Circa 1915 women's coin purse found in demolished Chicago theatre
secondrepublic
Posts: 2,619 ✭✭✭
"Men who had never shown any ability to make or increase fortunes for themselves abounded in brilliant plans for creating and increasing wealth for the country at large." Fiat Money Inflation in France, Andrew Dickson White (1912)
16
Comments
That is cool! Thanks for the article @secondrepublic.
“...while small, the leather change purse contained a fair amount of coins dating from the 1880's. the diminutive purse, coins, and single silver dollar bill remain in great condition, considering age. judging from the dates, the purse was lost by a theatergoer in 1915.”
Look at that half and nickel ! Sweet!
It's a little hard to tell the condition of many of the coins from the photos, but given that the later dates don't look very new, I'm gonna guess it was lost later than 1915. 1920s? Who knows. Fun story and don't we all wish we could find something similar?
Fantastic story. Very interesting toning on the Barber half.
Thank you for sharing!
Dave
Cool... Wonder if it's a Philly Barber Half?
If lost during or after WW-I, one would expect several coins from the large wartime production.
That is freaking cool!
POST NUBILA PHOEBUS / AFTER CLOUDS, SUN
Love for Music / Collector of Dreck
The purse had to have been lost anytime after after 24 Mar 1915 based upon the signatures on the blue $1 silver certificate (1899).
Register of the Treasury
Houston B. Teehee
Mar. 24, 1915 - Nov. 20, 1919
Treasurer
John Burke, North Dakota
Apr. 1, 1913 - Jan. 5, 1921
Absolutely a great part of history; thanks for posting.
Imagine the sense of loss. This young lady (?) was not rich, judging by the contents. Going to the Movie was a novel experience. To have so much anticipation soured by the loss of "a lot" of "1919" money must have been devastating.
Little did she know that it would be a source of pleasure to strangers 100 years in the future. I think it is a great find and should be kept intact.
Too cool. Echo the sentiments on the toning on that half B!
According to the article it was actually found in 1960 during the demolition of that famous (and architecturally very significant) theatre, and has been kept intact to this day. According to the history I've read, it was a live-performance theatre, and did not play movies until the 1930s. So the young lady who lost this was probably seeing a play or other live performance.
Imagine if back in the day she had taken that cash and coin and purchased GE stock or Ford stock what it would be worth today.
I have from the 1893 wolds fair a coin purse and match safe, no money tho.
.
.
.
CoinsAreFun Toned Silver Eagle Proof Album
.
Gallery Mint Museum, Ron Landis& Joe Rust, The beginnings of the Golden Dollar
.
More CoinsAreFun Pictorials NGC
@Intueor Yes, that was on the order of 1-2 days' pay for a woman in Chicago. Interesting that there are no dimes.
What was on the playbill at this theater for 1915?
Believe it or not, the Chicago Public Library lists some (not all) of the historic playbills for Chicago theaters - presumably these are the ones in their collection, not a complete list of everything that played there. Here's what they have for the Garrick around that time:
1915-03-14 High Cost of Loving, The
1916-05-01 Major Barbara
1918-01-07 Very Idea, The
1918-06-30 Odds and Ends of 1917
1919-04-20 Scandal
1921-01-30 Irene
If she lost her purse on a date back in 1915, maybe we can say she really did experience "The High Cost of Loving"
https://www.chipublib.org/fa-chicago-theater-collection-historic-programs/#GAIETY
It would have been really neat if there were one or two gold coins in the purse.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
@secondrepublic
An option. Posting the $1 silver certificate on the currency forum may help to glean more information about a time period.
https://forums.collectors.com/categories/u-s-world-currency-forum
I have always wanted to send a little coin capsule like this intentionally into the future. With clad coinage, who will care when it is found?
The Lincoln cents didn't fair much better at the time than our
Zincolns from today, excusing the "green gunk" from being
stored in a leather purse and the decades of humidity.
The "green gunk" may not be corrosion. It may have a waxy appearance. I have seen this before on copper coins that spent a very long time in a leather purse.
I wonder what the date is on the heavily worn Indian cent?
Way Cool
I think I see 1882
Very cool find! I have a coin purse similar to that one (black, from my grandma). Unfortunately, no cool coinage like that!!!
Rocking my "shiny-object-syndrome"!!!
What a great find....One wonders how it got 'beneath floor boards'... must have been a gap of some sort for it to fall into.... A real time capsule of coins....Cheers, RickO
The really amazing thing is that somebody kept the purse and contents together for well over 55 years from the time it was found until this was published. The finder would likely be about 80 years old at the time of publication, and had kept it for a lifetime himself. Now that's a true collector!
According to an inflation calculator $1.95 back then is worth around $50.00 today.
Too bad there wasn't any ID inside the purse. That would make an even cooler followed up story either finding that person or her heir.
The guy who found the purse, John Vinci, is pretty famous in the world of architectural preservation. They were doing this work during the era of "urban renewal" when lots of amazing buildings were being torn down, long before almost anyone else really cared about. So I can see why he would keep it together.
Did people have ID's back then?
Excessively cool. SR thank you for bringing this to the forum
m
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
id be smiling all day plus a few
Who will start with the media story, background posted above, and do additional research to create an interesting and meaningful article?
I suspect such an article would be awarded 1st or 2nd place in the Numismatist publication competition !
What an amazing find!
The rest of the story for RogerB:
On July 24, 1915, Western Electric employee Daisy Goodwin of Cicero, Illinois, arrived early in downtown Chicago. She and several of her co-workers were going to catch a show at the Garrick Theater before boarding the Steamer Eastland for a company sponsored day cruise to Michigan. The theater performance was delayed by some lighting problems and Daisy and her friends found themselves rushing to catch the steamer, which was docked on the Chicago River along with several other boats that Western Electric had chartered for its employees. Daisy failed to notice that her change purse had come loose and fell to the floor, only to be kicked into a corner by other theater patrons.
Daisy was a bit concerned as the boat seemed crowded as she and her friends found their way below deck where refreshments were being served. Suddenly, the boat began to tip sharply to one side and Daisy and her friends found themselves being thrown to one side. Water rushed in as the boat came to rest partially submerged. Daisy struggled to reach the exit from the lower deck and was one of only a few who managed to escape, wet but still alive.
Recovering from the shock of the loss of most of her friends and co-workers took some time and it was only much later that Daisy noticed that her change purse was missing. She assumed it had been lost during her struggle to escape from the capsizing ship and thought no more of it. She was just glad to be alive.
The Eastland disaster resulted in the highest loss of life of any Great Lakes shipping incident in spite of the fact that the ship never left the dock.
Wow, that's awesome !!!
My story is pure fiction.
>
Well that’s one way of juxtaposing bits of reality with bits of fiction to make it interesting.
The fiction is fun, now can someone find the real story - or at least as much as is possible - and prepare it for publication.
[Hint: Many people in that time who lost purses, wallets or small amounts of money advertised in local newspapers for the safe return of their property. Consider correlating the theater, playbills, item lost, local newspaper Lost/Found, etc.]
Great story 291. That's why I love these forums!
If someone wanted to write a story about how the wallet was found and anything else that can be conclusively learned, I'm sure the gentleman (Eric) from Urban Remains who wrote the post could put you in touch with John Vinci. Although I don't know either of them personally, Mr. Vinci must be around 80 and I imagine would be happy to talk about his experience. The guys in this architectural preservation world have the same love of history and appreciation for historical objects as coin collectors; they are kindred spirits to the numismatic world most likely. Probably they would know a lot about this theatre, the kinds of people who frequented it (including in the section where the wallet was found), etc.
Your story would make a good Netflix movie.
Not from her perspective.
"To Be Esteemed Be Useful" - 1792 Birch Cent --- "I personally think we developed language because of our deep need to complain." - Lily Tomlin
Couple of thoughts...
Did people really carry gold coins, and in the Midwest?
Any chance the coin purse itself could be dated? If that was a resort, how could it be done?
From my read of this it seems the best evidence on dating comes from the dates on the coins, sure — though that 15 nickel shows some wear — and also from the observation that high-mintage WWI issues aren’t present. How rapidly did Philly and Denver mint coins get to Chicago? Right to the big banks after minting... or not?
Calculator says her $1.95 has purchasing power of $ 48.50 today in 2019.
value of coins and note may be more?
is the 1914 cent a 1914 D?? I thought the D was faint???
Krueger
Really cool find. My grandfather found several hundred worth of early 1930’s bills hidden in a wall when he demolished a building back in the 60’s. Too bad they didn’t convert those bills into coinage, but still really cool.