MorngingSide, a story behind college student financing his college education by selling U.S. quarters at Lilter.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Lawrence and I’m the guy behind MorningSide. Originally from Boston, I’m now finishing up my third year of studying history at the Columbia University.

Apart from studying history, what do you do?

In addition to school, right now I have a part-time job at a laundry in Brooklyn. Other than that, I really don’t do much besides collecting quarters. Apart from searching U.S. quarters that I collect for my shop, I enjoy making cup cake as well. I love vanilla especially. I love to go to local bakeries over the weekend to try different cup cake. I love to play with my dog Rocky also.

Where does your idea of selling quarters come from?

I handled a great amount of quarters everyday at Laundry and took trains. These gives me opportunities to find various circulated, (and sometimes, if I am lucky, uncirculated) quarters. I enjoy organizing them by years, location, and series. I wasn’t intent to sell until the financial crisis putting my family into an undesirable financial situation.

What does collecting mean to you?

Collecting is about the story behind the collections. It creates a connection to the pass. A series of memories are trigged when you look at the things you were familiar with. Quarters mean a lot to me. When I was a child, my grandfather used to teach me basic math by showing how to counting quarters.

When did you know you were a collector?

I believe that I’ve always been a collector. I never made a decision that I was a collector; I’ve always just know that this is who I am. I’m happier collecting things than I am doing anything else.

How would you describe your collecting process?

I have a checklist, but it is too long to list them all here. Basically I look at distinguishing marks and the conditions, then look at how the seller preserving and cleaning coins.

Where would you like to be in ten years?

As long as I'm still collecting, I'll be happy - which is really the only thing I truly know that I want to be doing in ten years.