King=the new Prince of Pickles! The Vassar of the Vlasic!
Musie, this is something I posted on the eBay coin forum I belong to answering the question, "When did you start collecting coins?" The old-timer I mentioned, Joe Hazard deserves more props than just one forum, so I thought I'd give his memory a little more by posting it here. Plus, your thread gets bumped back to page 1! God bless.
Great topic. For me, when I was a little kid I would get foreign coins from relatives when they went on vacation and "silver dollars" (Ikes) for my birthday. When I got a little older, my grandfather gave me the coins he got in WW2 in the Pacific and about the same time my great-uncle started showing me his collection. I was amazed at the Indian cents, buffalo nickles and especially the real silver dollars. I loved, as I still do, the sound and feel of silver coins. When I was about 12, I started visiting "The Coin Shoppe" on Main Street in my home town, just down the road from my house. The old-timer that ran the store, Joe Hazard (God rest his soul,) taught me so much about coins. I would spend the money I earned mowing lawns on different coins. At first I could only afford what today I would consider junk, but I worked my way up through large cents, 3-cent nickles, Barbers, commemoratives, until I reached the mountain. I believe a choir or angles sang when I bought my first well-worn silver dollar (a 1924 Peace if memory serves me.) When I turned 14 and had a real job washing dishes, I bought my first uncirculated Morgan, an '85-O. Again the choir of angles sang and I was in love. Most boys fell in love with young girls. I fell in love with a woman. She was 92 years old at the time and I am still in love with her today. I saved all summer and bought a choice BU 1878-CC Morgan dollar from old Joe (there was no MS this or that back then) and still have the coin today. I have every coin I ever bought from Joe and remember every lesson he taught me. Well, a few years passed and Joe retired and closed his shop. Fortunately, he lived a few streets away from me. I used to go visit him. He would pull coins out of his collection to show me them. He would often say' "You want it? You can have it for $$$," which was always far less than what it was worth. Looking back, I feel bad for Joe that none of his children or grandchildren wanted to share his hobby with him. I was his apprentice by default. I am very fortunate and grateful that he took me under his wing. Now, my collection is very valuable with a lot of type coins, but consisting mostly of BU Morgans (yes, the choir of angles still sings whenever I buy one!) Sorry to be so long-winded, but Joe Hazard deserves it. It is because of guys like him that guys (and girls) like us enjoy our great hobby so.
by charlesrivercoppersmith (212)