Ray's Coins and Stamps - A Legacy of Coin Collecting

On Nov. 22, 2024, I received my first letter about my coin articles. The kind gentleman that sent this letter gave me some of the oldest coins I have in my collection.

A kind gentleman named Samuel Cary has been sharing his passion for coin collecting with the local newspaper, and his articles have touched the lives of many readers. Recently, one reader took the time to send Samuel a letter and some of his oldest coins, including a flying eagle penny, a 1909 wheat penny in beautiful condition, and an 1835 large cent.

The gentleman also requested that Samuel write an article about Raymond Rose’s coin shop, “Ray’s Coins and Stamps”. He mentioned how Raymond was his coin collecting mentor and taught him about collecting U.S. coins.

Samuel reached out to Raymond’s son, Mr. Craig Rose, who provided him with some interesting details about his father’s coin shop and his own journey into foreign coin collecting.

Raymond Rose had always enjoyed looking through his pocket change for coins worth more than face value. During the years 1959-1960, Mr. Rose started getting into coins more seriously. He would go to the bank, get a bag of coins, search through the bag for valuable coins, then return them and repeat the process over again.

“As a kid in grade school, I remember dad going to the bank and buying a bag of coins and bringing them home where we would sit around the kitchen table and look for elusive dates to fill in the old Whitman blue coin folders,” stated Mr. Rose in his e-mail to Samuel.

Ray opened the coin shop around 1972. While he owned the coin shop, he also worked night shifts for the railroad. After he slept for a few hours, he would go to his shop and work until closing time.

American coins were Raymond’s main interest, but as a coin shop owner, he needed to be open to buying foreign coins too. Ray owned a 1907 St. Gaudens high relief gold Double Eagle. Samuel looked it up and found one for $119,000! He also helped buy an 1895 proof Morgan silver dollar for a museum.

Mr. Craig Rose also shared how in his twenty’s, his father told him that he needed to start investing in coins. He bought some Morgan silver dollars and some gold coins but still wasn’t interested in collecting until his father brought up foreign coin collecting.

“On his way to a coin show in Omaha on one trip, he stopped by my home to visit in Lincoln and ask me, ‘how would you like to become a foreign coin collector?’, and he handed me a coffee can about a third full of junk foreign coins (that had come in a collection) and big coin catalog to look them up in. I got hooked and started going to an occasional coin show with him,” Mr. Rose explained.

When he went to some coin shows with his father, he found a dealer that was selling some ancient coins. Craig bought a cheap 1,800-year-old coin and he couldn’t help thinking about who could have held that coin. Now Craig deals in foreign coins and works in the foreign department for Heritage Auctions.

Raymond’s coin shop was in business from 1972-2007. If you have any memories of this coin shop, you can send them to samuelcary24@gmail.com.