Hi, I am Lynn Ourso and I was raised and still live in the small Louisiana town of Addis which is located about 7 miles south of Baton Rouge along the west side of the Mississippi River.

As most coin collectors, I also started collecting as a child. My father was interested in coins and I must blame him for my terminal interest in these little round pieces of metal. He had a mediocre collection, but to him and me, it was a great collection. He would do like most fathers, bring home a bag of cents or nickels and we would search those bags in hopes of finding a few to add to our collection. I always had an eye for things I couldn’t afford. Once I remember asking Dad to buy us a $20 gold piece. I remember his answer to this day “Son, we just don’t have $60 to buy one of those, but maybe someday”. Well, we never did get that double eagle.

After entering high school, I put coin collecting on the back burner for a number of years. I eventually married and started a family. It wasn’t until 1992 did I get my collecting interest back when one night my Dad called and told me to come over. When I arrived he had his coin collection laid out on the living room floor. He told me to take the collection home. Your Mother always told me to give it to you someday, that you were the only one that would enjoy it. After that night in 1992 I started going through that old collection and before I knew it, I was back into collecting.

My collecting interest is primarily New Orleans Liberty Seated coins with a fondness for type error coins along with Spanish Colonial coins prior to 1800, especially Mexico, my Mother’s home country. I have a few pieces of New Orleans Gold coins and will someday start a New Orleans Barber coin collection. I also collect some scarcer Louisiana parish and state notes.

I am also active in helping Greg Lambousy with the Old New Orleans Mint Museum to upgrade their existing coin collection. He is accepting donations if you would like to contribute, just email him at glambousy@crt.state.la.us if you are interested in helping. We will also have some fund raising activities in the near future, so visit my site often for updates. If you are ever passing through the New Orleans area, you must stop and visit the Old New Orleans Mint. Greg Lambousy has done a great job! You won’t regret it!