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 Replies: 27 / Views: 3,439 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2200 Posts |
I was born in 1959. Growing up, penny candy still cost a penny. If you were lucky enough to have a nickel, you could buy a large candy bar with it. A dime? Ohmygosh, you could buy a thick slab of chocolate called the "Chunky" bar (which is still made and I think costs $1.50 now). The incongruency of the smaller coin being able to buy more was always a puzzle to me, but helped open the mind! At school lunch, a nickel bought a "Jet Bar" (vanilla ice cream on a stick covered in thin chocolate) or an ice cream sandwich; a dime got you a Dixie cup of chocolate and vanilla ice cream. A quarter was almost unobtainable and special, and reserved only for certain occasions--such as the tooth fairy. As I got older, my parents started giving us kids allowances, which amounted to an entire quarter per week. Of course, we never spent them but were encouraged to save them, which we did. Because of that, this incredibly large coin achieved a type of reverence for us. A very memorable event happened one night when my dad came home from work and showed me and my little sister a Franklin half. I'd never seen such an amazing coin before, nor so much money in one place. So huge and heavy! To this day, halves boggle my mind. What are some of your memories? Edited by jpsned
06/20/2017 1:07 pm
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Valued Member
South Africa
331 Posts |
When I was a kid early 80s about 6 my mother would go to a farm to buy milk, as I would always have it I had 50c so the Change my mom got was 3 rand which I would swap for the 50c.
I would take those coins every where, and off course they would take a bath with me,
Still remembers a roll of 12 candies was 15c I lived like a king always had money for candy
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Rest in Peace
United States
10625 Posts |
We grew up in the same era. I was born in 1958 and had the same exact experiences and memories except my wow coin was a 1927 D Peace dollar that my Grandmother gave me when I was about 10 or 11. It sat in the kitchen cupboard for many years before it actually became my possession.  |
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Rest in Peace
United States
2668 Posts |
Born in 1954. My mother knew I was fascinated with the Franklin half. Mom would give me my allowance of 50 cents as a half dollar and I had to agonize over keeping it or breaking it. It was 10 candy bars or 5 comic books! Then the Kennedy half came out and I was undecided. |
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Moderator
 United States
188130 Posts |
Quote:A very memorable event happened one night when my dad came home from work and showed me and my little sister a Franklin half. I'd never seen such an amazing coin before, nor so much money in one place. So huge and heavy! To this day, halves boggle my mind. That sounds a lot like my origin story, begin amazed by the Ike dollars my dad gave me. I am ten years younger than you, so I guess this is an example of inflation.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3323 Posts |
When I was a kid in the late sixties and seventies, my grandmother sent me a birthday card every year with a half dollar taped inside. I wonder how many 40 and 90 percenters I spent on records and stuff?!
"Nummi rari mira sunt, si sumptus ferre potes." - Christophorus filius Scotiae
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Moderator
United States
188130 Posts |
Quote:
I wonder how many 40 and 90 percenters I spent on records and stuff?!  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
I grew up in the 90s, so dollars and halves were never seen, and the rest were accumulated until you had enough to fill a bank roll. I remember spending years hunting for dropped change at the grocery store, and then finally having enough to buy a toy (a Super Soaker, IIRC). The gold dollars then came out, and I was floored to find one in my cereal box! It felt strange to finally be able to buy a whole soda with that coin!
I remember the small portrait bills well, and still prefer them to the new "monopoly money." I think the $20 was my favorite (always have loved Jackson's portrait), but I was blown away the first time I ever held a $100 in my hands; it felt about how I imagine a $10,000 bill would feel today! I also remember looking for different signatures; I felt like every bill I ever got was Robert E. Rubin!
Edited by Finn235
06/20/2017 6:52 pm
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Valued Member
United States
403 Posts |
When I was born in 1955, my Great Aunt decorated a small box, personalized with my initials, and filled it with Peace dollars. The box, which brings up fond memories of my Great Aunt, is worth more to me than the silver dollars, and they included a 1928!!  |
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Moderator
United States
54280 Posts |
When I was a young boy, I would spend summers with my Grandfather and Grandmother on their farm. They lived in south Texas not too far from the Mexican border. The house they lived in was built in 1907, and the land was farm land for decades before they bought it in the 1940's. There were several wood houses (we always called them shacks) where the Mexican laborers would live while they worked the fields. By the time I started spending the summers, the shacks were long abandoned and run-down. So, a curious little boy that I was liked to explore in and around these shacks, and one day I found this penny. It turns out to be the very first coin in my coin collection. Of course, I still have it 50 plus years later, and here is it's photograph.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2023 Posts |
I don't remember much around coins I got in change, though I did always keep an eye out for the new releases every year.
Otherwise, my strongest recollection was around Christmas, mid-70s. I knew where my parents hid my presents and I got busted because I put the new coins in the new albums before the formal unwrapping. I just couldn't wait that long.
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Pillar of the Community
 Canada
1775 Posts |
I hope this jogs a lot of memories, as a kid, when you went to a friends birthday party, the best part was finding the coins wrapped in wax paper in your piece of cake. Then of course, spending it.
"We are poor little lambs...who have lost our way...Baa...Baa...Baa"
In memory of those members who left us too soon...
In memory of Tootallious March 31, 1964 - April 15, 2020
In memory of crazyb0 July 27 2020. RIP.
In memory of T-BOP Oct. 12, 1949 - Jan. 19, 2024
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New Member
United States
9 Posts |
When I was 7 my Dad and I stopped in a Woolworth store and they had a carousel filled with coins. I saw a '43 steel penny and my dad explained it to me and I ended up getting it, I then got an Indian penny on my next trip to the store. I remember how much fun it was when my dad took me to the coin shop after he got home from work even though he wasn't a collector. I wish I had those two pennies still. They'd be my most prized coins. I think I ended up dipping them when I was 10 yo or so haha and they were never the same. Dumb mistake but I was a kid and had no way of knowing any better. |
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Rest in Peace
10197 Posts |
Sounds like I'm the old man of the bunch. Born in 1951, my father started putting together these flat blue foldout folders by Whitman Publishing Co. around 1958 or 59. Back then every coin was silver (  ), for me my job was working the cents and nickels. We would get rolls from the bank, much like today we'd "upgrade" when found...and toss back to return/deposit what we didn't need. It was quite the norm to find IH's, much like today's we find LWC, Barber, Mercury dimes were readily found as were Buffalos. My dad had folders through franklins can't remember @ Dollars, but did have some loose that were passed down from his mother. Favorite story: around 1961 or 62 was getting a cherry-coke at the Woolworth's counter in downtown Glen Ellyn IL. In change was, no kiddin', an honest to God 1937D 3-legger! Because there wasn't a hole in my folder, and had no idea @ 2x2's, put(hid) it in my safest place...my piggybank. (I never spent any of it). About three months later was going to show my best friend the coin...wasn't THERE! I hadn't been in there, so what happened? Come to find out, my mother had raided my bank for .....parking meter money!    Edited by Crazyb0
06/20/2017 11:52 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3479 Posts |
I got into coins from watching reruns of Dennis the Menace Mr. Wilson was always obsessing about his coins and especially his 'dime'. I can't recall what type of dime it was. Any ways, that's what got me started at 7 years old. My relatives must have secretly hated me. Every Sunday after church we would go over to Grams house and I required all of my aunts and uncles to surrender their change. I would sort through it and pick out anything pre 1965 as well as any wheat pennies. I amassed a pretty impressive collection for a 7 year old kid. I also asked for specific coins for my birthdays and Christmas. I still have all my coins from those years. Never sold any of them. Some I removed from their original holders but I wish I wouldn't have done that. These are the ones in their original holders including the 1909 vdb I found in my uncles pocket change. The red-pen hand writing is mine from when I was 7 or 8 years old. All circa 1985-87  Edited by MikeF
06/21/2017 12:29 am
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2624 Posts |
I remember that my Grandma still had pre-decimal coins floating around her house (this was in the 1980s so decimalisation had taken place about 10 years earlier) and I alreasy had a coin collection.
My collecrion consisted of a little white plastic tray with a red velvet inlay. On it say about a dozen coins.
One of these was an Irish 50p piece with a bird on it, an older kid convinced me to swap it with a Diana and Charles crown.
We had half pennies then and old green pound notes.
Once a week my father would have to submit acvounts for work and would throw several hundred pounds on the carpet for me to sort into denominations.
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Replies: 27 / Views: 3,439 |
Posted 06/20/2017 12:40 pm
