Anyone know about coin sales (1mil in Morgans) at the 1962 Seattle Worlds Fair??

Lakesammman

Talked with a lady today who's father bought 1000 Morgans in a bulk lot for $1500. Any old time dealers here remember those days??

PS - revised the title to be more specific.

Russ

No, but about 20 years ago I got really, really drunk at the Space Needle.

Russ, NCNE

Lakesammman

Deja vu - is this a Geico commercial??

CarlWohlforth

Nope, I don't know about those.

I do remember my Dad bringing me a nice MS Morgan from Sam Goodie's a few years after that. That was a record store in NYC that gave out a Morgan for free if you bought a certain amount of records.

21Walker

I'm with Russ on the Space Needle thingy..........Rick

clw54

I about seven when I went and don't remember a whole lot about it. Only time I've been to Washington.

cladking

You could easily get silver dollars for face value at any bank in 1962. Most of the good
dates were pulled out but BU rolls of many dates were available.

Monstavet

Well, I wasn't around then, but back in 62, and the years leading up to it....you could buy whole bags of Morgans for face value for a trip to the mint. And, from reading QDB's Morgan Dollar Red Book, bags of Morgans traded whole between dealers for very little mark-up...even less than the $1500 you mention. QDB also mentions a mysterious bag of 1889 CC Dollars that supposedly was sold to someone in Seattle...but who really knows? And no, I am not selling any of them.

mrdq

Search is your Friend


From our own forums

Barberman55

I didn't know they had a 1962 Seattle Worlds Fair. I went to the 1964-65 Worlds Fair in Flushing, NYC, when I was a kid. Did they have 2 Worlds Fair's so close together?

cladking

There was another World's fair in Montreal in '67 and the Osaka Expo in '70 was, I believe, a world's fair.

Lakesammman

The confusion comes from an exhibit that was displayed at the seattle Worlds fair, a pile of one million silver dollars. But that was not where the 1903-O's showed up.

Thanks for the link. The above quote is from Condor.

PS - I did a search but must have had a typo or something - thanks for the link.

mrdq

The archives of these forums are REALLY amazing regarding the numismatic data/info contained in them. If they ever have a hard drive crash we're going to lose an awesome resource.

VANS

According to a 1962 issue of 'Coins' magazine, you could purchase coins from the million dollar exhibit at the Seattle World's Fair. "The limit on the bags was five per per person at $1,500 per bag of 1,000 silver dollars to be shipped after the exhibit closed."

About the display:

"Once at the fair, 800,000 of the coins, Morgans apparently, as the article notes they were in bags sealed between 1910 and 1915, were stacked in the center of a Behlen corn crib enclosed in glass. 'Then over and around the bags were poured a clinking cascade of 200,000 Peace dollars: 1,000,000 silver dollars, just for looks, just sitting there gathering 167 dollars a day in interest,' 'Coins' wrote.

Nysoto

There were a few varieties of medals minted for the 1962 Seattle Worlds Fair, I have one with the Space Needle and Monorail on the obv and rev. The only coins shops I remember was Seattle Coin, now in North Seattle, and a coin shop in the old Frederick & Nelson store (now Nordstrom main store), the owner moved it to the convention center when it was built. Rel Stamp and Coin in Everett has the same owner since 1961.

Spokane, WA had a worlds fair in 1974, the smallest city ever to hold a worlds fair. I have a couple of medals minted for the fair.

The Seattle-Yukon Exposition of 1909 had a number of varieties of medals minted for the event, I have one with Chief Sealth on it, who the city of Seattle was named for (Sealth was modified to Seattle because it was thought to be too hard to pronounce). It is my favorite local medal.

Dave99B

I went to the ’62 Seattle Worlds Fair (I was six years old). Being that young, my memory about it is pretty vague, but I clearly remember the million silver dollar exhibit. I was already fascinated with coins.

It was an awesome sight to see. The sliver dollars were in a large round cylinder made of clear plastic. Maybe 12 feet high, and 20 feet across. Something like that --- HUGE. I spent half the day trying to figure out a way to get past the guards to scoop up a handful.

Later in the day, I gave up, and instead decided to steal coins out of the various fountains located at the Seattle Center. Free money! People were throwing it away! I was up to 2 or 3 dollars worth of silver dimes and quarters before a guard busted me. Dad and I had a little chat later that night.

Dave

solidforthegrade

Like some others here, I also went to the fair. In 1962, I lived in Seattle, and probably went 2 dozen times. I remember the million dollar exhibit, and viewing this thread got me to looking through my box of souviners. In it, I found the brochure from that exhibit. I'm going to paraphrase from the brochure, and give a brief synopsis of how the exhibit came about.

This was a collaboration between business and government. The World's fair officials called in 3 noted Walla Walla numistmatists of the time, they in turn contacted Behlen manufacturing company of Columbus NE, a manufacturer of steel buildings. With the help of Nebraska state senators, and support of Mint director Eva Adams, the Behlen company bought the million silver dollars from the Treasury department, and also constructed the building at the fair site that housed the exhibit. The silver dollars were picked up at the Philadelphia mint, and the cargo was insured by Hartford, and guarded by Pinkerton agents. As extra insurance, the dollars were welded shut inside four 4' x 7' x 3' steel boxes. The trip by truck took 13 days. And here's a direct quote about the building that housed the dollars at the fair "It is the very same Behlen panel system that withstood an A-bomb blast in the civil defense tests of May 1955, at Yucca Flats NV."

As I remember it, the cylinder they were in was about 8 ft. in diam., and I forget how tall. Somewhere, I've got pictures I took. Right now in front of me, I've got a separate certificate stating 'I've seen 1,000,000 Silver dollars.' Someday when I learn the nuances of this newfangled computer machine, and how to post pictures, I'll show it to you.

Regards,
John

Russ

Bump for some very cool stuff!

Russ, NCNE

Clankeye

I was five years old. I won a ceramic rooster at the fair. But, I dropped it and it broke on the way back to the car. A crushing experience to a five year old. My father had to go back and "buy" another one to keep the peace. Probably the most expensive ceramic rooster in the history of ceramic roosters.

I do not remember the million silver dollar exhibit. But, I do remember a really drunk guy shouting "Anybody got any accented hair Kennedy's?" from the observation deck of the Space Needle. This is really strange because it was 1962.


Clankeye

majorbigtime

<< <i> back in 62, and the years leading up to it....you could buy whole bags of Morgans for face value for a trip to the mint. QDB also mentions a mysterious bag of 1889 CC Dollars that supposedly was sold to someone in Seattle...but who really knows? . >>



The dollar bags were available from the Federal reserve banks. The one in LA had tons of Morgan CCs.

Ted Binion claimed to have the bag of '89CCs, but they were not discovered (at least publicly) following his murder.

Lakesammman

John:

Would love to see that picture, if/when you post it.