I started collecting a long time ago. I got rid of most of my late American coins when I weighed that lot at over 200 pounds. Now the collection is a more managable 100+ pounds. I have coins dating from the late 1880's to 1970's form all of Europe, Asia, most South American, Phillipeans, and a couple of African countries. The earliest American coin I have is an 1884-CC Morgan Dollar.
Best part of my personal collection is that I never once bought any of my coins. Most are aquired from my travells in the Navy and some from my Dad when he was in the AF.
My wife used to work at a gas station part time years ago and this guy came in and bought a carton of cigs. She took his coins that he paid with and noticed someting was a little off about them. When I went to pick her up she showed them to me. I paid her the face value of the coins for the register and took them home. One of the coins was the 1884-CC Morgan Dollar which is valued at over $600. He bought a carton of cigs with over $1100 worth of coins.
Point is, You just have to keep an eye out on the coins that fall into your own hands at one point and you just might get lucky. Get a collectors book to educate yourself. Even just the mint mark and year can mean the diffrence of a dime or a dime worth $20.
Good luck and happy hunting!!
