Younger folks: When did you discover that some coins were silver?

Teknowaffle · Jul 30, 2011

I am either 25 or 26. I will have to ask my wife as I am never sure.

Anyway, in sorting through the change at a neighbor's house today I recounted my first experience with silver coins.

I was about 10 years old, and I was with my father at a Fudruckers burger restaurant (that place sounds so dirty) in Potomac Maryland. I put a dollar into a change machine to get quarters for the arcade. When they came out my father heard that one sounded different, and grabbed the change, and looked and saw there was a 1953 quarter in there. That was his birth year, so he took it out, and kept it (it was my dollar though) and told me:

"This is a silver coin. You don't see these often. If you find one, keep it."

Since then I haven't let a coin go by without checking.

legend76 · Jul 30, 2011

About that same age.

mleblanc138 · Jul 30, 2011

Just about 6 months ago, I was googling "Silver Investing" and came across the difference between Copper and Zinc Pennies. Somehow that also led to me reading about Silver Coins still in circulation. What truely hooked me though, was when I decided to try it out. I walked into my only bank at the time and asked for Half Dollars. The first one they showed me was a 1969. I knew it was 40% Silver and I said "Oh my gosh, I want that!" I walked out of that bank with 3 40%s thinking "this is going to be easy." It wasn't quite as easy as I thought it would be, but it's been addicting. I've been 21 the whole time.

Numismaniac · Jul 30, 2011

I figured it out in the late 1970's when I was a young teenage. My Grandfather was a coin collector and he showed me silver dimes, quarters, halves, dollars etc. Also learned about war nickels from him. Been pulling them out of circulation ever since then. Mostly just in change and such until about 12 years ago when I started CRHing in earnest. I used to get quite a few war nics in change and even some silver dimes when I was younger. Didn't find too many quarters or halves.... I think about when I cashed in about $70 in my "Piggy Bank" when I was just a kid. Probably around 1971 or so to buy a bike. I would bet most of the change in that thing was silver as it had been saved thru the 1960s.... Oh well... I'm not too greedy. I've gotten at least my share of silver

Gilmore Happy · Jul 30, 2011

Discovered it 3 months ago. This is very interesting....I worked at a retail job for over 3 years and kept all the "weird" looking coins including a merc, as I had to count the change in the registers every night. Up until 3 moths ago when I discovered CRH, didnt have a clue that they were 90% silver. AND AND AND, I have been investing in .999silver for over 2 years now....how the hell does one not know about junk silver when investing in .999bullion?? Junk silver is the term that clued me, and was the gateway that allowed me to discover CRH.

Now I get my .999 for free, GIGGIDDITTY

Gilmore Happy · Jul 30, 2011

Gilmore Happy said:
Discovered it 3 months ago. This is very interesting....I worked at a retail job for over 3 years and kept all the "weird" looking coins including a merc, as I had to count the change in the registers every night. Up until 3 moths ago when I discovered CRH, didnt have a clue that they were 90% silver. AND AND AND, I have been investing in .999silver for over 2 years now....how the hell does one not know about junk silver when investing in .999bullion?? Junk silver is the term that clued me, and was the gateway that allowed me to discover CRH.

Now I get my .999 for free, GIGGIDDITTY

Im 29 yrs old

DarkRider23 · Jul 30, 2011

I'm 21 and I just found out about 3 months ago. I cringe every time I think about all the coins I cashed in at coin counting machines over the years =/.

kennedyfan · Jul 30, 2011

I'm not a younger person but I had to respond! I'm in my mid-40s now, and I didn't have any idea about any of this until earlier this year when some friends opened my eyes to non-mainstream approaches to our economic situation. It's astonishing that never in my life had I heard anything about our coins formerly having had some intrinsic value, and losing that value right around the time I was born. Who knows how many silver coins found their way into my pockets during my childhood and my adult life, only to be spent right again. Heck, for all I know, some of the silver that we're hunting now was in my possession before!

treeslayer · Jul 31, 2011

My grandfather started me coin collecting when I was 7 or 8 . He was a toll attendant in a village parking garage and had access to alot of coins. This was in the 60s and 70s. I still have the first coins he gave me.

AgRockStar · Jul 31, 2011

I'm 26...and just learned in April.

Was never into coins. Found a Silver/PM thread on a forum, started getting into it. Hell my parents who are 46 & 47 didn't know until I told them either. My Mom has always kept "old" coins, but had no idea they contained silver. Been into CRH'ing since April, but haven't yielded much results since I'm in a dry area!

fistfulladirt · Jul 31, 2011

I'm a young 49 lol! I started collecting at about 12. Grandma worked at the post office in a tiny town in Mich (Pewamo). She gave me lots of mercs that she found, in the early 1980's, as I found interest in silver coins.

BuffaloBoy · Jul 31, 2011

I was introduced into coin collecting around the year 1999 or 2000. I really never was serious into coin collecting until one day when my grandfather gave me a jar of coins, old coins. The mix was a lot of silver washington's a sew SLQ's roosies and mercs. along with the BU roll of 1964 kennedy half dollars he gave me. I ripped open the sealed roll from 1964 and now the coins are AU but loose in an envalope. I wish I never tore apart the origional wrapper. Also, what he gave me was a bag of 4 silver dollars, 2 morgans and 2 peace.

Anyway, I have been into CRH for the past 3 years, but the last year and a half, I have been way more into this since I can order many half dollar boxes from my only supply bank of halves. I started out with box of pennies which I felt weird asking for, since I first was asking for $10 in pennies. The teller suggested a box of pennies, and that's what started CRH. I eventually moved onto nickels, them dimes. did 1 box of quarters, my only box so far. And I am up to 20 boxes of halves which I started in january of this year. I had beginner's luck and my first box had a 1964 ender on it. The box ended up with 1x 90%(1964 ender) and 6x 40% halves. Weird thing is, the 1964 half dollar and a 40% half dollar had black sharpie on the back of the coins, same style mark just in different spots.