Coin lovers gather to admire, acquire treasures

Coin enthusiasts of all ages filled the Nevada State Museum Saturday to admire - and possibly acquire - something new and shiny for their collections.

Fred Lanman, sitting at Dan Wilson's booth and representing Downtown Coins, a shop on Telegraph Street, said he has been collecting coins for most of his life.

"They're a very good investment, for one thing," Lanman said, "and they're pretty. The economy would have to get really ugly before they wouldn't be worth anything."

Reaching into the display case, Lanman pulls out a shiny vintage silver dollar, pointing to the tiny CC imprint.

"Carson City silver dollars - that's what everyone wants," he said. "They can run anywhere up to $5,000. It's a bad thing that they quit making them. The United States makes good coins, they're all beautiful, but Carson's are especially good."

And gold coins are exceptionally beautiful, Lanman said, with each containing a full ounce of gold.

"Gold was at $1,260 an ounce this morning, but a coin itself is worth a lot more than that," he said.

"A lot of people collect foreign coins. I don't have that many, myself. There are just so many coins to collect, you can't collect them all. You have to specialize," he said.

James Glover's two sons, 11-year-old Luke and 14-year-old Nathan were thoroughly enjoying the show Saturday.

Luke, who was just starting his collection Saturday, was admiring some Asian coins.

"I'm planning on starting today, and I just bought this pretty interesting coin from Hong Kong for $1. It's a $5 coin," he said.

"I found some pretty interesting Asian coins in the treasure chest. There were some aluminum ones. I've always been interested in Asian culture," Luke said.

Nathan, however, said he has been collecting for a number of years, so was really happy a couple of weeks back when he saw the flier advertising the museum's annual coin show.

"I just instantly wanted to go," he said.

He explained his interest was piqued years ago when his grandmother gave him a Folger's can full of wheat pennies.

"That's what got me started, and I usually ask my dad if I can go through the coins in his pockets. I look for errors, steel pennies, old dates and silver quarters and dimes," Nathan said.

Deborah Stevenson, curator of education for the museum, said the mood for the Friday and Saturday show was particularly upbeat.

"Of all the shows I've worked on, I've seen the most smiles at this one," Stevenson said. "Everyone is very relaxed and having a good time. Most of the dealers say this is one of their favorites. This is a place where everyone comes together to learn and have fun."