By :
Mark Etinger
My grandmother collected coins among other things. She collected stamps, rocks, and stickers but they were small collections of significant pieces that she would one day sell or divvy up for her children and grandchildren to sell. One of her stamps is putting my brother through college!But there was nothing like her coin collection it was quite extensive and was filled with coins that were worth next to nothing all the way up to coins that were worth quite a hefty sum of money. These were usually coins she would be in auctions.I will never forget the time that my grandmother took me to an auction where she was hoping to purchase some coin supplies and a few coins for her collection. I watched her go up to and examine some of the coins beforehand. She brought her magnifying glass with her and scrutinized each coin.I was always fascinated by the large old coins of English trading ships like shillings and pence. They usually didn't sell for much and my grandmother bought me a few. They were one of those coins that weren't really worth much.Instead of heading straight for the larger coins, my grandmother would inexplicably head toward the pennies spread on the auction table. I could never understand this and I remember asking her why she did this. Out of her pocket she pulled a folded up article from a newspaper. It was about a very small amount of pennies that had accidentally been double stamped. Only a few hundred of these pennies exist in the world and they're worth a lot of money. Thousands and thousands of time more than their face value. She would look at each coin in turn and shake her head. This was her Holy Grail. This would be the perfect addition to her coin collection.She went to countless auctions and as far as I'm aware never found a double stamped penny. One of the things that came of this, however, is how I view coinage. I still have a piece of my grandmother's collection that contains some of those large old coins she bought me. But I've kind of taken up her cause and have been searching for double stamped pennies to this very day. Every time I get change in the store or see a penny on the street, I look at it to make sure it's not Grandma's Holy Grail. Maybe someday I'll get to add it to my coin collection and be able to pass it down to my grandchildren.
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