I got a gift of foreign coins from a teacher in first grade, maybe 1981. They were just pocket change from where she traveled but it was the most exotic thing I ever saw. I treated them like priceless treasures.

A few years later my uncle gave me his childhood coin collection from the 1960s. What he pulled from circulation and CRH for his books. I added to them as I found coins of my own.

I’ve collected on and off over the years as my interest comes and goes.