The Collecting Bug
By Steve Cutler

I may be known for amassing the largest collection in the world of gaming and entertainment artifacts relating to Las Vegas but that was not my first passion. At the age of eight years old I was exposed to coin collecting and totally consumed with the idea of filling every hole in my Whitman albums. I had a paper route and used the money I earned to visit the bank daily, sometimes more than once. I gave them as much money as I had, and they sold me rolls of coins. I would go home and look through them, pull out what I needed for my collection and then return them to the bank only to exchange for additional rolls. At that time, 1950’s, you could find coins that had a numismatic value. Sadly, today the chances of finding coins with numismatic value really don’t exist so collectors are relegated to purchasing them from coin dealers.
This obsession went on for years and when I was thirteen years old, I became a reseller. We had moved back to Los Angeles by this time, but my Grandparents and uncle still resided in Las Vegas. The government deregulated the value of silver and gold at that time, coin collecting was bigger than ever. Everyone seemed to collect coins. I had a great source for coins as I instructed my family members in Las Vegas to save every silver dollar they could get their hands on along with full date Buffalo nickels and a list of other coins. At that time, I was acquiring silver dollars at face value and selling them for three or four dollars. Of course, I got a little more for the Carson City dollars. In Inglewood California there was a place called Coin-a-Rama and every Wednesday night they rented bourse tables to dealers and collectors wishing to sell coins. My parents were very supportive, and my father would take me there every week, after all I was making serious money for a young boy.

They did a story in the paper about me, as I was considered the youngest coin dealer in California. Unfortunately, I don’t have a copy of the article or even remember what paper it was published in. I used my profits to continue building my collection.

In the mid-nineties my good friend and chip collecting legend, Charlie Rogers, introduced me to currency. Another legend in our hobby, Henry Garrett, helped me complete my Morgan silver dollar collection. Of course, they were the rarest ones I needed and the most expensive. Thank you, Henry, you were a good friend. Turned out to be one of the best investments in coin collecting I ever made.

Today I have several complete collections of silver dollars along with many other complete collections of coins. My specialty now is horse-blanket currency (Pre 1928) but I also collect modern currency. I still have a passion for collecting coins and currency and I continue to build my many collections. I no longer sell coins and haven’t sold any since I was a teenager.

The pictures below represent a small fraction of my collection.