A Walker for the Pocket Collection

Today I added a 1918-D Walking Liberty Half to my Pocket Collection (these are low value coins from the late 19th and early 20th century that I carry with me, loose in my pocket).

I have a few more coins coming for this collection: a Barber Half, a Peace Dollar, some Liberty nickels and some Barber dimes.  It's a fun and very different way to collect and of course you can show your collection anywhere you happen to be!

A Pocket Collection could be from any period: the Civil War, the Roaring Twenties, the Fifties, the Seventies - whatever you like.

It's a collection where you don't worry about grade, where nothing is protected by plastic, where you don't have to wear gloves or handle the coins by their edges. You can hand one of your coins to someone and not panic if they drop it on the floor.

For me, it brings back some of the pleasure I had collecting as a kid in the 50's. These walkers were still in circulation then and even Barbers and Indian Heads would turn up now and then.

A Pocket Collection is for fun. It's up close and personal, not sealed in plastic and hidden in a bank vault.  It's coins you can touch, spin, jingle in your pocket.

Speaking of jingling, it's been a long time since I have heard the melodic sound of real silver coins. That's yet another reason I enjoy carrying these in my pocket - I haven't heard that jingle since the 60's!

Update: Just after writing this, the Barber half I ordered for this collection showed up.  It's a 1915-S, well worn and with some rim damage - really a perfect coin for this collection!

See also A different way to collect coins.

Note: All my coins are in a safe deposit box. I keep nothing in my home.

Contests and giveaways: http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html

To cull or not to cull

I've been working on my pocketful of culls collection ( http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/12/a-cull-dollar.html).  It's coming along nicely, thank you:

I have a few more coins to add, but take a look at the Indian Heads.  They are  low grade, scratches or minor rim dings. Perfectly fine for my pocket and I bought a lot of four for $8 including shipping.  In one sense that's ridiculous as I could buy a roll of IHC's for $50 or less, but I don't need or want fifty of them; I just want a few for my pocket, so I was fine with that.

You'll notice just three coins in that picture, though.  The fourth I just couldn't bear to consign to my pocket.  It does have a tiny, tiny bit of rim damage at 7:00 o'clock obverse, but my gosh:

Aside from that very minor scrape, this coin is a solid XF/AU.  Some Young Numismatist of limited means would be very happy to have that.  Maybe that's what I'll do with it - I wonder if PCGS would give it a net XF grade?  

Note:  All my coins are in a safe deposit box.  I keep nothing in my home.
Contests and giveaways: http://coins.aplawrence.com/2014/05/contests-and-giveaways.html

A Cull Dollar

It has been a long, long time since I have carried a real silver dollar loose in my pocket.  I was thinking about that the other day and decided I'd order a cull Morgan so that I could do that.

When I opened the package, I was surprised to see what at first glance looked like a VF coin. Closer inspection revealed deep scratches and dings, but as a pocket piece, I was quite happy.  Scratches are better than something worn down to AG, I think.

With that now bouncing around in my jeans, I thought "why not do the rest?".  That is, why not recreate the pocket change of the early 1900's?  A few cull Barbers, V nickels and some cull Indian heads - why not?

I know, nutty.  But still a fun idea.