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SALT LAKE CITY -- Bob Campbell couldn't remember what his dad looked like, or the sound of his voice. But his father influenced the course of his life in a way he couldn't have imagined - with a box of coins.
"(He) died just before I was five years old. I actually don't remember anything about him. I can't even picture one picture in my memory," Campbell said.
But his father did have a coin collection. Campbell was interested in it at an early age both because of his desire to understand his father, and because of a penchant for collecting and organizing things.
"I wanted to put everything in order. Bottle caps, cigarette butts. I did," Campbell said. "I picked them up off the ground. My mom said there was something wrong with me all the time."
The 1943 copper penny is so rare that only 40 are thought to have ever been minted, and entirely by accident at that. One sold for $1.7 million in 2010.
So picking up coin collecting was very natural. This eventually led Campbell down the street to a Wally's coin shop.
"There was this old, crusty guy in there. He took an interest in me. Because I didn't have a father, he became like a surrogate father to me," Campbell said.
Now, all these years later, Wally's coin shop, is Bob's coin shop. The numismatist, or coin collector, who grew up poor and didn't have money, now has quite a collection, including a sought-after 1943 copper penny. The coin is so rare that only 40 are thought to have ever been minted, and entirely by accident at that. One sold for $1.7 million in 2010.
"My mom used to tell me I always liked money probably because I didn't have any money," Campbell said.
One coin Campbell got from his father was a Pony Express medal. Because of that one coin, he owns the largest collection of Pony Express medals and every year rides in the Missouri-to-California Pony Express re-enactment.
But it isn't just the value or the rarity of the coins that draws Campbell to this hobby turned career.
"The history involved in it, the treasure hunt. It was always to me a passion, following a passion," he said.
Campbell now has a successful business, has published books and videos and has been president of the American Numismatist Association.
Asked what his father would have to say about his success, Campbell said, "I wish I could have a conversation. I'd give anything to listen to his voice and to see him, but I think he would say ‘I'm proud of you. You've taken something from nothing and really made it grow,'"
So, Bob Campbell has indeed inherited something from his father - something more than just a box of coins.
