POINT PLEASANT BEACH — Collectors of all ages swung by Ocean Fire Co. 1 last Thursday for the Ocean County Coin Club’s (OCCC) annual April coin show.
Over a dozen tables with numerous dealers, hobbyists and their displays filled the firehouse hall on April 18, both trading and admiring each others’ collections. These collections included those of the club’s youngest members, the Young Numismatists (YNs). Coin club member Jeff Thompson told The Ocean Star about “numismatism,” the collecting of coins.
“It’s the collecting — and understanding — of coins,” he said, “and it’s as simple or as complicated as you’d like to make it.”
“Probably one of my favorite coins would be an 1877 Indian head penny — it’s the rarest coin that I have,” he said. “It happens to be one of the least-minted Indian head pennies; it’s very rare.”
Douglas Ball, vice president of the Ocean County Coin Club, showed The Ocean Star a portion of his collection. He also gave insight as to his fascination with the hobby of coins, from his initial interest to present day. His collection included coins from different eras as well as geographic locations.
“I first got into collecting coins when I was a 10-year-old kid on a paper route,” said Ball. “That’s probably the way most collectors started. For many, many years I had put it aside, and didn’t pay any attention to it. Then, when I got to be about 45 years old I started back into the hobby. Like so many people, what do you do in those middle years? You get more interested in sports, in girls, in getting married…Then you get a little older and you look for hobbies again.”
“All this stuff you accumulate over years and years,” he said. “My favorite coins I have are early American coins; coins from the early 1800s or even the late 1700s, because they’re very historic. You think, ‘George Washington could’ve had this coin in his pocket just walking around at one point.’”
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