Before You Knew Better......

Well, guess I can tell it again. When I was around 11 or so, I was downtown Glen Ellyn at the Woolworth's 5 & dime getting a Cherrycoke at the Counter. In change was an honest to goodness 1937D 3-legged Buffalo (circa 1962). Since my Whitman folder had no spot for it, I put it in my safest place possible so as not to lose it, my piggy bank. I never took any money out, so it was safe. A few months later I was going to show it to my friend, but it wasn't in there, nowhere to be found. I discovered that some weeks before my mother needed parking meter change...

Hey, no worries AngieEllen. It's hard to figure out exactly what phrase to search for and there are usually a lot of results. Plus, I don't think it hurts to have more than one thread for some topics.

It's a great question!

My story: I was afraid pennies would fall out of my Whitman Lincoln Cent folder, so at age 7 or 8 I secured them with loads of Scotch tape.

~ Mark

As a pre-teen in the late 60's and early 70's I remember spending silver coinage received in change, even as my older sister was saving any silver that came through her teller drawer in the bank she worked in. I remember spending Mercury dimes and Franklin halves as well as some pre-71 Kennedy's and pre-65 Roosevelts and Washingtons.

The only thing I saved at the time was the occasional Indian Head cent I found roll hunting. I had a 50 cent allowance in those days and would buy a roll of pennies, looking for Indian Heads. I usually found one a month or so. I would keep some of the Wheat's but they had to be a lot older, a 15 year old penny wasn't worth keeping, even with the wheat sheaves.

As a 10-13 year old I couldn't afford to keep quarters and halves, even dimes and nickels seriously ate into my candy purchases. A kid has his priorities you know...

When I was a kid, really little, me and my brother would skip church and use our church money envelope at the Mom and Pop grocery store. I think we had 35 cents in the envelope. This was before 1965.
( My brother was a bad influence but I take the responsibility for my own actions )

If we had any change left after playing church hooky and spending our quarters on cupcakes and soda, I would slide the dime in under this neighbors porch where the floor boards met the support beam. I'd leave them stick out just enough that I could use my finger and slide them back out again. I wouldn't dare take the money home to get caught with it.
So I was a little kid, I know because they were right at eye level when I walked past them in that alley and could see them all lined up. As an adult I happened to pass by this porch and I had to bend way over to look in the area I stuck them.
This went on probably from spring until late summer. Quite the stash under those warped boards and then school started.
Walking home from school one day, there were carpenters working and they tore up the whole porch because it needed replaced and not a dime was ever found when I looked around on the ground after the job was done.
There is a moral in that story, don't know what the wording is, but I quit being sneaky and dishonest with the church money after that.

My dad had a a few coins, thankfully I now know they weren't worth much.
Anyway, my dad and I got the coins out of the closet, and got the TarnX bottle out. From there, we proceeded to soak each coin in the TarnX.

Boy did I have fun doing that!

Not anymore though!

In 2013 I found one of the first five 2005P non-magnetic pennies(Canadian). My father was pressuring me to sell it but I was hesitant because I didn't know what it was worth. Well a few months later one sold in an auction for $20,000 + juice, and I later found out the same auction house sold one to the underbidder for $18,000 + juice. So when mine sold less than 6 months later with the same auctioneer for just $2750 I was a little surprised, but not disappointed.

What did I learn? Sell while an item is hot! Now there are at least a couple hundred of these coins known to exist and can be purchased for less than $1000.....live and learn!