Coin's Bio
Private collector of US coins and paper money .
I live in the Southeastern US and travel weekly over 4000 miles anywhere from Philadelphia,Pa to Dallas,TX as part of my current employment as an over-the-road CDL class A truck driver.
I am a former US Army Reserve Commissioned Officer with time under my belt at both enlisted and Non-Commissioned ranks . I retired with 20 years of service and 2 major deployments as well as more service school time than I care to remember .
When possible , I make every effort to attend as many local and major coin shows that I can to both meet other collectors and for trades/sales/up-grades .
I spend the majority of my on-line time on NGC's coin forum posting board and thoroughly enjoy hearing of other's finds and experiences within the collecting community .
Although the majority of my coin possessions are un-graded (raw) , I have many that are now in NGC Registry sets within PCGS and NGC 'slabs' . The purpose of the registry sets for me are two-fold : 1) A tool for tracking coins/sets
2) Competition with high-grade coins - not totally encompassing , but mainly for both the challenge and enjoyment/fun.
Doctrine:
US coinage is meant for the sole purpose of being used as a medium of exchange . US bullion coinage is meant to be used as a tool /vehicle for speculation/investment.
US paper fiat currency is meant to be used as a medium of exchange .
US stocks/bonds are meant to be used for speculation/investment.
Collecting of these instruments , for me ,is not a life-style or controlling obsession but rather a way to actually relax/un-wind and , just maybe , gain some interesting knowledge along the way.
I must admit at this point that whenever I meet other collectors , be it numismatic or other hobbies , I turn into a 'kid in a candy store' with excitement ! I really enjoy gaining knowledge and sharing in the joys of life . I get just as excited over another's happiness as I do my own and love to hear about it !
Timeline :
-childhood...Whitmans , Jars , cans until early teens , Merit badge project for the Boy Scouts sort of force-fed me to actually go to a library and read as much as I could at the time on the 'hobby' of collecting as I had no mentors , just an old set of coin books that belonged to my father( he passed when I was very young) as a guide to go by.
-Teenager days....ah , the old pop bottle deposits and grocery store bag-boy money went to the purchase of a car (got a truck) and chasing girls ...so the 'hobby' got the stand-by orders .
-Late teens....Uncle Sugar called (not the draft,more of a family thing), went and played Army , got accepted into the state college , then went the Reservist's route (ended up with a 20 year retirement with Active time , schools , deployments, reserve time)...didn't finish college just kept amassing credit hours (over 120) but no idea what I wanted to 'be' when I ever did grow up , so never declared a major and just dropped school .
-from the teenager days through my 'trying twenties' I would occasionally find (in change,at the bank, local shows and flea markets) old coins and just continued my early childhood habit of stuffing them in jars . I had no logical approach , so it was mostly 'selective hoarding' .
-by my 30's ,,,I had an idea that I would amass my coin hobby by actively pursuing my hobby for a year and then lay-off of it two years , then got at it again and then lay-off....I did this for a few cycles .
-late 30's early 40's...met my goal of retiring w/20 years from the Army Guard at 37 and by now with a wife and two kids ready for college , a decent paying job (still have no clue what I wanna be when I ever grow up)...I found that I finally had a little time to delve deeper into the 'hobby' .
-Got back into the 'hobby' just as the momentum was picking back up , but not before...I guess around late 2003 .
I'm in my early 40's and sitting on a pile of coins from every kinda series and in every kind of condition . I decided to get organized and started searching online to find other hobbyists , found this and other sites .