Many years in the infancy of my desire to collect U.S. Coins and Currency, I was just like most other aspiring collectors. Very eager, and very motivated to start a collection. One of the first books I've had the pleasure to purchase and read, was the 1985 edition of Whitman Publishing's "The Red Book to U.S. Coins". Gazing over the beautiful photos of each series was an exciting journey. I can distinctly remember that the Draped Bust half cents and large cents were the coins I wanted to have. So I made it a mission to save up and read up as much as I can so that I have a general idea of what I wanted. Not paying any attention to prices or rarity. However, when I made my first trip to the Brick & Mortar in Dover, DE to make my first early copper purchase, I was met with disappointment as most examples were in the hundreds of dollars. Much more than my $30 budget (god bless you dad for the allowance that weekend). All in all, I was able to start out with several Indian Cents, a V nickel, and a couple proof quarters.
On this brisk fall day, I was unable to make my first wanted purchase. But it was an eye opening experience, and for a couple reasons. First of all, it was a lot different to see coins in print compared to in person. I think the illusion that most coins look like what was in the Red Book photo references was a true realization that grade plays a wide open range of possibilities. Second, the shop owner was more than forthcoming to provide much information that the Red Book did not. Which at the time, was confusing. But to make a counterpoint, I was only 8 years old at the time. So my scope of knowledge and information retention was very much still developing. But boy what an initial experience that was!
Prefacing education in our title, I spent the next decade up and through my final years in high school buying books and retaining everything I possibly could. Some books were a few dollars, some were $50 or more. The only thing I knew was, that this was going to be an investment on my future as an experienced and budding numismatist in the hobby. There's no other bigger buy in collecting than that of your educational development. In closing, I encourage all that want to be a part of one of the most storied and intriguing hobbies, to go out and read all of the fantastic material. Because "knowing" will be the most important skill you will have in coins & currency.
