do you remember

MacCoin

who here remembers getting buffs, mercs, SLQs, and walking libertys in cirulated change. I can remember seeing all these coins in change back in the 50s but never a mogan or peace dollar. today we're luck to find a wheat ear in change

kranky

When I was a paperboy (early 60's) I got occasional Mercs, Franklins and Indian Head cents. I got very few Buffalos (even dateless ones), and I don't think I ever got an SLQ.

ClausUrch

My father was in the service stationed in N. Africa in the mid to late 1960's and we had what was known as "Funny Money" (currency for military bases). Much of the coinage used on the base was still mercury dimes and buffalo nickles. I remember going through the newspaper and comic book sellers coin drawer at the commissary on weekends picking out the nice looking ones! After about 1968, they got scarce and eventually dwindled to nothing.

dorkkarl

in the past few years , i have found in change: barber dime, lib-nick, buff-nick (multiples), wheat-cents (multiples), indian cent, a couple of silver washingons & roosevelts, numerous pre-1960 jeffersons, & a couple of foreign coins. have also found 1 dime & 1 quarter blank-planchets, both type-2's, & a 1989 dime with a missing clad layer.

maybe someone ought to start a thread of "found-in-change last year"!

K S

Twowood

You guys should be my age! I remember when standing liberties,mercs and buffalo nickles were the coin of the realm. Of course,as a kid I rarely had an opportunity to hold a REAL quarter!Twowood

OnlyBuffalos

Had a paper route in Chicago in 1950-1952 and had to collect once a week from my customers. Saved all the buffalo nickels I received. Still have them as a reminder of those days. The best of the lot is an AU 1937-D three legged buffalo. The rest are mostly in the 1930s and nothing particularly valuable.

Barber coinage still circulated freely but was well worn. SLQs were mostly dateless. Liberty walking halfs were very common as frankies had only been out a short time. Silver dollars were readily available from banks and were mostly Morgans. There were many coin dealers and every department store sold stamps and coins. The large downtown department stores had at least one full time stamp and coin dealer with Marshall Fields having six or seven. Grading of coins was very subjective. BU was the top grade and in today's equivalent ranged from AU55 to MS70. Dealers routinely dipped BU silver coins and proofs as a "courtesy" after they were purchased. Grading in general was much more subjective than today and often coins had prices but not grades when displayed.

I can recall seven independent dealers in the downtown Chicago area in the mid 1950s. All except one sold both stamps and coins. John Ross who recently died was the largest of these. They were great gathering places for coin/stamp discussions and were very crowded during lunch hour. Coins were freely passed around and discussed and arguments were common and I think encouraged. Trade-ins were very common. Haggling over prices sometimes seemed to go on forever and was a major part of the fun of collecting. If the dealer knew you it was not uncommon to take a coin home on approval for a few days before paying for it. Payment plans were readily available.

Many great memories.

1956Quarter

Back in ancient historical times (early 60's), I worked summers at an amusement park consession. It was more a ladies game, and when they wanted to play, nothing was sacred, not even hubbys coin stash. It was a silver bonanza some days. I could hear silver hitting the counter from 50 feet. I always immediately changed that to paper bills for the customer. We were allowed to buy any and all coinage at face value, as long as our count balanced at the end of our shift, the owner could care less. We got mostly silver Merc's and roosevelts as well as washington quarters. I had a customer who was the widow of a lawyer, she only sat at my counter when she came in to play. She always brought a ton of walkers every time to pay. In exchange I would save her Star dollars. She loved them for some reason, and would trade me all the walkers I could handle for those Star dollars. I thought I had it made, and I did, but the biggest haul was the night someone came in with about $150 worth of rolled mercs and sat at Goldies table. She called her husband faster than lightning and had him stop by with $150 for her till and took the dimes away. Those were the days.....

lathmach

I started working in 1956, coin collecting in 1957.
An occasional indian head cent or V-nickle might show up in change.
Barber coins were few and far between.
You could go to just about any bank and get all the silver dollars you wanted. The banks had them but didn't give them out in change unless you asked for them because nobody wanted them.
I did get an 1853 w/arrows quarter in change once.
Dealers had all the nice indian head cents you wanted for 3 cents apiece. No one was standing in line to buy them though. Sorta like the wheat lincolns today. (You young collectors take note of this)

Ray

Coulport

You need to be a Westerner to have experienced spending and receiving silver dollars.
And yea, coins as early as Barbers were in circulation up into my teens. (Only found one Indian cent though)

baccaruda

as soon as the silver content is worth less than the face value you'll be able to start pulling them out of circulation again!