I am new to the WINS group so I will introduce myself and give a short bio. My name is Dale Hallmark and I was born the middle child of three in Central Texas in 1955. By the time I went to school both parents worked so for at least part of the day I was a latch-key kid. This led to all kinds of interesting incidents that I won't recite here.

Even at an early age I was a coin collector at heart as I remember pestering my parents and grandparent for a chance to look at their change even though I didn't get to keep any. I was fascinated by the different designs. There were so many different designs in pocket change in those days. There were of course the coins commonly encountered today in the US as well as Wheat-back cents and Steel cents too along with Mercury dimes, Standing Liberty quarters, Ben Franklin halves, Walking Liberty halves, and Morgan and Peace dollars.

By the time I was 12, I was getting an allowance of 25 cents a week and I did collect some cents and a few Mercury dimes and an occasional Buffalo nickel. I would get a Standing Liberty quarter sometimes too but none of these coins stayed in my collection for very long as I often heard the call of a Slo Poke sucker and a grape Ne-Hi soft drink calling my name. But I would replace the coins as soon as I could until the next time the candy isle at the local store took precedence over keeping my little collection intact.

During a long illness where I was stuck in the bed for weeks and weeks and weeks, my Grandfather would often sit with me while my parents were at work. He told the most wonderful stories of his life during the early 20th Century in Texas. He also presented me with an 1854-o half-dime that I could stare at for hours and try to imagine what it had seen and where it had been. I still have that one in spite of unfortunate events later. Out of sheer boredom I read the Wordbook of Encyclopedia until that set was nearly worn out. I think that created in me a curiosity about the World that would later lead to collecting world coins. I survived the illness though that was never a sure thing and like most teens, interest in other things replaced interest in my coin collection for a while.

I was married in 1974 and collected coins again until mid to late 1980's when my home was burglarized and almost all was lost. A nice grouping of coins, guns, TV, guitar and some misc other stuff was taken and never recovered. I still had my junk box of coins that was overlooked. I never collected guns again after that and never intended to collect coins again for that matter. The US State quarter series re-awakened my interest in coins though I resisted for most of the first year until Nov of 1999.

Collecting coins by series was an easy habit to pick up again as I had done that in the past. I also collect some non-US coins, medals and tokens. I tend to collect from an area and then go off on a tangent for a while. So what are the coins de jour for me presently? I really like all Austrian coins tokens and medals (especially the rectangular art type medals), modern US Commemoratives, Washington Quarters and World Crown sized coins. The German 2, 5 and 10 Mark coins as well as the German Euro commemoratives are another area that I pursue occasionally. Sounds like a lot but it may be several months between acquisitions in some areas.

I am still married and have a 25 year old daughter and a 17 year old son, neither of whom have any interest in coins what so ever. I do have a nephew who is 15 and an avid collector and I get a kick out of helping him out with a few coins now and again. I think everyone should encourage young collectors at every opportunity.

Dale Hallmark