A piece of nostalgia from 1955
BillJones
Posts: 34,758 ✭✭✭✭✭
Personal nostalgia. I usually don’t collect coins for that reason, but in this case, I made an exception.
This is an encased Morgan Dollar. The General Motors Corporation issued it with the message, “Merry Christmas 1955, Happy New Year.”
I remember Christmas morning 1955. I was in the first grade. The toy I remember was this Remco loud speaker truck. It had a microphone and a searchlight on the top of the cab. I surprised to find it so easily on the Internet. My father said he heard me using it from the bedroom. I probably woke him up. Going by the prices, this toy is now a collectors' item.
The reverse reads, “General Motors Holding Division, General Motors Corporation, Detroit.” Another internet search revealed that the General Motors Holding Division still exists in the modern (new) General Motors. It’s function is to provide capital to existing and perspective dealerships. It was founded as part of the old General Motors in 1929. For those who might have forgotten, the old General Motors went bankrupt and was replaced with a new corporation with the same name.
I usually don’t buy items like this, but for whatever reason, it got my attention. There were two other pieces in the same auction which were advertising Buicks from the late 1940s, but this one grabbed my attention.
Comments
Soooooooo Coooooooool!!! Both the coin and the truck. That's pretty high tech for 1955.
Thanks for sharing.
When I was a kid, the Remco Toy Company slogan was, "Every boy wants a Remo toy ... and so do girls."
I had quite a few of them when I was a kid. My favoite was an army tank that could climb just about anything. It taught me how tracks worked on bulldozers and the like. It had a cannon that shot shells. You put a brass casing on the plastic shell before you loaded it into the tank. My aunt gave that to me for Christmas in 1959. That was the same year an uncle gave me the 13 Edition of The Red Book and the two Whitman Lincoln Cent folders.
Once more the Internet came through, although the one I had had grey wheels.
That's really cool, Bill. I was into building plastic models, when I was a kid in the mid 1970s. All that stuff is valuable and has a collector base, now. There was a recent thread by a member who had purchased a Redbook from the year he was born...That's a rather cool idea that I may entertain, someday. Thanks for sharing.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
There were 2 versions of the " Bulldog" tank as they became to be known by. There was a large and small version. I had the smaller one. Received it on Christmas morning. Was hard to get it away from my 2 older brothers. Thanks for the post bringing back these memories.
Yes, my cousin had the “light weight” version.
Very cool!
WOW, I'm A piece of nostalgia from 1955
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Nice, being born in 1955 those are both especially interesting. 👍
I have collected some encased silver dollars. I have the two different 1940s Buick ones. But I don't have that 1955 Christmas one. I also need one of the General Motors (of Canada) encased silver dollars that has the 1939 Canadian Dollar in it.
It is interesting that the 1940 Buick one also seems to often have an 1878-S coin in it.
Very cool.
Mr. Kelly’s Car Wash was a favorite toy of mine when I was a kid. It was also made by Remco.
@BillJones
I've been looking for one of those. 1955 my birth year.
USAF (Ret) 1974 - 1994 - The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. Remembering RickO, a brother in arms.
I wasn’t expecting to see a molded plastic, battery operated electronic toy from that time period. That must have been cutting edge.
Yes, REMCO made cutting edge toys. On the other end companies like Tonka made trucks with heavy cast steel. Toys were quite different back then. Cowboy cap pistols were very popular, some of which had fake bullets to load in them. One pistol called the “Ric-O-Shay” had the sound effect of a bullet grazing something.
Don't forget this guy from the early 60's.
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I used to chase my little brother with it. He would scream ! I don't think he's ever recovered
And the cap pistols used "Greenie stick-um caps" on the bullets.
The Great Garloo
USAF (Ret) 1974 - 1994 - The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. Remembering RickO, a brother in arms.