paz, Arco, Idaho

My favorite coin in my collection is a 1916-D mercury dime. I got it from my late father when he gave me all of his coins about 25 years ago.  He was not a collector, as he had many odds and ends, one of which was the first page of the old Whitman mercury dime album, the kind that you could not see the reverse of the coins. Consequently, there was a 1916 dime in the 1916 P port which turned out to be a 1916-D!  Funny thing is, I did not check that coin until about 10 years ago.  

Dave Burdis, Charleroi, Pa.

My Grandmother always kept a small leather pouch in her bag, and it was filled with coins!! My Grandmother also raised me; she had to be my Mother too. Before she passed away, she gave me most of the coins that were in that leather pouch. One of those being a Morgan Silver Dollar minted in New Orleans. Since then, I only look for Morgans from New Orleans. So many times when I’m looking through a tray, the guy will tell me that there’s NO Carson City, to which I respond with Good, I wasn’t looking for those.

Anyway, that’s how it all got started. Right now I’m on a quest to find one of the earliest USA-minted coins!!

David, Address withheld

I had gotten my Buffalo silver dollar in 1oz with a 70 graded rating in 2020 off the internet from Bullion Shark (my favorite coin).

Name and Address withheld

I found my favorite 1883-CC in President Nixon box MS 64 at a farm auction in 1982 in the middle of nowhere. Beautiful coin.

TK, Mechanicsburg, Pa.

It is one of the least valuable coins in my collection, but remains my favorite - a lightly circulated, 1921 Morgan dollar, housed in a small snap-tite style holder with the insert printed "From The Million Dollar Display Booth At The Seattle World's Fair."

The display of one million U.S. silver dollars was reportedly the result of three Washington State numismatists pressing forward the idea and lining up participants.  They convinced Columbus, Nebraska-based Behlen Manufacturing to construct the corn crib that held the million silver dollars, as well as the exterior metal build that held the display.  Whether the actual million coins came from U.S. Mint vaults or the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank, I am not certain, having found references to both sources.  What I do know is that General Motors Corporation, through its Chevrolet division, provided two semi-tractor-trailers to transport the coins from Philadelphia to Seattle. The route took them through Nebraska on U.S. Highway 30 (remember that in 1962, the interstate system was still under construction in many parts of the country) and through Lexington, Nebraska, my hometown at the time.

One million dollars was, in 1962, an astronomical sum and a nearly unfathomable amount to a 12-year-old, but to see the trucks pass through was my goal.  And, I did stand on the sidewalk (yes, the highway passed as a street would in front of some businesses) and watched in awe as the vehicles escorted by local police and Highway Patrol came by.

I knew I would not visit the World's Fair, much less see the display, but the enormity of the amount - tonnage, number of coins, and the huge dollar amount never left my brain.  When a dollar in the commemorative holder turned up in an accumulation offered to me during the COVID shutdown, my childhood excitement returned.  With a bit of research, I learned that after the Seattle fair closed, the dollars were offered for $1.95 each in the snap-tite commemorative holder, or one could purchase up to 5 bags of 1,000 for $1,500 per bag.

Gary Burhop, Address withheld

I stole it. Just kidding. Bought my Grant Star for $1 at an online auction.

@happablabb, via X

1996-W dime. About twenty years ago, when I was a youngster, my local coin shop parted it from an original mint set for me.

David Donahue, via Facebook