Welcome to my website devoted to describing my collection of historical objects. I have been interested in collecting historical things since my father introduced me to coin collecting as a child. I will always be grateful for the hours we spent together going through rolls of pennies to try and fill our coin albums.
Naturally, my collecting initially focused only on American coins. I collected (almost) all types: pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, half-dollars, dollars. As the years went on, my collection began approaching a respectably complete state, to the point where the remaining coins that I needed were rather expensive. I began looking online to try and find deals on the remaining coins that I needed. One day I stumbled upon the Exonumia section of eBay and was introduced to the world of medal collecting. I was amazed by the variety and uniqueness of the medals that were listed. Each one told its own story, either about some historical event, person, or place. Some were obscure, some were not. The larger size of medals compared to circulating currency allowed the engravers to truly demonstrate their craft. Many of the medals that I saw looked truly like pieces of art.
And so began the next stage of my collecting. I did not choose a specific category of medal to pursue collecting. Rather, I bought those that looked interesting to me and were within my price range. For each medal that I acquired, I would research it and study the history behind it.
A few years after I began collecting medals, I once again stumbled upon a new chapter in my collecting journey: antique books. I had never been an avid reader, so it still surprises me to this day that I enjoy collecting old books. I think one of the main appeals to me is the fact that I never thought ordinary people could get their hands on antique books. Like many people, I thought that antique books in readable condition were extremely rare and expensive. I had seen old books only in museums and assumed that those were the only places they remained. Needless to say, I was greatly surprised to see how many antique books were available for non-exorbitant prices.
And so my collection has branched out from coins to medals to books. I sometimes wonder if there are still more categories of historical objects for me to stumble upon and take up collecting, but for now I think it is safe to bet that coins, medals, and books will keep me busy collecting for a lifetime. I created this website as a labor of love and with the hope that it may one day help or inspire someone in their collecting.
A friend once asked me: "Don't you get frustrated that you will never be able to have a complete set?" My response was simple: "In the same way that an avid book lover does not get frustrated that they will never be able to read every book in their lifetime, so too am I not frustrated by the immeasurable vastness of what I collect."