How I Became involved in Numismatics

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Unlike the majority of the people who get involved with numismatics, I was required to get involved by myself. My grandparents didn’t leave me an inheritance of rare coins and my parents are more of the “plastic money” type, so when I told them that I wanted to be a numismatist, they just stared at me with a bewildered expression on their face. I guess they never would have expected their 11 year old son to use such an intricate word.


My journey into numismatics began about seven years ago as I was looking through some of my dad’s change. I noticed that he had a brand new 2003 quarter and although the coin was brand new, the second zero in the date was missing. I quickly ran to my dad to show him the coin and ask why it was like that and the answer he had for me was “it probably just wore off.” Even as a little sixth grader, I knew that there was more going on with the coin than it was just “worn.”

In an effort to figure out the issue with my new discovery, I quickly took to the internet. After countless searches, I stumbled upon a coin forum. I posted about the issue with my coin and someone quickly responded, telling me that what I had was a common grease filled die error, and although the coin wasn’t worth more than face value it was still a cool thing to have. Although I was a little disappointed that I hadn’t found a treasure, the experience left me with a hunger to learn more about coins and a passion to research the history of our currency.