The Spotted (Gum) Ball

BLUEJAYWAY

Somewhat coin related. Anyone here remember the one cent (or penny if you prefer) gumball machines? One of our local corner grocery stores use to "salt" the machine with spotted balls. If you were lucky enough to get one it was redeemable for a "free" 5 cent candy bar. I wonder how many of us put some key cents in those machines to get that candy bar. The owner of said store was open in the 20's/30's (before my time) and accumulated quite a bit of Indian Head cents. He told me he would have the customers pay/settle their accounts with the Ind. Head Cents.

ricko

IHC's could still be found in circulation - though not common - in the '50's....Cheers, RickO

DCW

@ricko said:
IHC's could still be found in circulation - though not common - in the '50's....Cheers, RickO

Hell, I found one a few years ago. Still doing its job after all those years

ProfLiz

I keep an old Ford penny gumball machine in my office. Yes, with real Ford spice-flavor gumballs. And a bowl of wheat cents to work it with. (No spotted balls though.)

My students seem somewhat confused by the whole thing. They are surprised that anything ever cost only a penny. They are surprised by the "non-bubble gum" flavors. And they are surprised I would have a bowl of "valuable" coins just sitting around.

For me, it's pure nostalgia - a childhood dream come true! :-)

gonzer

Those penny gumball machines weren't THAT long ago!...

Were they? For a nickel you could get a handful of Good 'n Plentys.

ProfLiz

Now I'm thinking maybe I should switch to IHCs!

thebeav

@gonzer said:

For a nickel you could get a handful of Good 'n Plentys.

Got me to thinking about 'Snaps'.....They were 'Good and Plenty' like.....but hollow and a little harder.....
and only 2 cents a box !

https://candyfavorites.com/blog/original-snaps-classic-chewy-candy-discontinued/

slider23

My local corner store Danny's market in the 50's gave a free rabbits foot key chain for a spotted yellow gum ball. I decided to paint spots on a plain yellow gum ball to get a rabbits foot. I got busted with my counterfeit gum ball, and my parents were not to happy with me.

johnny9434

@ProfLiz said:
I keep an old Ford penny gumball machine in my office. Yes, with real Ford spice-flavor gumballs. And a bowl of wheat cents to work it with. (No spotted balls though.)

My students seem somewhat confused by the whole thing. They are surprised that anything ever cost only a penny. They are surprised by the "non-bubble gum" flavors. And they are surprised I would have a bowl of "valuable" coins just sitting around.

For me, it's pure nostalgia - a childhood dream come true! :-)

I remember this as a kid myself and do cherish an awesome memory like this. thank you for sharing this