Interesting Bag From The Antique Mall

cmerlo1

I was at one of the local antique malls this afternoon, and this caught my eye because it had the word 'COIN' on it and looked old. It isn't a typical coin bag, as it's flat and has 3 'channels' in it. It's made of canvas and has 'FOR MONEY ORDER BUSINESS ONLY U.S. MAIL COIN'. It measures 11" X 7".

I know what it says, but how exactly was it used?

koynekwest

Indeed it is!

BarberFanatic

@cmerlo1 said:
I know what it says, but how exactly was it used?

It was used by the US Mail Service to hold coins for their money order business.

jt88

Nice.

Smudge

Are those 3 slots for coins? Very cool bag.

Type2

ECHOES

Nice

GRANDAM

Would those pockets hold rolled coins?

Timbuk3

Cool !!!

cmerlo1

@GRANDAM said:
Would those pockets hold rolled coins?

That's what I'm stumped on... it just doesn't seem like an effective way to transport coins.

COINS MAKE CENTS

Maybe a way to hold coins of different denominations so they don't have to be sorted later

ms70

Just guessing from the picture- It looks as if Morgans or Peace Dollars are meant to be slid into the slots and they would stack by themselves. Again, just a guess assuming the half-moon slots are dollar coin sized.

ricko

Well that is different.... Have not seen that type of bag before. It looks (to me) as if it were supposed to hold rolled coins...JMO... Cheers, RickO

Azurescens

@cmerlo1 said:
I was at one of the local antique malls this afternoon, and this caught my eye because it had the word 'COIN' on it and looked old. It isn't a typical coin bag, as it's flat and has 3 'channels' in it. It's made of canvas and has 'FOR MONEY ORDER BUSINESS ONLY U.S. MAIL COIN'. It measures 11" X 7".

I know what it says, but how exactly was it used?

Wayyy cool !!!

JBK

It is fascinating to think that many decades ago the people who carried these knew exactly what they were for and how to use them. but here we are in 2018 and we have to speculate. At some point its exact use became obsolete or a new process was designed, and after that the very reason for this canvas bag's existence began to fade into obscurity.

There are probably countless other examples of this phenomenon as well. Hanging in my garage when moved in (into the house, not the garage) was what I think is an old tool used to tighten laces on ice skates or roller skates. It was probably familiar to most people a few generations ago but now is a mystery to most.

johnny9434

a keeper for sure. a nice pick up indeed

oih82w8

Interesting...I would have snagged the bag too...if the price was right.

tyler267

Very interesting, I would have bought it also.

I wonder if they used this to keep the Cash collected from Money order sales separate from the cash collected for sales of postage. Reconciling the cash, stamps, and money orders in a busy post office must have been both difficult and time consuming in the days before computers.

Just a guess.

cmerlo1

Thanks, everyone- some good, logical theories here for sure. It makes sense that it would keep different denomination coins separate, but there's no way to seal it, making it unsafe to transport, I think. Perhaps these were filled with coins and a quantity of these were put in a special container for transport, of transport was even necessary...