About

808 Coin Collector: A friendly neighborhood coin collector helping you to manage your inherited coin collection

Aloha! I am Walter. I'm not a coin shop dealer—just a local coin collector who enjoys helping others understand or sell their coins. For me, this is more of a hobby than a business. The purpose of this site is to assist residents of Oahu and the surrounding islands of Maui, Hawai'i, Kauaʻi, Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi with buying, selling, and enjoying coin collecting. This site is free to use and ad-free. My only goal is to share some of the knowledge I've gained over the years with both my local community and the wider internet audience. 

If you want to jump right to it, please proceed along to the How to Inventory Coins portion of this site to see more information about dealing with a newly acquired coin collection.

So, how did I get into coin collecting? Well, that's something I can thank my Dad for. I remember being young and saving JFK half dollars in my piggy bank. I loved the sound they made when they clinked together. I also added a few Susan B. Anthony dollars, but for the most part, it was those JFK half dollars that went in. Then, one day in my teenage years, while cleaning my room and getting rid of 'kid stuff,' I took the coins from my piggy bank and gave them to my Dad. I had a vague sense that he was into coins, but I had no idea how deep his passion ran at the time.

Fast forward 30 years. Coin collecting hadn't really crossed my mind since my younger days. During one of my trips back east to visit my parents, my Dad pulled me aside and told me about his coin collection. He didn’t go into great detail—just showed me where it was kept. He mentioned that he hoped it would someday be sold to help fund his great grandchildren’s college education. He also expressed his desire for me to learn to appreciate coin collecting as a hobby. I promised him I would take care of it and honor his wishes.

Years later, after both of my parents passed, my brother and I found ourselves looking at a dozen Xerox boxes full of coins, unsure of what to do with them. And that’s where this site comes in. I’ve shared some of what I learned along the way in hopes of helping others who might find themselves in a similar situation. I hope you find it useful, and that, like me, you come to enjoy the hobby. My Dad succeeded in passing that love on to me.  I wasn’t actively seeking to become a coin collecting enthusiast—but here we are.

Mahalo for listening.

Some of my favorite Hawaii Coins