Earliest Purchase 0

[leeg]

As I look through my records it looks like 2007 was the earliest that I purchased a coin.

I know it was earlier than that but after a computer crash or two it is what it is.  Got backups to my backups.

Here is one of the coins I purchased in 2007:

Heritage 12/30/07

Sold it to a forum member and he was gracious enough to ask if I wanted it back. Of course I said YES! He sold it back to me at the same price.  Who does that? A true collector. 

Please post the earliest coin you own in your records. No image, pass on this thread. Thank you

 

I believe this is my first coin purchased (could be the 90s?). Not sure the year but it's a Mark Feld coin:

 

I have mark's images but can't find them right now.

 

[MarkFeld]

Lee, that Alabama is one of the more attractive ones I’ve seen of any grade.

[thebeav]

This would have to be my earliest purchase. Well, actually, my grandmother bought it for me.

We had a department store here in Buffalo called 'Sattlers'. I think there were a few of them, but the one downtown had a coin department. They had a "Berg-motion case" with the shelves full of coins. I remember standing there with my finger on the button, watching the shelves rotate and looking for something affordable. I think it was the 'moon and star' on this 1947 Turkish 50 Kurus that really intrigued me. 

My maternal grandmother liked to shop downtown, and if I would go with her and behave, the reward would be a coin from Sattlers. I picked out this Turkish coin and she bought it. The year would have been 1963 or 1962.

 

[leeg]

3 hours ago, MarkFeld said:

Lee, that Alabama is one of the more attractive ones I’ve seen of any grade.

Thanks Mark.

 

Mark Goodman images

[Weidel Legacy Collection]

I have to agree - that's one of the prettiest commems I've seen in a long time!

Sattlers - I remember going there in the 60's.  There was a Grants department store in Lockport that used to have coins in a carousel that you could spin...that brings back memories

[Matt_dac]

My earliest 'purchase' was an 1853 Seated Liberty quarter. 

I was in the 4th or 5th grade and mowed lawns for a few bucks.  One of my customers was an old lady up the street who had some old coins, among them an 1853 Seated Liberty.  I agreed to mow her lawn for the summer if she gave me that coin.  It was my treasure for decades and almost lost to time in an unmarked shoe box that ended up in the garage.  I lost interest in collecting coins through college and early 30's.  I stumbled upon this box and the coins in my mid-30's.  I looked at all the coins I had in the box (just a handful) including this coin.  I have looked at this coin 1000 times as a kid of course.  Well under magnification I noticed something funky with the date and the arrow.  I did a search online and read about the 1853/4 error.  Hmm....I had never sent a coin in for grading so I decided to send this one in.  It came back as EF45 and confirmed to be the 1853/4!  This reignited my interest in collecting which has remained. 

I sold that coin and used the money to buy my first gold coin. Sadly I don't have a picture of the coin.

Edited March 20, 2019 by Matt_dac

[Coinbuf]

The earliest purchase I have on my spreadsheet is from the US mint, a 1988 Olympic prestige set summer of 1988 for $45.  I know I made purchases from a local bid board before that but just never recorded them.  My first slab purchase I have recorded is my 1909 S/horizontal S still have that coin but have never sent it in for a photo, guess its time to send some coins to Mark Goodman again lol.

 

Edited March 20, 2019 by Coinbuf

[Just Bob]

My first purchase was actually silver bullion, but my next was a group of coins from one of those dealers who took advantage of the boom in the 80s and sent out mailers to people who bought bullion. In the group was this set:

 

To this day, I still have not taken the holder apart and straightened the coins.

Edited March 20, 2019 by Just Bob

[AcesKings]

Aside from buying rolls of wheat cents, this was my first single coin purchase.....(don't have the reverse pic of it?)

 

[BipolarBaby]

One of the first ones if not the first (cant remember due to too consumption of marijuana).

 

[jtryka]

I know I've purchased coins before this one, but as near as I can tell, this is the first coin I ever bought in a Heritage auction back in June of 2000.  It's been a favorite of mine for a long time and is still in my collection.

 

[leeg]

Some cool stuff.

[Numismatic, A.A.S.]

On 3/20/2019 at 12:25 PM, Just Bob said:

My first purchase was actually silver bullion, but my next was a group of coins from one of those dealers who took advantage of the boom in the 80s and sent out mailers to people who bought bullion. In the group was this set:

 

To this day, I still have not taken the holder apart and straightened the coins.

I hoarded so many of those when I was younger...I kept all the "S" cuz I thought they were cool...then sold them years later also...

[szugelder]

I bought a flying eagle cent back in the '70's from a coin shop my dad would would visit every once in a while. They had a bid board - still open today, still go there regularly in Dayton, Ohio. It had been drilled to be worn like a necklace, little to no collector value, got it for $2 or $3, gave it to a coin collecting friend when we moved a few years later from the suburbs to the sticks. 

[jgenn]

The first that I remember was a steel cent for my Whitman folder, quiet a few decades ago, from a coin shop that had a display case with shelves that you could rotate with a push of a button.  That coin, including the folder, was given to a potential young numismatic many years ago.  The coin that got me back into collection was this one:

 

[Numismatic, A.A.S.]

On 3/27/2019 at 9:14 PM, jgenn said:

That coin, including the folder, was given to a potential young numismatic many years ago.  The coin that got me back into collection was this one:

 



That's pretty cool....I wonder if ole ' George himself had a bag full of them...

[thebeav]

I'm sure George had some of these.

More than likely, it was one of these that he threw across (into) the Delaware river.

[toyonakataro]

This is the oldest us coin I still own. I bought it on feb.1st, 1983.  it cost me about 30 dollars 

Edited April 1, 2019 by toyonakataro

[Just Bob]

[dleonard-3]

I remember my first coin purchase about 45 years ago.  My mom was shopping in a book store, and I noticed a little display cabinet with coins in it.  It had all kinds of u.s. coins that I had never laid eyes on before.  I noticed some of the prices on the 2x2's were .10c & .15c for old wheatback pennies.  I had $1.50 (allowance) to spend, so when I asked my mom if I could buy some pennies, she said "why don't you buy one of these penny folders, and try to fill it up with pocket change.  I still bought a few pennies that day to start my collection, and I've been going at it ever since.

[szugelder]

9 minutes ago, dleonard-3 said:

I remember my first coin purchase about 45 years ago.  My mom was shopping in a book store, and I noticed a little display cabinet with coins in it.  It had all kinds of u.s. coins that I had never laid eyes on before.  I noticed some of the prices on the 2x2's were .10c & .15c for old wheatback pennies.  I had $1.50 (allowance) to spend, so when I asked my mom if I could buy some pennies, she said "why don't you buy one of these penny folders, and try to fill it up with pocket change.  I still bought a few pennies that day to start my collection, and I've been going at it ever since.

Cool story but the real question is: did your mom buy the penny album or did she make you spend your allowance? 

[dleonard-3]

Nope, I bought the folder with my allowance money.  It was .99c, which left me with enough to buy 4 pennies too.  The next week, I took my $1.50 allowance and got 3 rolls of pennies at the bank and started searching.

[Walkerfan]

My first ever slabbed Walker from either service.  I purchased it around 1996.  It is in an old NGC number 7, which was their new holder at the time LOL.

Strike is a bit soft but the originality and luster are off the charts.  I sold it in 2011 after holding it for 15 years.

[Joydeep]

My interest in numismatics arose from quarters (most common in circulation). I was heavily invested in quarter collection in the beginning. This was my first serious (i.e. graded & pre-civil war)  purchase:

 

[rrantique]

On 3/15/2019 at 7:24 AM, thebeav said:

This would have to be my earliest purchase. Well, actually, my grandmother bought it for me.

We had a department store here in Buffalo called 'Sattlers'. I think there were a few of them, but the one downtown had a coin department. They had a "Berg-motion case" with the shelves full of coins. I remember standing there with my finger on the button, watching the shelves rotate and looking for something affordable. I think it was the 'moon and star' on this 1947 Turkish 50 Kurus that really intrigued me. 

My maternal grandmother liked to shop downtown, and if I would go with her and behave, the reward would be a coin from Sattlers. I picked out this Turkish coin and she bought it. The year would have been 1963 or 1962.

 

Metal detecting find back in the late 70's.