I begged and nagged my dad to let me take over his morning job for two weeks and he finally relented and when my friend left for boot camp I had the job. Delivering the Post Intelligence required getting up every morning at 3:30 am and riding my bike about a mile to the pick up place where we had to wrap the paper in wax paper (if it looked like rain) and our paper route boss always thought it looked like rain.
Billy was eleven and had been collecting coins for the 2 years that he had his paper route. He loaned me an article on the ancient Roman God Mercury, I started collecting Mercury Dimes. My dad and mom were married just before the Great Depression and did not believe in a free allowance. However, I made money by mowing lawns and selling gallon buckets of wild blackberries (3 hours of picking) for a dollar. So I had a small source for coins before the great paper route job.
Billy had a great collection of Barber dimes, Mercury dimes, Barber halves, and Walking Liberty halves.
There was a small coin and stamp shop at White Center which was a two mile ride on our bikes and after collection day (4 or 5 hours every Saturday morning) we would go to the coin & stamp shop which also sold all kinds of candy and ice cream. There we would treat ourselves to some goodies and Billy would trade his worn coins for uncirculated coins. In those days there were only a few coin collectors around and you could get real quality coins for next to nothing. Every collection day was like a treasure hunt because Billy had told his paper route customers he wanted to be paid in silver dollars or new silver change (the paper was .75 cents a week delivered) and if the customer wasn't home you waited another week for your money. However, you had to pay the route boss every week and if you didn't he would fire you. This also made me a bill collector when I took over my route.
Bill had developed this plan and it worked, he told them if they paid him in bright shiny new coins or in Barber coins, he would always make sure their paper was dry and on the front porch. Those who tested this approach spent about a week or two getting soggy papers or papers left out in the front yard and they appreciated it when he began delivering them on the front porch again, after they paid in new silver change.
The old German coin dealer explained that we were very lucky to have two treasure hunts every Saturday. Every Saturday afternoon he showed us how to grade different coins and went on to show us that grading coins was the fine art of discernment and when you could objectively see the coin for what it was and it's every detail without putting anything on it, not worrying about the price, or allowing any thought distract the mind, and that's when you learned the art and mental power of discernment, this new power would let you look on all things with the same pure clear mind.
That summer of 1941 was a turning point of my life, Billy's dad moved to another state, so Billy left, the immigration authorities hauled the old German off to an enemy detention camp and I became hooked on coin collecting and the treasure hunt. However, the most exciting was learning the art of discernment.
Life is about choices, discernment is perception, viewing, seeing in minute detail every square sentimental, every part and feature of the item you are looking at not missing any detail no matter how small. This ability once developed by the mind can be used not only for whatever reality is directly in front of you, but it is the foundation on which you can move forward into the higher levels of perceptive abilities. Such remote viewing or becoming one with the overmind and open up your creative powers.
The path of life is enlivened and quickened by all treasure hunts, both outwardly and inwardly and like the obverse and reverse are both sides of a single coin. Direct perception is the power of the observer in creative action.
Creativity in all it's various forms is godlike in action. This is the place of joy and fulfillment that lives in the heart of every human spirit.
In simpler terms, luck comes more often to the person who spends time looking for and creating luck and then knows it when they see it. Most things are lost in life by non-attention, including your money. So start the game of mental evolution by collecting what you enjoy and the rest comes naturally, like breathing.
Understanding the game you are playing is where luck begins. Direct perception is the mind opener.
Good hunting.
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There is a very interesting article by my friend Fred Schwan "Values-What's It Worth", this is out of his best selling new numismatic book "The Comprehensive Catalog on Military Payment Certificates". Not only is he a master writer and researcher, but master collector.
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Best Regards,
Jim Kellison