Long but good; The joy collecting can sometimes bring.
Southside7
Posts: 78 ✭✭✭
Long ago my wife and I would visit the Mississippi Belle riverboat casino while visiting family in Cedar Rapids. My wife loves to play nickel machines. I was an active collector at the time but back then varieties were really esoteric. During one of our family visits we all made the couple hour trek to Knoxville to watch a night time auto racing event called 410 sprint cars. They're a really great show...and insane! After the races we went into an area called "the pits" because my daughter, who was 9 at the time, was hell bent on getting close up to the colorful car #83 she was rooting for. The driver of the car went by the nickname of Hollywood. He let my daughter sit in his race car, took and gave her a Polaroid of her in the car and gave her a free signed team tee shirt. He was so kind to our daughter. She was infatuated with him. As is typical with kids all we heard for weeks was "Hollywood this and Hollywood that", lol. To this day, grown and with a son of her own, she still treasures that tee shirt for the memory it represents.
Weeks ago I was tinkering about on a coin site called escottcoins.com that I saw advertised in Numismatic News. To my absolute surprise I came upon the cool Mississippi Belle doubled die nickel token pictured. I can't even imagine how many of these passed through my wife's hands back when. Up until a few years ago we still had half a bucket of them in our nightstand! I have to add; in all my 40+ years of collecting I've never dealt with a vendor that was more personable or friendly (and guarantees everything, even raw coin grades). They really made me feel appreciated and valued...for a $15 "free shipping, free images included on a thumb drive, money back guarantee" purchase! They have good coin pictures and just recently added coin videos that are fabulous and most would likely enjoy.
Anyway, it's a neat token but here's the really amazing part; In dealing with this vendor and discussing my past experience with going to the Mississippi Belle casino (yes, they took the time to have a social discussion) Mr. E.J. Scott, the founder of the site, told me how he acquired the token. Ready for this......he used to race 410 sprint cars and stopped at the Mississippi Belle while on the road to (drum roll) the race at Knoxville! The seller of this token, the owner of this little site, is Hollywood...the driver that gave my little girl a shirt some two and a half decades ago! What are the freakin' odds? Come to find out Mr. Scott (Hollywood) has been an avid collector since the 90's and has always had a sweet spot for varieties.
He went on to explain that he and a crew member were taking a break from the road and sitting playing nickel machines. He said he fumbled a token and it plopped into his iced tea. When he dug it out he noticed it was a doubled die! So they stayed for the better part of a day just buying tokens from one cage teller, searching them and cashing them in at another. Until, he said, they were kindly asked to leave, lol! Mr. Scott said in hindsight they probably should've been a little smarter and played a few machines in between.
When I received the envelope in the mail I discovered Mr. Scott sent a second token for my daughter and a third for my grandson and sent my $15 check back with a note that says "They're on the house. Thanks for being race fans and collectors". So cool!
This was such a neat experience and brought back soooo many wonderful memories for my daughter (who is becoming a moderately passionate collector) and me. And now, just maybe, Justin will get hooked on collecting from acquiring his first "it's just like Grandpa has" coin (which is so darn cute). These beat up little tokens now have so much emotion tied to them for us. They're the most valuable worthless coins we have.
Great stuff! The multi-faceted joy of what collecting can sometimes bring.
Here's the picture that came on the thumb drive with the token. Has anyone else seen any of these around? I sure would love to find a mint state example!
Comments
That is a very cool and awesome story, thanks for sharing it with us. Oddly enough I was on that coin website just a week or so ago looking at something, don't remember just what it was now.
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
Crazy story!
Amazing really!
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Great story, fantastic finish. I imagine your daughter enjoyed the story as well.
Thanks for sharing.
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.
Great story!
AKA Pakasmom
That's awesome. Great story for your family. Racers are cool. (Collecting NASCAR memorabilia is my main hobby)
A few years ago my mom called Littleton and the woman on the phone happened to be neighbors with my great grandfather, who passed away in the 1970s. They were talking about him for quite a while.
Great story and an outstanding doubled die!
Best story of the joy and comradery of this hobby I've read in some time! Small world indeed!!
Thanks for sharing with us!!
“We are only their care-takers,” he posed, “if we take good care of them, then centuries from now they may still be here … ”
Todd - BHNC #242
Now that is pretty incredible! How special and what a small world sometimes!
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What a great story.... a classic serendipitous experience.....Cheers, RickO
It's a joy to experience such an all around pleasurable "coincidence"? (maybe the intentional work of the universe).
But it really adds to the experience to have others to share it with here on this forum. Thank you all!!!
So much joy, great memories and fun initiated by a coin. Good stuff!
And yes....my daughter is beyond thrilled. She's stunned!
But dig this.....When I received the generous gifts from Mr. Scott (or as my girl still addresses him, "Hollywood") I sent him an email at escottcoins.com thanking him for his thought and care. In my email I expressed the joy I've received from little Justin being sooooo proud (borderline cocky, lol) that he "has coin just like grandpas". Any of you with grand kids will understand. It just melts my heart. Anyway, last night I received a response from Mr. Scott. He said he still has an inventory of his race team tee shirts from way back then and is sending one for Justin. He (Justin) is literally going to vibrate out of his Speed Racer sneekers! He's a car freak and is going to lose his busy, imaginative, never ending question-asking, does it ever shut off mind!
I know it's a bit off topic but there may be a few that are curious....Just for fun I dug up a few images of "Hollywood" from the web in his colorful sprint car. I "think" the top one could be from the track we were at in Knoxville...the triple white guardrail is very reminiscent. But then again, maybe that's common.
Nice story!!!
Great story of coincidences and human connection and generosity. Cool token, also!
Nice added chapter to a great story... Your grandson will flip over the shirt. Thanks for the sequel. Cheers, RickO
Wayne
Kennedys are my quest...
What a terrific story!!!
Thanks for sharing it.
Donato
Donato's Complete US Type Set ---- Donato's Dansco 7070 Modified Type Set ---- Donato's Basic U.S. Coin Design Set
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Thanks again to all here for sharing in my experience...it sure adds to the enjoyment!
@keyman64 asked "so, did you immediately call your daughter to tell her that Hollywood says hi?"
Well we live close so I told her in person when I passed along the gifts from Mr. Scott....and she literally got all giggly. I "think" it brought back a lot of the emotions from that night and the subsequent weeks of "little girl" infatuation. Sooooo cute! Even though she's all grown up she's still my little girl and I can see that "little girl" sparkle in here eye. She looked a little like the rock in my logo, lol!
Honestly, in this modern time it's beyond refreshing to have a vendor, especially a coin vendor, show this level of genuine care. Way back at that car race I suspected most of Hollywood's kindness to my family was just showmanship. But after all this transpired I dug a little deeper into things like the "About Us" of escottcoins.com and I have to say that what they claim as their fundamental motivation seems to be very real. It made me realize that Mr. Scott was and is actually very genuine in his "choice" to be caring and respectful and do what he can to bring good things to other people.
On the coin front I have to say the coin video's they post, which as I understand are the result of something Hollywood invented, are (IMHO) absolutely fabulous! And they guarantee (as in money back) them to be accurate! They even offer to send out free coins to prove their accuracy (I ordered mine this morning)! That's pretty bold.
I'd like to post a link or a few links to these short (only a minute or so I'd guess) videos to share here. Can anyone tell me, first and foremost, would that be okay?
I think most if not all here will really enjoy them.
Thanks again for letting me share.
Fun stuff!!!
Great story, thanks for sharing.