This story is on how I became a collector. My Grandma and Grandpa were taking me and my siblings to an antiques show. I was excited because I was hoping that we would get to see some Pokemon there! That's right, we were huge Pokemon collectors back then. I still remember when I discovered that the Charizard I got from my Dad's binder was worth about $50! We got there, I didn't see any Pokemon, but I found a much greater treasure. I was looking at a table with pocket knives when I saw that the table had about 5 or 6 different coins in the case. I looked at them, and finally chose to buy a 1912 D wheat cent, and a 1939 D mercury dime with brilliant luster! As I was walking back to the car a gentleman gave me a piece of advice that all collectors should follow, "Don't touch the coin, only hold it by it's edges. I never did take the coins out of the 2x2 they were contained in, and to this day, both of them are still in my collection. When we got back to their house, I remembered that they had a huge coin jar upstairs, I went up, dumped out the coin jar, and started looking through all the coins, seeing if I could find some old coins. I found 4 wheat cents that day, which became the start of my wheat cent collection. Later, as all my siblings were searching through the coin jar, one exclaimed, "I found a penny from 1904!" We went over and, sure enough, there was a Indian Head penny, dated 1904. We searched up how much it was worth, and google told us it was worth, $10,000 to $15,000. To make a long story short, we freaked out. Grandpa did some more research and discovered that that value was only for a proof (We didn't know what a proof was back then) and that the coin would only be worth about $5. Still, a penny worth $5 is a big profit, and we got the coin craze. I found probably 3 more wheat cents, before falling into a coin collecting slump. One Sunday, we were driving down the road, when we saw a sign that said, "Phil's Coins!" We NEEDED to go there. We begged and begged our parents until they told us that we could go to Phil's Coins. We drove there, and my mind was blown. There was more coins than I ever thought possible! I marveled over the brilliant uncirculated Morgan's, and over the 1909 S VDB. I ended up buying a 1909 VDB, and a bulk sack of wheat cents. At that time I had checked out the Red Book 2017 edition from our local library, and was getting the general idea of what coin prices were. We went again, and at that time I was working on a set of semi-key date Lincoln cents. I saw a flyer for a coin show, and we convinced our parents, once again, to take us there. We got there, and we were ecstatic. There was coins everywhere! I had about $50 to spend and ended up spending all of it. I spent part of it on a 1924 D semi-key date Lincoln Cent, I also bought 2 Lincoln Bicentennial coins, which became the start of my Lincoln Bicentennial collection, of which I am proud to say has 10 of every of the 4 reverse designs picked from circulation. We then fell into another, longer, collecting slump. Then, this summer our family decided to go to Colorado for a summer vacation. I asked if we could go to the ANA Money Museum and they said that we could. We got there and spent a good 2 hours looking at the exhibits. For any of you who haven't been there, I highly recommend going, it is packed with Numismatic anything! I got home and sent in the YN dollar request for going there. I also started doing blogs on this website to get YN dollars for the YN auction. The last week before the auction I think I earned something like YN110? I did the YN auction and had a blast, it still amazes me how many YN's are active in this kind of stuff. I have did a talk at my school about Numismatics, and two of my classmates are going to do the coins for A's program! One of my friends is actively searching his coins for oldies, and has a collection going! I also keep getting ideas from bloggers on this website! All of you are amazing, and I hope you continue to share your ideas and thoughts! Happy hunting!