Collecting
How a Few Nickels Grew Into a Multi-Million Dollar Coin Collection
William Morton-Smith was cleaning out his grandfather’s old desk when he found a handful of coins. He found out they were worth thousands. That’s when he started collecting.
Copyright StacksBowers Galleries
In the late 1980s, William Morton-Smith, a Santa Barbara, Calif.-based doctor, was rummaging through a garage that contained some of his deceased parents’ belongings. He opened the drawer of an old desk, and “there was a bunch of loose coins,” says Morton-Smith’s son, Tim.
Most people, when confronted with a pile of change, would simply put the coins in their pocket and forget about it. But “luckily,” Morton Smith says, “my dad had some wits about him, enough to realize they could be worth something.”