@Magoo1... Welcome aboard.... Interesting dilemma..... My Dad smoked Lucky Strike and I know the '55 DDO's were in those packs....I remember him saying (he was not a coin collector) that "These pennies will be worth a lot of money some day." and then putting them in his pocket. My Mom said "They make me dizzy when I look at them.". I found a couple a few years later when I was a paper boy, and saved them. But they disappeared when I joined the Navy - Mom cleared out the room and knew nothing about coins. Oh well...Cheers, RickO
@ricko said:
I found a couple a few years later when I was a paper boy, and saved them. But they disappeared when I joined the Navy - Mom cleared out the room and knew nothing about coins. Oh well...Cheers, RickO
My aunt used to tell me that she found one back then and gave it to the paper boy as part of his tip. I wonder if there is a connection....
@Insider2 said:
The errors can be authenticated from either side. Don't open the pack! It is worth more sealed wether the coins are the errors or not. Example, sealed pack in an exhibit of the error. Bet you can get over $100 even if the coins are normal.
The way cigarette taxes are escalating, cigarettes will soon be $100 a pack without the two cents or possible double die!
A little off topic but at the turn of the century tobacco and cigarette packs often had baseball cards attached or inside which, today, in high grade, are fairly expensive to insanely expensive. Unopened packs of cigarettes which may or may not contain a good card (I said baseball originally but there were all sorts of sports included) have gone for some incredible prices. This unopened pack is part of tobacco history and as such is probably one of a very small number of similar packs and quite collectible as it is. Opening the pack would destroy the history and quite probably gift you 2 cents.
They were definitely found in Lucky Strikes, taped to the pack to accommodate change from putting a quarter into vending machines. I am positive the vast majority were all found in New England
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
There seems to be two distinct possibilities of how the cents were attached/enclosed as in the manufacture enclosed them in the cellophane or the distributor taped them to the package before distribution? I await pictures from the OP
@WoodenJefferson said:
There seems to be two distinct possibilities of how the cents were attached/enclosed as in the manufacture enclosed them in the cellophane or the distributor taped them to the package before distribution? I await pictures from the OP
I could be wrong but I don't see it as possible that manufacturer sealed the cents in the cellophane. The need to put 2 cents in there was presumably a decision by the vending machine operator who wanted a way to refund 2 cents since the machines did not accept pennies and the buyer had to overpay by 2 cents.
The OPs pics seem to show a disruption to the cello at one side - I think the cents were just slipped in. I don't think they are actually sealed in there.
@WoodenJefferson said:
There seems to be two distinct possibilities of how the cents were attached/enclosed as in the manufacture enclosed them in the cellophane or the distributor taped them to the package before distribution? I await pictures from the OP
I could be wrong but I don't see it as possible that manufacturer sealed the cents in the cellophane. The need to put 2 cents in there was presumably a decision by the vending machine operator who wanted a way to refund 2 cents since the machines did not accept pennies and the buyer had to overpay by 2 cents.
The OPs pics seem to show a disruption to the cello at one side - I think the cents were just slipped in. I don't think they are actually sealed in there.
Don't lnow if it's on my end the OP pics did not open up as I wrote the above...now that they are open it is a secondary packaging around the pack. Interesting.
A little historical perspective might be in order....
During the 1950s there were tight fair trade laws in effect. Also, product distributors had huge profit margins and often controlled both retail and vending outlets within their territory. Cigarette packs were sealed in cellophane by the manufacturer to prevent mold and mildew damage. There was a Federal excise tax on tobacco products, but many states had piggy-back tobacco taxes; this is where the small change refund came into play. Depending on distributor and tax rate, the original cellophane would be overprinted, or an outer clear wrap would be overprinted and a refund or price adjustment included under the clear wrap. (If...I recall my marketing and state taxing classes correctly -- been a long time.)
@RogerB said:
A little historical perspective might be in order....
There was a Federal excise tax on tobacco products, but many states had piggy-back tobacco taxes; this is where the small change refund came into play. Depending on distributor and tax rate, the original cellophane would be overprinted, or an outer clear wrap would be overprinted and a refund or price adjustment included under the clear wrap.
I am not saying you are wrong, but this just does not make sense to me....
My understanding is that the 2 cents included with the pack was to refund an overpayment by the customer who bought the cigs from a vending machine that could not take exact change. (Example - cigs cost 23 cents but buyer had to put in 25 cents.)
I don't see where taxes would have had anything to do with it. Federal and state taxes were a charge to the importer/distributor in the state, which was obviously then incorporated into the retail price. In the case of this pack, the Ohio tax of 2 cents was paid as evidenced by the ink stamp on the cello. It was not some kind of indication of an amount due to the end customer.
Corrections are welcome; details are easily confused over many year.
Distributors collected the taxes and those tax rates varied from state to state. In some places a refund was deemed necessary and in others it was not. The pack illustrated is from an Ohio distributor. The company could also opt to absorb a small loss or small gain. Different time and approach. Now the consumer almost always gets the shaft.
A good example of how a one cent coin used to have some value. Price increases on anything by five cents at a time were not a given.
In the Winter of 1971 I was working in a party store in the suburbs of Detroit. When I started most cigarettes were 41 cents a pack, though the extra long ones were 45. During my time there the price for the regulars were up to 42. People groused about it for weeks.
Numismatist. 50 year member ANA. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Winner numerous NLG Literary Awards.
As a child in the 60's, I spent countless hours "injecting" pennies into cigarette packs. As I remember, the machine had a bin that held the pennies. I would guide a pack into a 2-sided blade that would slit the cellophane, then continue pushing until contact with a microswitch that would fire a plunger, pushing the pennies between the cellophane and the paper of the pack. We would determine the number of pennies depending on the change required since the cigarette machines of that era only took "silver" coins. Handles a lot of cigarettes, never smoked one!!!!
@ricko Mom cleared out the room and knew nothing about coins. Oh well...
I know the feeling ricko. My Mom threw away all my baseball cards when cleaning my room while I was overseas. Didn't find out about it until nearly 3 years later when I returned.
I lived in East Tennessee at the time of my enlistment and being right on the TN/VA border, we crossed into VA many times to buy cigarettes that were tremendously cheaper than TN and liquor was available cheap in VA and TN dry so bootleggers only. In the cigarette machines in VA you paid a quarter for the packs and they came with two cents taped to the outside of the packs not inside the cellophane accompanied by 2 packs of matches for free. Bottom trays were jammed with many packs of matches left as most all had zippos. I know last year I said the pennies were inside the cellphane but I think they were taped on instead.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
Comments
Interesting find!
Whatever you are, be a good one. ---- Abraham Lincoln
@Magoo1... Welcome aboard.... Interesting dilemma..... My Dad smoked Lucky Strike and I know the '55 DDO's were in those packs....I remember him saying (he was not a coin collector) that "These pennies will be worth a lot of money some day." and then putting them in his pocket. My Mom said "They make me dizzy when I look at them.". I found a couple a few years later when I was a paper boy, and saved them. But they disappeared when I joined the Navy - Mom cleared out the room and knew nothing about coins. Oh well...Cheers, RickO
QDB has indeed written articles about the 55 double dies and his experiences with them. He will know the details.
I knew it would happen.
My aunt used to tell me that she found one back then and gave it to the paper boy as part of his tip.
I wonder if there is a connection....
The way cigarette taxes are escalating, cigarettes will soon be $100 a pack without the two cents or possible double die!
many G.I.s used to swap stuff for them
A little off topic but at the turn of the century tobacco and cigarette packs often had baseball cards attached or inside which, today, in high grade, are fairly expensive to insanely expensive. Unopened packs of cigarettes which may or may not contain a good card (I said baseball originally but there were all sorts of sports included) have gone for some incredible prices. This unopened pack is part of tobacco history and as such is probably one of a very small number of similar packs and quite collectible as it is. Opening the pack would destroy the history and quite probably gift you 2 cents.
They were definitely found in Lucky Strikes, taped to the pack to accommodate change from putting a quarter into vending machines. I am positive the vast majority were all found in New England
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
There seems to be two distinct possibilities of how the cents were attached/enclosed as in the manufacture enclosed them in the cellophane or the distributor taped them to the package before distribution? I await pictures from the OP
"Keep your malarkey filter in good operating order" -Walter Breen
I could be wrong but I don't see it as possible that manufacturer sealed the cents in the cellophane. The need to put 2 cents in there was presumably a decision by the vending machine operator who wanted a way to refund 2 cents since the machines did not accept pennies and the buyer had to overpay by 2 cents.
The OPs pics seem to show a disruption to the cello at one side - I think the cents were just slipped in. I don't think they are actually sealed in there.
Don't lnow if it's on my end the OP pics did not open up as I wrote the above...now that they are open it is a secondary packaging around the pack. Interesting.
"Keep your malarkey filter in good operating order" -Walter Breen
A little historical perspective might be in order....
During the 1950s there were tight fair trade laws in effect. Also, product distributors had huge profit margins and often controlled both retail and vending outlets within their territory. Cigarette packs were sealed in cellophane by the manufacturer to prevent mold and mildew damage. There was a Federal excise tax on tobacco products, but many states had piggy-back tobacco taxes; this is where the small change refund came into play. Depending on distributor and tax rate, the original cellophane would be overprinted, or an outer clear wrap would be overprinted and a refund or price adjustment included under the clear wrap. (If...I recall my marketing and state taxing classes correctly -- been a long time.)
I am not saying you are wrong, but this just does not make sense to me....
My understanding is that the 2 cents included with the pack was to refund an overpayment by the customer who bought the cigs from a vending machine that could not take exact change. (Example - cigs cost 23 cents but buyer had to put in 25 cents.)
I don't see where taxes would have had anything to do with it. Federal and state taxes were a charge to the importer/distributor in the state, which was obviously then incorporated into the retail price. In the case of this pack, the Ohio tax of 2 cents was paid as evidenced by the ink stamp on the cello. It was not some kind of indication of an amount due to the end customer.
Corrections are welcome; details are easily confused over many year.
Distributors collected the taxes and those tax rates varied from state to state. In some places a refund was deemed necessary and in others it was not. The pack illustrated is from an Ohio distributor. The company could also opt to absorb a small loss or small gain. Different time and approach. Now the consumer almost always gets the shaft.
"Cigarettes...with two pennies"
"Two Lincolns with pipes"
I wonder if the two pennies also helped weight the pack in a way that would help it to drop out of the vending machine, and avoid getting stuck.
A good example of how a one cent coin used to have some value. Price increases on anything by five cents at a time were not a given.
In the Winter of 1971 I was working in a party store in the suburbs of Detroit. When I started most cigarettes were 41 cents a pack, though the extra long ones were 45. During my time there the price for the regulars were up to 42. People groused about it for weeks.
As a child in the 60's, I spent countless hours "injecting" pennies into cigarette packs. As I remember, the machine had a bin that held the pennies. I would guide a pack into a 2-sided blade that would slit the cellophane, then continue pushing until contact with a microswitch that would fire a plunger, pushing the pennies between the cellophane and the paper of the pack. We would determine the number of pennies depending on the change required since the cigarette machines of that era only took "silver" coins. Handles a lot of cigarettes, never smoked one!!!!
@ricko Mom cleared out the room and knew nothing about coins. Oh well...
I know the feeling ricko. My Mom threw away all my baseball cards when cleaning my room while I was overseas. Didn't find out about it until nearly 3 years later when I returned.
I lived in East Tennessee at the time of my enlistment and being right on the TN/VA border, we crossed into VA many times to buy cigarettes that were tremendously cheaper than TN and liquor was available cheap in VA and TN dry so bootleggers only. In the cigarette machines in VA you paid a quarter for the packs and they came with two cents taped to the outside of the packs not inside the cellophane accompanied by 2 packs of matches for free. Bottom trays were jammed with many packs of matches left as most all had zippos. I know last year I said the pennies were inside the cellphane but I think they were taped on instead.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
People were more honest back then, today just up the price. It's a vending machine, people wanted them. You can't even get cigarettes that way now. 🙂
And/or uniquely fingerprinted.
Besides the point but, Henry obviously a collector, 1 post count, proof in the pudding. Another thread