Tom Reynolds Collection Pt.1

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uring the Summer of 1953, I was 12 going on 13. I lived in Des Moines, IA and I

was

too young to get a job. It was a long boring Summer and the neighbor boy, who lived

next door and was 11, and I were looking for something to do. I do not remember which

one of us came up with the idea to buy some blue Whitman Tri-Fold albums for coins and

to fill them.

My only source of money was my 50 cents a week allowance and money I earned mowing

lawns, shoveling snow and doing odd jobs for the neighbors. With limited resources, we

decided to each fill a album for Lincoln cents (1909-1940). After acquiring our albums,

our next stop was a local bank to get $5 worth of cent rolls for each of us. We carefully

inspected each coin in a roll to see if a “hole” needed to be filled in our brand new albums.

If the hole was filled, we went to the next coin in the roll. Our job was to fill the holes, not

put quality coins in the holes. (After we became “experienced” collectors, we would check

the potential new coin to see if it was better than the coin in the album.) After we finished

going through the rolls , we would go back in the bank and “swap” them for $5 of new

rolls. (We also learned to initial the rolls so we didn’t go through them more than once.)

After we had inspected all the rolls at one bank, we would move on to other banks, grocery

stores, drug stores, etc. In those days , no one objected to swapping rolls of coins. Today

the bank would count the contents to be sure none of the coins were missing.

All Summer we looked through rolls of cents and our albums were filling up. Pretty soon

I had every hole filled except for 1909-S, 1909-S V.D.B., 1924-D and 1931-S. I found two

1914-D cents along the way, so I went downtown to the Royal Union Building to the shop

of Art Kagin to do some “trading”. Soon I owned only one 1914-D but I had the 1909-S,

1924-D and 1931-S. I didn’t own a 1909-S V.D. B. until many years later.

We then decided to collect Indian Head cents, Jefferson nickels, Liberty nickels, Buffalo

nickels, Mercury dimes and Roosevelt dimes. In the early 1950’s, Indian head cents, Liberty nickels, Buffalo nickels, Barber dimes,

Mercury dimes, Barber quarters, Standing quarters, Barber halves and Walking halves were still in circulation. Morgan and Peace

dollars were available at the banks in quantities for face value. Occasionally, seated coins and Shield nickels were snatched from

circulation. We also collected quarters and half dollars but silver dollars were too costly, at face value, for our modest budgets. (By the

way, the neighbor boy still lives in Des Moines and still collects coins. I see him at shows in the Des Moines area.)

During high school and college, my collections gathered dust in the back of my closet. In January 1964, I graduated from Drake

University. Prior to graduation, I had been working for Equitable Life of Iowa on a part time basis. For those of you who remember,

1964 was during the “roll boom” when collectors bought rolls of uncirculated coins as a investment. My boss was a roll collector and

talking coins with him rekindled my interest. Soon I was back to collecting coins but it was no longer possible to find collector coins in

rolls.

During the balance of the 1960’s and the early 1970’s, I ran hot and hot on collecting coins. It depended on how much extra money I

had. In 1970 I joined the Early American Coppers. By the mid-1970’s, the coin market was starting to heat up and I began to acquire

an example of each Sheldon number. Condition wasn’t all that important, just as when I began collecting Lincoln cents. During the

1970’s, it was possible to “cherry pick” rare varieties. In June 1978, I picked a 1798 NC1 at a small mall show in Omaha. In October I

picked a 1798 NC2 at the same show but from a different dealer. Since I had the two rarest varieties of 1798, I decided to specialize in

1798’s and get the balance of the 46 varieties. I started upgrading my 1798’s as well as acquiring other Sheldon numbers missing from

my collection.

In January 1980, I set up as a dealer for the first time. If I sold everything in my case for what it was marked, I would have taken in

$2700. I actually sold $200 worth of coins and I was hooked. I was working full time in the insurance industry and attending area

shows on the weekends. By the Fall of 1986, I was still working full time and going to MANY shows. On October 31, 1986, I left the

insurance industry to become a full time coin dealer.

In 1992, Ted Naftzger sold his amazing collection of early date large cents. After seeing his high grade, choice coins, I made a decision

to collect early dates by variety in the highest grade and condition that I could afford. Some varieties just don’t come nice so none will

be found in my collection. During the past 20 years, some of the varieties missing from my collection became available that met my

criteria but cost more than I could afford. The result is that I don’t have a complete variety set but, for the most part, the quality is very

nice. Many from the Ted Naftzger Collection.

This sale is dedicated to my pals Molly, Cindy and Bobby.

EYNOLD

OLLECTIO

PART I