Coin Collecting

I have fond memories
Of my father bringing home
Sacks of coins,
Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters
For us to search through
For the occasional rarities there.
My brother, Lee,
Had the most extensive
Collection of any of us.
He even managed
To find a 1909 svdb penny,
A gold coin
And quite a number
Of other valuable pieces.
Back in the early sixties,
There were barber dimes,
Buffalo nickels,
Indian head pennies
And lots of others coins
That would make the collectors
Of today drool,
And they were all
Still in general circulation.
Since we lived in Las Vegas
Silver dollars, the real ones
From the 1800’s and early 1900’s
Were as plentiful as dollar bills.
That was before the silver in them
Became more valuable
Than the coins themselves
And most of them were melted down.
We certainly weren’t
The only ones looking though,
Because in a few short years,
There wasn’t much left to be found.
Eventually we gave up collecting,
And what we each hoarded
Disappeared, was sold off
Or was simply added to the stuff
We accumulated over the years.
Just imagine how many
Such coin collections
Are hidden away in storage
Just waiting to be found
By someone sorting through
The piles of junk
That some coin retentive person
Horded in years past!