Compare Circulation Collection Now To 60 Years Ago

The biggest difference was that, in 1956, you could still find most of the current/recent series keys in circulation, albeit worn. As noted here before, I could easily put the complete WLH set together in 4 or 5 months, but then I would turn it in and start over because I couldn't afford to keep the set given its high face value. Never found a '16-D dime, but plenty of '21s and '21-Ds. I found several '32-D quarters sorting rolls at the local back on Saturday mornings back then.

And you know, the Wheat cent advice was pretty good - what are common ones worth today, 2 cents apiece? Definitely not worth the effort to haul around, sort and store.

Also do not forget that back then every coin had a value based upon mintage. After slabbing came along, the focus has changed so much more to key dates, that about everything else is now just considered "junk silver."

I remember when going to a coin shop, I would ask for a specific date of (let's say) Mercury dime, and the owner would pull out a tray containing most of the dates sequentially laid out.


f I was after a 1923-S, I would look through the tray, find up to 3 or 4 different 23-s dimes in the tray (if the owner had them), compare condition and price, and choose the one I wanted. The grade of each,along with adjusted price, was always right on the 2X2.

This made it more exciting to collect from circulation. You didn't just find a junk silver 1923-S, you found a 1923-S graded it, and looked up the mintage to get a better idea of availability and worth.

It was a lot more exciting and fun.

I miss finding coins in circulation. My Rosevelt dime, most of the Washington quarter and Franklin halves were from circulation. Now all I can really expect is an occasional Wheat cent.

Just talked to an old timer last weekend at a flea market. He told me he found a 1955 Double Die Lincoln Cent in circulation, along with a lot of other cool finds. Times have changed.

After my father died (1978) we found some coins he had put aside. There were some large cents, IHC, two-cents, Liberty nickels, a couple Morgans, and quite a few foreign ones.

What is interesting is the coins he did NOT save -- there were no Mercury dimes, no Standing Liberty quarters, no Buffalo nickels. Surely he had come across some of those even after they were no longer minted. I am forced to conclude that since he was born in 1912, those coins were the ones he grew up with, as it were, so he didn't consider them of interest.

I wish he had.

Jan

Part of the difference is that 60 years ago coins were useful buying instruments where as now they are basically for making change. In the 50's people SPENT coins, now we get stuck with handfuls and toss them in a jar when we get home. Most people do not start the day off with coins in their pockets, they have bills and plastic in their wallets. You could walk out of the grocery store with a bag full of groceries paid for with a few coins in 1956, today you would need a bucketful for that and spend an hour counting them (or get told to cash them in at the CoinStar first).

Coins were worn so much then because they were used multiple times a day for years. Plus, current copper-nickel "silver" coins wear much better than silver did. 50 cents in 1956 was equal to almost $5 today, so people didn't toss coins in a jar then, they were actually valuable in commerce. Imagine coming home from work today and dropping a pocket full of $5 bills in a jar...

For these reasons coins were much more worn down much quicker. Current coins get used once, tossed into a jar or bucket, get cashed in again a year later, used once again and the cycle repeats. Other than quarters being used in machines most coins only get used a couple times at all. Even the quarter machines (laundry, etc.) are moving to bills and plastic.

My daily coin jar holds about $125 when it gets filled, about once a year if I don't artificially fill it with CRH chum. That would be over a thousand dollars worth of purchasing power compared with 1956. Today, $125 would buy a nice meal for 2. Then it would pay for an entire weeks vacation. People who hoarded coins then did so as a store of value, now they do it because it is far more convenient than actually spending them.

In 1956 the average quarter was used about 25 times per month by my calculations which could be off quite a bit. This had decreased to 18 times a month by 1978 and 15 by the early '90's. Today I'd guess it's only about 10 times and this is probably because the population of quarters has increased so much.

I defined "used" as simply changing owners. They are frequently counted in a machine between owners. Clad wears much better than silver because it's harder but also because it's a little lighter. A lot of wear is caused by a coin's own weight forcing it against a surface as it moves. Lighter weight means less wear.

My calculations are based largely on how fast the average coins wears down.

I still have my Whitman folders from the mid 60s that we put together from circulation. 4 Lincoln Cent folders 5 Jeff folders, 3 buffalo folders, 2 Roosevelt and one Washington folder. three of the Lincoln folders are full except for the 09s vdb and the 14d. One of the buffalo folders is complete, the other two missing either a 13d type 2 or a 26s. I grew up in San Francisco and the bay area so SF coins were a lot easier to come by. The Jeffs and roosies are all full...except for the 50d in the Jeffs.

The coolest thing in my Roosevelt and Washington quarter folers is that the 60s clad coins were put in there in uncirculated condition. Some of them are better than the stuff I have picked up lately. Glad this thread came along to make me look at those old folders again.