Its summer of 1968. I was a little boy accompanying my grandfather to work one Friday. We went to his Fairview, PA laundromat for "collection day:" The day all machines were emptied of their change.
At his Fairview "store" (as my grandfather called his laundromats) was a raised cement island in the middle of the floor. In the island sat two rows of back-to-back Westinghouse Streamliner RL-1 washing machines.
There was about a foot between the backs of the machines that was empty but enclosed by a frame of boards supporting a flat countertop above the level of the washing machines where people would put their laundry baskets. etc.
On both ends of the island were small openings between where the countertop support boards stopped just short of the height and length of the island's cement base. For some reason people seemed to like to lose change inside those little gaps.
This time when I looked into the gap, I spied a coin with a "funny head" on it. My 1st-grader hands were small enough to reach inside the gap with a little pushing and scraping done in the process.
Coin now in hand: Such a cool looking coin! 1942! One dime? That's not Roosevelt, who is it?!
Of course I went to "Grandpa" to find out what I had found. He was my family's version of DuckDuckGo.com back before the internet came into being.
Grandpa was thrilled that at least this one grandchild had a genuine interest in learning about not only this dime, but all older coins. No one else in the family had shown any interest.
Thus my quest began. It was that same day I learned what the
Red Book was. I learned how to look up my dime, and saw, for the first time, Grandpa's all-but-one-hole-filled-from-circulation
Mercury dime set. WOW!
Except...I asked why there was a cardboard plug labeled "RARE" in that one hole labeled 1916-D? The reply was that this dime was so rare, that my grandfather knew he would never find one.
I hated the looks of that stupid little piece of cardboard in the 1916-D hole. It was the only thing holding back such a great accomplishment by my never-fail Grandpa.
I asked him why he did not just buy the dime to fill the hole? Having lived though much harder times and the (1st) Great Depression, he said he could never justify paying more than 10¢ for a dime.
I secretly told myself the day WOULD come where I would be able to rip that blasted little piece of cardboard out of the Whitman folder!
What a resilient piece of cardboard! Its been 54 years!
However, I am more than thrilled (still feel funny inside!) to announce that wretched little cardboard slug no longer has the power of defiance it once did over me b/c today I got the following in the mail:
It would be nice if my grandfather were here to see it. And if he was worried about me spending more than 1 dime for it it...well.
While I admit putting some (very fun) time into defeating that wretched cardboard plug, I know Grandpa would be pleased to know that I can technically say I got this little hole filler for less than face value! Its all from wheeling and dealing in my hobbies over a number of years. Making right decisions, and waiting for the right time in the market to sell hobby items (insulators and coins) that I thought would go up in price (and did).
Yes...the coin is in a plastic prison. But it won't be.
For the sake of sentiment I will rip out that ugly plug and insert this dime into the newly vacated hole.
After that I plan on ordering some Encap pages and Air Tight capsules to store the set in. I might just put that ugly old cardboard slug in a capsule in the album as well with today's date written on it as a sign of final victory!
Posted 04/20/2022 2:52 pm
