REVIER
Well-known member
When I was a kid about 8 years old I started collecting coins.
This was 1963, and I was given a 1938-1961 nickel book and and 2 penny books...1909-1940 and 1941-1965 and tried to fill them.
I looked for coins in all the change I got and my grandparents, who never had much money, every year they would go to the bank and get a lot of penny rolls and then unwrap them and throw them all in an old cigar box, fill it 1/2 the way up and give that to me as a birthday present.
It was heavy and filled with coins to go through and I filled many spaces in my books because of this and I loved them for it.
Thinking about it, I was actually doing coin roll hunting way before anyone ever coined the term and also way before many of you were ever born.
I managed to fill up about 1/2 my nickel book, all of my late date penny book except for 2 spots and and a little over 1/3 of the early date Lincoln penny book which I think was pretty good considering the way I was doing it.
Before long I lost interest and put these books away.
Sometimes you just carry a few certain things through life and these books actually stayed with me throughout the years and all the moves and I still have them.
After I got into metal detecting I always had hope that one day I might find a coin in the ground that would fill a space in one of my books.
I have found some old nickels, and some wheat pennies and even though some of those were actually better condition than the ones already in my collection they were still all doubles and so I continued to look...and wait.
3 days ago I was hunting at a park and there are still 2 old houses on the site that are due to be knocked down sometime in the future.
In the back of one there is still one old rusted clothesline pole and I hunted behind this looking for old coins.
Never found any but this park has been hunted by others.
That day I tried hunting on the other side of that pole where there is a slight slope and I did not believe this was the direction the other end of the lines were strung, but evidently they were because I found a 1935 wheatie buried there.
Cut to this morning, and I had a thought to look in my penny book on the off chance that this one would fill a space but I had no luck so far so I wasn't holding out hope.
Guess what?
There on page 3 was a space that said 1935 and no penny filled that hole!
Joy!
This is not a huge find, it is just an old penny and not even in all that great shape, either, but I can't tell you how strangely satisfied and happy this find makes me.
All the learning, all the digging, all the trash and everything I have gone through up to this point for over 3.5 years has led to this...and it was all worth it and then some.
Ok, all my gold and silver and other great finds count, but sometimes in life it is the little victories that count more than the big kind...the personal ones that are only important to you.
This is one of those.
This is such a great hobby that can make me feel so happy over such a little thing after such a long time.
Life is good!
This was 1963, and I was given a 1938-1961 nickel book and and 2 penny books...1909-1940 and 1941-1965 and tried to fill them.
I looked for coins in all the change I got and my grandparents, who never had much money, every year they would go to the bank and get a lot of penny rolls and then unwrap them and throw them all in an old cigar box, fill it 1/2 the way up and give that to me as a birthday present.
It was heavy and filled with coins to go through and I filled many spaces in my books because of this and I loved them for it.
Thinking about it, I was actually doing coin roll hunting way before anyone ever coined the term and also way before many of you were ever born.
I managed to fill up about 1/2 my nickel book, all of my late date penny book except for 2 spots and and a little over 1/3 of the early date Lincoln penny book which I think was pretty good considering the way I was doing it.
Before long I lost interest and put these books away.
Sometimes you just carry a few certain things through life and these books actually stayed with me throughout the years and all the moves and I still have them.
After I got into metal detecting I always had hope that one day I might find a coin in the ground that would fill a space in one of my books.
I have found some old nickels, and some wheat pennies and even though some of those were actually better condition than the ones already in my collection they were still all doubles and so I continued to look...and wait.
3 days ago I was hunting at a park and there are still 2 old houses on the site that are due to be knocked down sometime in the future.
In the back of one there is still one old rusted clothesline pole and I hunted behind this looking for old coins.
Never found any but this park has been hunted by others.
That day I tried hunting on the other side of that pole where there is a slight slope and I did not believe this was the direction the other end of the lines were strung, but evidently they were because I found a 1935 wheatie buried there.
Cut to this morning, and I had a thought to look in my penny book on the off chance that this one would fill a space but I had no luck so far so I wasn't holding out hope.
Guess what?
There on page 3 was a space that said 1935 and no penny filled that hole!
Joy!
This is not a huge find, it is just an old penny and not even in all that great shape, either, but I can't tell you how strangely satisfied and happy this find makes me.
All the learning, all the digging, all the trash and everything I have gone through up to this point for over 3.5 years has led to this...and it was all worth it and then some.
Ok, all my gold and silver and other great finds count, but sometimes in life it is the little victories that count more than the big kind...the personal ones that are only important to you.
This is one of those.
This is such a great hobby that can make me feel so happy over such a little thing after such a long time.
Life is good!