Updated 3/9/13
Welcome to Collection Connection, a site I've developed for the purpose of sharing pictures and commentary about my favorite hobby, collecting U.S. coins! My name is John, and I have collected coins since I was a kid in the mid-1970s. My favorites include the Flying Eagle/Indian Head Cent, Large and Half Cents, as well as Silver Dollars. I also have an extensive collection of U.S. Proof sets, dating back to 1950 featuring at least one from every year. I am constantly on the lookout for upgrade coins, on an endless quest to find the best quality examples I can afford. If you have any comments or questions (or if you have a coin you think I might be interested in!!), I would love to hear from you! Just click HERE to contact me directly.
TO READ THE COOLEST STORY EVER ABOUT A COIN FIND (and my debut writing effort in the magazine Coin World), CLICK HERE.
About the coins pictured on this site:
The header image is made up exclusively of coins in my collection. Large photos of each coin can be found in the appropriate galleries.
All coins pictured here are from my personal collection unless otherwise noted and are not for sale (sorry!). I have also chosen to display or highlight a couple of sets of coins that I no longer own simply because many of the coins were magnificent and I felt they are worth sharing with you.
My Large Cent collection is a date set, and is complete as of January 2013. All Large Cents were minted at the Philadelphia Mint. Many of my coins are better grade in this set. A lot of the large cents I've seen (and owned, for that matter!) have been very low-grade coins, and problem coins with significant damage or corrosion. I'm fascinated by the Large Cent because of it's place in U.S. history (1793-1857). Like knowing that George Washington was our first President when the very early ones were circulating. Or that the Large Cent Series ENDED several years before Abraham Lincoln became President! These coins were circulating from shortly after the Declaration of Independence was written to shortly before the Civil War started. Just imagine who might have had one of these amazing copper coins in their pocket: George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, or even Abraham Lincoln. Wow! Click HERE to view my large cents.
The Flying Eagle set is complete (except of course for the 1856!! And if you have one of THOSE for sale, I'd LOVE to buy it, but the several thousand dollars price tag is gonna keep it out of my reach for many many years, I'd expect...) and all are uncirculated examples. I have worked for years to find "the best" in terms of strike and condition (within my budget, of course!), and finally added the last uncirculated Flying Eagle on 10/18/10. Click HERE to see these three beauties!
I got my start collecting coins in the mid-70s with the Indian Head Cent series. Over the years, I've upgraded my set (which is complete!) to the point where I now have only ONE coin that does NOT have a full "Liberty" on the headband. And I'm up to 38 Indians in Uncirculated condition, many of which are the "tough" dates (from the1860s and 1870s). I even own a couple of PROOF examples! Click HERE to check out my Indian Head Cents.
In Silver Dollars, I've completed a date set of Morgans, plus a few of the popular varieties. Most are uncirculated. A date set is not too expensive to build, even in higher grades, with the exception of a few of the key dates (like the 1893 and 1895). And I've been fortunate enough to also acquire several Trade and even Seated Liberty Dollars! Check out all of my dollars by clicking HERE.
I've recently been spending more time on my Half Cent collection, and am pleased to now have 25 different dates in my set, many of which are higher grade coins. There are a total of 46 Half Cents in all, but many of those are very expensive limited issues (like in the 1840s up to the 50s). Click HERE to see them.
I'm not much into U.S. Gold coins (too expensive to build date sets!), but have put together a type set of the denominations for $1, $2 1/2,$3, $5, $10 & $20 gold pieces. Check out my gold set HERE.