I recall dragging my dad to the watch and jewelry counter at KMart in Exton, PA to buy the 1987 Constitution commemorative set -- I looked at the three piece and wondered if I could someday own a genuine gold coin, but only had enough to buy the silver dollar.
Maybe I bought the 1986 Statue of Liberty half dollar there too?
When I spent $27 on that Constitution dollar, it was by far the most expensive coin I'd ever bought.
I grew up in the Cleveland area. The best coin department in a non-coin store was the downtown Higbee's store - good coins and reasonable prices. It was open into the early 1970's. The Woolworth's stores also sold coins, books, and supplies, but the coins were always overpriced. Their coin departments disappeared around 1966-1967. Not much of a loss there, and a REAL coin shop opened up in 1965 about a mile from my home.
The Woolworth's in SF is now an Urban Outfitters I believe. In the early 80's we used to park our armored truck in front of Woolworth's around five pm to pick up their deposit then take a break. You saw every strange person in the world on that corner. The Emporium on Market St. also had a small coin shop back in the 70's.
Sorry I missed your post, greeniejr. I know that Glenn moved to River Forest, but it's too far a drive for me (I'm in Indiana). I walk through Marshall Field's on the way to work, so it was a convenient stop. Now it's Harlan Berk for me, though I haven't been there in some time either. Glenn was a great, friendly guy.
OIB! I haven't talked to you in a dog's age. Last time I saw you, you were showing off a 36-d Washington HJB tracked down for you.
<<I also think there was a coin department at Gimbel's in Yonkers, New York (my wife's hometown) that I use to visit when we lived in Connecticut. I remember going into Gimbel's but can't say for sure it was in Yonkers. >>
HA...small world...I can testify to the court that Gimbels in Yonkers did have a pretty good coin department back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth (and Westchester County, NY)! In fact, the aforementioned lucite proof set paperweight cube was purchased in that very store (probably by my parents to shut me up and keep me moving)!
There was also a good Howard Johnson's (FISH & CLAM FRY ON FRIDAY...ALL YOU CAN EAT!!!) and a Wanamakers (with its own coin department) in that mall...but that's another story entirely!
What if a store like Wal-Mart set up counters in some of their stores selling modern commems and common older issues. What would that do to/for this hobby?
<< <i>Marshall Field's in Chicago still had a coin and stamp department until maybe 2002 or so. "Department" might be a misnomer since it was probably about 500sf all in. 2 people in the area at one time was a crowd. Their merchandise was certainly not anything to write home about (a strange mix of mostly low-dollar darkside that no one ever bought and modern proof sets), though they did have a bi-weekly bid board that I participated in quite a bit. >>
I showed up there one day with a 15% off coupon from the store, that I got when I opened a Field's charge card. Tried to buy AGEs. Guy was really pissed off but eventually was forced by store to honor coupon.
I never recalled Woolworth having a coin department in the 80's could be the store in my neighborhood never had one though. And back then I never did venture all the way up those floors in Macys. I might have gotten interested in coins much earlier if I had, maybe.
What if a store like Wal-Mart set up counters in some of their stores selling modern commems and common older issues. What would that do to/for this hobby? >>
Wal-Mart was involved in selling the 1988 Olympic coins OTC. They also carried Sacagawea dollars at the registers.
In Denver growing up in the 1960's and early 1970's I remember coin and stamp departments at Woolworths and May D&F (the same place D Carr mentioned). I also have a vague memory of coins in a Walgreens in downtown Denver.
In 1985 I was in Manhattan over Thanksgiving and stopped by Macy's. It had a coin department and I picked up an UNC late date Walker.
<< <i>I recall dragging my dad to the watch and jewelry counter at KMart in Exton, PA to buy the 1987 Constitution commemorative set -- I looked at the three piece and wondered if I could someday own a genuine gold coin, but only had enough to buy the silver dollar.
Maybe I bought the 1986 Statue of Liberty half dollar there too?
When I spent $27 on that Constitution dollar, it was by far the most expensive coin I'd ever bought. >>
The K-Mart in San Jose regularly sold Proof Sets in the 70's. There was a LOT of whining from dealers across the country about how the deep picket SS Kresge Corporation was going to put them out of business and undercut their prices but it never happened.
I decided to change calling the bathroom the John and renamed it the Jim. I feel so much better saying I went to the Jim this morning.
Woolworths near Mt Ephriam in south jersey and Gimbles in Philly. I also remember when my Grandmother would take me over the bridge on public trans to Philadelphia, we'd always stop first at Gimbels to see her sister who worked downstairs, then off to the Horn and Hardart Automat for lunch.
...but does anyone else have a 5-foot-long lighted red and white Woolworth's sign mounted on a wall in their apartment?
When the store in my office building was closing, the demolition guys had taken down the individual letters...so I walked up to one of them and said, I'll give you $50 bucks for that...cash and carry. And off I went with the letters in a cardboard box and the electrical transformers in another. Later, I actually contacted the Smithsonian and they said that when I'm tired of having it on my wall, that they'd be interested in adding it to their Wooldworth's lunch counter, Civil Rights integration diorama (the sign is of the correct '50s vintage).
<< <i>I'll get the ball rolling, both Macy's and Gimbels here in NYC had killer coin and stamp departments. Macy's was upstairs near the Post Office, razor repair and trim-a-tree area while I think Gimbels was in the basement. >>
Actually Gimbels was way ahead of Macy's when it came to selection. The New York Gimbels coin department was on the ground floor under a staircase. I went there maybe three or four times. My first experience at buying coins from a dealer was there when I was 13 years old. I remember my two biggest coins were a 1908-S Indian cent in their VG to Fine (today it woudl grade Fine) and an 1875 twenty cent piece in Fine, which would still be a Fine today. Because I lived nearer to Philadelphia, I bought FAR more coins from that store. The manager there once offered me job to work behind the counter when I was 16 years old.
Woolworth's was local, and I bought some coins there. Their prices were generally very high for what you got. Jordon Marsh in Boston and John Wannamaker in Philadelphia also had coin departments. Niether of them measured up to Gimbels. It's interesting to note that Jack Friedburg at the New York Ginbels bought one of the 1894-S Barber dimes in Good that cropped up in the early 1960s.
Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
<< <i>loved the push button, rotating cases at woolworths. >>
I remember the local Woolworths having one of these cases.....all the silver coins were polished beyond belief, but you could occasionally find a nice unmolested wheatie or Indianhead. I still have a solid XF-40 1920's S mint Lincoln that I got for less than a buck.
<< <i>loved the push button, rotating cases at woolworths. >>
I remember the local Woolworths having one of these cases.....all the silver coins were polished beyond belief, but you could occasionally find a nice unmolested wheatie or Indianhead. I still have a solid XF-40 1920's S mint Lincoln that I got for less than a buck. >>
The "world's largest" Woolworths in Boston had one of those cases. Down in Milford, Delaware, which was a neighboring town to where I grew up, we only got a locked book with pages that you could turn. The larger stores got interesting stuff like Civil War tokens and a few older Indian cents. The most expensive coin in the Milford Woolworths book was a 1939-D Jefferson nickel in EF or so at the truly outragious price of $13.00, which would still be too much money.
Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
OH BOY!! Do I ever remember the Howard Johnson's FISH & CLAM FRY ON FRIDAY (...ALL YOU CAN EAT!!!) !! I can still remember one summer vacation when we were headed up to Niagara Falls or Lake George or somewhere & we passed by one of FDR's homes or museums or something, and stopped on the way at a HOJO's for that AYCE Fish/Clam fry! Wild horses couldn't drag me away from that place!!!
(Just a harbinger of things to come, unfortunately.......)
Woodward & Lothrops = Washington, DC and Thalheimers = Richmond, Va. both two well known department stores of these two cities now long gone in the early 60's.
I remember now that this thread has jarred my memories... Names i hadn't thought of in years...(Newbury's) and of course Woolworths.. Wow!! I had forgotten all about those coin depts until now... And i can almost see those rotating display cases, and the same coins that they held yet never seemed to sell or rotate... Memory is a funny thing.
Happy, humble, honored and proud recipient of the “You Suck” award 10/22/2014
That was one of the perks in going downtown here in Buffalo on the bus with my grandma. Invariably, she would shop at Sattlers on Broadway, which had a great coin department. She would always buy me a coin. Fifty years ago, I still have 'em......
Yeah there was one in a department store in north hills mall in Raleigh. I think it was a Woolworths or a Montgomery Ward must have been late 70's early 80's.
<< <i>Woodward & Lothrops = Washington, DC and Thalheimers = Richmond, Va. both two well known department stores of these two cities now long gone in the early 60's. >>
I bought a lot of coins at Woodward and Lothrop department store when I was 10 to 12 years old in the late 1960's. I think it just goes to show how popular coin collecting had become in the 1960's -- nowhere near that popular or mainstream now.
Comments
Maybe I bought the 1986 Statue of Liberty half dollar there too?
When I spent $27 on that Constitution dollar, it was by far the most expensive coin I'd ever bought.
Betts medals, colonial coins, US Mint medals, foreign coins found in early America, and other numismatic Americana
Jim
OIB! I haven't talked to you in a dog's age. Last time I saw you, you were showing off a 36-d Washington HJB tracked down for you.
2 Cam-Slams!
1 Russ POTD!
HA...small world...I can testify to the court that Gimbels in Yonkers did have a pretty good coin department back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth (and Westchester County, NY)! In fact, the aforementioned lucite proof set paperweight cube was purchased in that very store (probably by my parents to shut me up and keep me moving)!
There was also a good Howard Johnson's (FISH & CLAM FRY ON FRIDAY...ALL YOU CAN EAT!!!) and a Wanamakers (with its own coin department) in that mall...but that's another story entirely!
What if a store like Wal-Mart set up counters in some of their stores selling modern commems and common older issues. What would that do to/for this hobby?
<< <i>Marshall Field's in Chicago still had a coin and stamp department until maybe 2002 or so. "Department" might be a misnomer since it was probably about 500sf all in. 2 people in the area at one time was a crowd. Their merchandise was certainly not anything to write home about (a strange mix of mostly low-dollar darkside that no one ever bought and modern proof sets), though they did have a bi-weekly bid board that I participated in quite a bit. >>
I showed up there one day with a 15% off coupon from the store, that I got when I opened a Field's charge card. Tried to buy AGEs. Guy was really pissed off but eventually was forced by store to honor coupon.
<< <i>How about a "what if" thought exercise...
What if a store like Wal-Mart set up counters in some of their stores selling modern commems and common older issues. What would that do to/for this hobby? >>
Wal-Mart was involved in selling the 1988 Olympic coins OTC. They also carried Sacagawea dollars at the registers.
Box of 20
Hobby Lobby sells coin, currency, and stamp supplies, as well as the Harris stamp packages. Have never seen coins though.
In Denver growing up in the 1960's and early 1970's I remember coin and stamp departments at Woolworths and May D&F (the same place D Carr mentioned). I also have a vague memory of coins in a Walgreens in downtown Denver.
In 1985 I was in Manhattan over Thanksgiving and stopped by Macy's. It had a coin department and I picked up an UNC late date Walker.
<< <i>I recall dragging my dad to the watch and jewelry counter at KMart in Exton, PA to buy the 1987 Constitution commemorative set -- I looked at the three piece and wondered if I could someday own a genuine gold coin, but only had enough to buy the silver dollar.
Maybe I bought the 1986 Statue of Liberty half dollar there too?
When I spent $27 on that Constitution dollar, it was by far the most expensive coin I'd ever bought. >>
The K-Mart in San Jose regularly sold Proof Sets in the 70's. There was a LOT of whining from dealers across the country about how the deep picket SS Kresge Corporation was going to put them out of business and undercut their prices but it never happened.
The name is LEE!
until 1998.
<< <i>Worked in Omaha Brandeis in 1965. >>
Really ? You might know my sisters
Eric
When the store in my office building was closing, the demolition guys had taken down the individual letters...so I walked up to one of them and said, I'll give you $50 bucks for that...cash and carry. And off I went with the letters in a cardboard box and the electrical transformers in another. Later, I actually contacted the Smithsonian and they said that when I'm tired of having it on my wall, that they'd be interested in adding it to their Wooldworth's lunch counter, Civil Rights integration diorama (the sign is of the correct '50s vintage).
<< <i>I'll get the ball rolling, both Macy's and Gimbels here in NYC had killer coin and stamp departments. Macy's was upstairs near the Post Office, razor repair and trim-a-tree area while I think Gimbels was in the basement. >>
Actually Gimbels was way ahead of Macy's when it came to selection. The New York Gimbels coin department was on the ground floor under a staircase. I went there maybe three or four times. My first experience at buying coins from a dealer was there when I was 13 years old. I remember my two biggest coins were a 1908-S Indian cent in their VG to Fine (today it woudl grade Fine) and an 1875 twenty cent piece in Fine, which would still be a Fine today. Because I lived nearer to Philadelphia, I bought FAR more coins from that store. The manager there once offered me job to work behind the counter when I was 16 years old.
Woolworth's was local, and I bought some coins there. Their prices were generally very high for what you got. Jordon Marsh in Boston and John Wannamaker in Philadelphia also had coin departments. Niether of them measured up to Gimbels. It's interesting to note that Jack Friedburg at the New York Ginbels bought one of the 1894-S Barber dimes in Good that cropped up in the early 1960s.
<< <i>loved the push button, rotating cases at woolworths. >>
I remember the local Woolworths having one of these cases.....all the silver coins were polished beyond belief, but you could occasionally find a nice unmolested wheatie or Indianhead. I still have a solid XF-40 1920's S mint Lincoln that I got for less than a buck.
<< <i>
<< <i>loved the push button, rotating cases at woolworths. >>
I remember the local Woolworths having one of these cases.....all the silver coins were polished beyond belief, but you could occasionally find a nice unmolested wheatie or Indianhead. I still have a solid XF-40 1920's S mint Lincoln that I got for less than a buck. >>
The "world's largest" Woolworths in Boston had one of those cases. Down in Milford, Delaware, which was a neighboring town to where I grew up, we only got a locked book with pages that you could turn. The larger stores got interesting stuff like Civil War tokens and a few older Indian cents. The most expensive coin in the Milford Woolworths book was a 1939-D Jefferson nickel in EF or so at the truly outragious price of $13.00, which would still be too much money.
(Just a harbinger of things to come, unfortunately.......)
- - Dave
<< <i>Jordan Marsh Boston 1960s.
I remember that too !! I also thought
that Gilchrist's also had a coin department.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Coin collecting is not a hobby, it's an obsession !
New Barber Purchases
Woodward & Lothrops = Washington, DC and Thalheimers = Richmond, Va. both two well known department stores of these two cities
now long gone in the early 60's.
<< <i>
<< <i>Worked in Omaha Brandeis in 1965. >>
Really ? You might know my sisters
Names? PM.
Names i hadn't thought of in years...(Newbury's) and of course Woolworths..
Wow!! I had forgotten all about those coin depts until now... And i can almost see those rotating display cases, and the same coins that they held yet never seemed to sell or rotate... Memory is a funny thing.
Happy, humble, honored and proud recipient of the “You Suck” award 10/22/2014
She would always buy me a coin. Fifty years ago, I still have 'em......
<< <i>Woodward & Lothrops = Washington, DC and Thalheimers = Richmond, Va. both two well known department stores of these two cities now long gone in the early 60's. >>
I bought a lot of coins at Woodward and Lothrop department store when I was 10 to 12 years old in the late 1960's. I think it just goes to show how popular coin collecting had become in the 1960's -- nowhere near that popular or mainstream now.
My Coin Blog
My Toned Lincoln Registry Set
<< <i><<Gimbel's basement, Green Acres Mall, Valley Stream, NY. >>
Loved that mall...and do you remember the drive-in movie next door? And the S. Klein's down at the other end? >>
Wow, you guys are from my neck of the woods.