Callling all old timers: what was it like in the 70s?

talkingwalnut2

I started collecting in about 1979, when I was 11 years old. Naturally it was right at the start of the big silver runup, so even though I searched and searched, I only found very few 90% coins in circulation or in rolls from the bank. Since fewer people knew about war nickels and 40% halves, I did okay finding them here and there, but I was almost shut out of 90% from circulation for years!



My question to the old timers is as follows: what was it like to have a pocket full of change in the 70s, before the big Hunt Brothers fiasco? Was there 90% all over the place? Was it somewhat common? Was it rare even then? Who has some good memories about that period of time.

oih82w8

Groovy!



I was in my single digit years up until the cloud of shame came over the U.S. Presidency...the Carter Administration.



Silver was quickly scooped up when the announcement was made in the change of composition.



I have read that the Gov't was actively removing silver from circulation up until the early 70's.

AUandAG

Damn, now I'm an old timer??? I was in my twenties and thirties in the 1970's. Silver was non existent by the late 60's. None to be found in the 70's in my view.



bob

CaptHenway

Born in 1950. Started collecting around 1960. Everything interesting was gone from circulation by the very early 70's, except for the 40% silver halves.

DennisH

Silver went away very quickly in the '60s. You could still find some in rolls into the early/mid '70s but not a whole lot.

IwasAgentjim007

1974 I was in the Navy stationed in Bermuda and remember pulling Mercury dimes out of change, they weren't doing that back home.

JazzmanJAB

I was a 16 y/o working at a drug store in 1970-73. When I was assigned to work the cash register, I always first opened the drawer and picked up the dimes and quarters and dropped back in, listening for silver.

Every couple of months you could snag a one or two and I would always reimburse the register accordingly.

Even as a paperboy in 1966-1970, very little silver was given to me for payment.

Bayard1908

About 1978 I read an article, probably in Numismatic News, that silver coins were still circulating to some degree in Hawaii. The article attributed this to Japanese tourists making return trips to Hawaii and spending silver change they had acquired on visits years earlier.



Shortly thereafter, my parents visited Hawaii and somehow I convinced them to bring me back some rolls of half dollars. They got exactly two customer wrapped rolls from a small bank. The rolls contained a Walker, several Franklins, a bunch of 90% Kennedys, and quite a few 40% halves. They were the greatest rolls I ever saw in the 1970s. I went so far as to accuse my parents of salting them. About the only silver you would typically get in rolls by 1978 was an infrequent war nickel or 40% half.

Bayard1908

I found over $10 face of 90% last year with my metal detector. It's more fun, and better coins, than the roll searching I did as a kid in the late 1970s.

LindeDad

All I remember is you could not buy silver or gold with that MPC.

Coinosaurus

Started collecting early 70s. I do remember the occasional silver piece in change, but it was not often. You could find tons of wheat cents including early dates. One of my friends claimed to have found a '55 doubled die in change, and, not realizing its value, spent it before I could examine the coin. To this day I don't know if he pulling my leg or not

OPA

What I remember the most....miniskirts, Motown sound & gas guzzling cars & it took about 6 month to obtain your Mint order.

FredWeinberg

What was it like in the '70's?

One thing I can tell you is that
I was a lot less tired at 8:00 at
night than I am now !

talkingwalnut2

I hear ya there, Fred

WingedLiberty1957

I was big into coins from 1967 through 1972 or so. A few things I remember. Coin Shops were in some major high end Department Stores! There was a high end Department Store called Woodward and Lothrup near Washington DC and they had a little full-on high-end coin shop right in the store!!! Amazing to think of that now. Almost every corner drug store had a Coin display with those blue Whitman Folders, Coin Tubes, 2x2's, Red Books, Numismatic Magazines. It was as standard as the Beauty supply area or the Pharmacy area. You could STILL roll search and find the occasional 90% silver coin, merc dimes, SLQ's ... tho by the early 1970's they were tougher to come by. Lots of dateless Buffalo Nickels in rolls tho. You used to be able to drop acid on the date area to make the date appear (shudder at that now!). Coins were still semi cool and a lot of kids still collected.

thebeav

Originally posted by: AUandAG
Damn, now I'm an old timer??? I was in my twenties and thirties in the 1970's. Silver was non existent by the late 60's. None to be found in the 70's in my view.

bob

Whew, me too I guess.....
I had a paper route in the late 60's and I saw the silver dry up quickly from '67 to '70......

Windycity

I was in my 20's and remember the GSA Morgan Dollars sales... you order, waited, hoped and most of us ended up with common dates. But it was fun.

BillJones

For me the 1970s centered going to the big coin shows, first in New York City when I lived in New Jersey and then Boston when work took me there. That met that the Bay State show in Boston, which was held three times a year was the big event. At other times The Worthy Coin Shop and JJ Teaparty were the best coins stores for me in Boston.

Certification in the form of ANACS certificates (no slabs) came in at the end of the decade. Before then it was your brains and experience + the integrity and honesty of the dealer that kept you out of trouble.

High inflation, higher gold and silver prices (remember the Hunt Brothers?) and speculation to the market to unbelievable heights at the end of the decade. I was pretty much priced out of the market for anything nice and collected Two Cent Pieces in EF to satisfy my "collectors' sweet tooth." That was followed by a brutal market collapse that took a lot of dealers with it.

Elcontador

What others said. The big to do in the 1970s was the mint's discovery of 1,000,000 plus Unc. CC Morgan $s, and the first year they were made available to the public was 1979. Bought 12 of them; 8 were the ugliest Unc. Morgans I've ever seen.

The run up in metals by 1979 generated long lines at coin shops with people unloading even Barber and Seated dimes, because their metal value exceeded their numismatic value.

Sonorandesertrat

What I remember in the 1970s is this:
1. My paternal grandmother was collecting coins until about 1978, when her eyesight deteriorated to the point that she stopped buying coins. Prices for generics (Morgans, Walkers, etc.) soared to ridiculous levels.
2. Whizzed coins were everywhere.
3. Dealers were dipping coins while you waited, if you asked.
4. I was actively collecting foreign coins (Austro-German thalers and Swiss shooting thalers). I found Davenport's books fascinating.
5. I was a teenager during most of those years, and lived near Gables Stamp & Coin (owned by John Albright). When business was a bit slow, one or more of his guys was usually behind a counter, cleaning coins with soft cloths, brushes, and various solvents. He was still in business in Coral Gables (but his shop had moved) when I last saw him in 2011. His selection of classic gold back then was amazing.
6. Silver coins were mostly gone if you received change in South Florida. On vacation trips to the Rocky Mountains, we were still routinely getting silver coins in change, especially in small towns. When I was living in Logan, UT as late as 2005, I received a worn silver dime or quarter in change a couple of times each year.
7. The major bullion gold was the Krugerrand. My grandmother had stacks of them, bought from Sydney Smith & Sons in Miami.
8. The information available to average collectors was comparatively sparse. People still payed attention to prices in the Red Book back then.
9. Coin World was a far more substantial publication, from what I remember. Nowadays, I can practically finish reading it before I get back into my house from the mailbox.
10. Ads and house publications from Dave Bowers' company were always a treat to read.

TomB

My father was a milkman and he would bring home a bag of change containing approximately $25 face value every night as well as perhaps $100 in currency. I would go through all his cash and pay him face value for whatever I kept. By 1972 or so I would only get a single silver Roosevelt every month and would find one silver Washington every three months or so. The half dollars were at least one-third 40% silver examples. Once in a while I would get a dateless Buffalo and every night would yield a dozen or so Wheat cents. Also, silver certificates were still circulating and I would get one or two each month.



By 1974/1975 there was virtually no silver at all in any of the change, but the Wheat cents remained.

CaptHenway

I worked for Coin World from 1973 to 1978. Large tabloid newsprint format (think it was 14 inches tall by 10 inches wide) with usually 96 pages. Major show issues had two sections, often 144 pages total. I remember one ANA edition had two 96-page sections. Circulation was over 150,000 copies per week, many of them sold through coin shops.



Started subscribing to it around 1967. Cost $6 for 52 issues, but they usually had specials where you could get up to 66 issues for $6. They made their money on the advertising. The target was 75% advertising/ 25% editorial content.



Then the cost of newsprint skyrocket, as did postage, and the crash of the early 1980's took out many of the advertisers. A lot of coin shops closed, eliminating newsstand sales. The internet made things faster, and made people want to get the editorial content for free.



TD

gonzer

I can tell you the music didn't suck as much as it does now.

cladking

People started removing silver in 1962 when the government announced they were running out. Many just threw all their change into boxes figuring it wasn't worth the trouble to spend pennies and nickels. This led to the coin shortage which increased the rate at which people hoarded silver. Clad came out in November of 1965 and did little to alleviate the shortage since more preople started hoarding silver. By mid-'66 the number of clad in circulation was getting high enough to help a little and the shortage was over by mid-1967. Silver was being drawn out quickly and ads were starting to appear offering a premium for coin. When silver prices fell a little the drawdown slowed but then higher prices in '68 caused much more draw down and the FED began removing silver. By the middle of 1969 there wasn't enough silver for the FED to separate it so they ceased. By 1970 every single silver coin was gone from circulation but it was still possible to run into coins being spent for the first time in many years. Piggy banks and change jars were sometimes dumped into circulation and with luck you might get one or a few though I did not. In the early '70's there just was nothing. Then in 2008 many households were dissolved and it wasn't unusual for a few silver coins to get spent. I went from finding about five silver coins per decade to five per year. There's still more silver hitting circulation and not quite so many people to notice it so it's still "common" to find some.



Nobody collected from circulation in the '70's and this didn't change until 1999.

Goldbully

From 1973 to 1976 we owned a fast food restaurant with 15 pinball machines.



Kids would bring in their parents silver coin collections all the time to play.



There was not a day that went by that we did not get anywhere from 25 to 100 silver coins per day.....mostly quarters



If only I was more of a collector back then.

mannie gray

90% silver was very scarce when I started going through lots of coins in the early-mid 70's.

If my memory serves me correctly, I'm sure I found less than $10 face the whole decade.

By the 80s a war nickel might have been a quarterly find; silver a biannual (if that) event.

40% halves were still out there but nobody wanted them and you could get maybe 62-65 cents each, that's if you shopped them around.



I will echo a previous post about the former heft of "Coin World." Used to look like the Racing Form Kentucky Derby addition.

Musky1011

Snowed more back then

JRocco

Silver was extremely rare to find.

Wheat backs and Jeffs were what to look for.

Still abundant.

I have gallon bottles full of Jeffs from the 40's and 50's taken out of the cash register as well as a couple of wheats from almost every roll opened.

TopographicOceans

Coins where BU, Choice and Gem - without numbers to argue about.
Instead they argued about letters.

crazyhounddog

The 50's and 60's were much better I'll tell ya that. Grading went from XF to BU no AU is what I remember about the grading and white was right.

deltadimeman

long hair, minimum wage $1.60, 25 cent gas, 25 cent cigs. , $4.5 case of Budweiser , $10 ounce for weed. as you can tell I did not collect coins in the seventies . my big mistake

DoubleEagle59

Whizzed coins were quite common and at the big coin shows, most dealers had a bottle of dip behind them as almost all coins were brilliant white.

In fact, it was very rare to find a toned coin in most showcases then.

DeepCoin

I remember when silver went crazy and sold my meager Mercury Dime collection for bullion as silver was above $45 when I sold. I had mostly coins I had gotten out of change over the years since I was young, no keys, etc. I was quite happy to get a bunch of money as I was quite poor, but I was also sad that my collection was gone. Not enough not to sell however.

I also remember waiting for Coin World as it was the only place to find coin pricing, there being no internet at that time. I also remember that roll collecting was popular, but I never got into that (good thing!)

DeepCoin

I remember when silver went crazy and sold my meager Mercury Dime collection for bullion as silver was above $45 when I sold. I had mostly coins I had gotten out of change over the years since I was young, no keys, etc. I was quite happy to get a bunch of money as I was quite poor, but I was also sad that my collection was gone. Not enough not to sell however.

I also remember waiting for Coin World as it was the only place to find coin pricing, there being no internet at that time. I also remember that roll collecting was popular, but I never got into that (good thing!)

ProofArtworkonCircs

I went through thousands of silver dollars in the early 1960's. Silver, itself, did not impress us much. The melt value was less than face. All the circulating money was fiat to some extent.

The early 1970's were fun too. First was getting 1972 P type 2 Ikes out of circulation followed by getting B like type H quarters out of circulation in 1973 on.

mirabela

The crazy silver run-up was right around when my dad got back into coins and I started collecting. We bought some crazy stuff from dealers who had bought it at melt -- still have two seated dollars that came from melt piles. Just nuts.

ricman

I took thousands of silver coins from circulation during 1967-1970. In 1968 I had four crews working under my direction in western PA. I gave each crew $50 and asked them to stop at banks in the small towns they were working and obtain rolled coins.This gave me $200 to search through every evening in the motel. Next day the non silver coins were returned to a bank and I added what ever money was necessary to give each crew $50 to start the search anew. Silver coins were abundant the summer of 1968 but declined sharply soon thereafter. My best finds included a BU 1918 S SLQ and a full $10 roll of Walking Liberty half dollars with some early dates. If I recall correctly I ended up about 5000 dimes plus the quarters and half dollars.

WillieBoyd2

I was mostly out of the coin hobby from 1967 to 1982 except for a few coin shop visits.

I did visit a coin show at a Washington DC hotel in the summer of 1970 but only because it was near where I was staying.

I would have saved any silver US coins that I found and I don't remember finding any.

I liked Jimmy Carter and voted for him twice.

roadrunner

GSA Carson City silver dollars:



The US government had five mail bid sales between October 31, 1972 and June 30, 1974. These sales limited collectors to only purchase one of each date per household. The 1879, 1890 & 1891 coins sold out rather quickly and the rest of the coins met mild enthusiasm. As of the last sale date in 1974, the US government still had about one million CC coins left.



The coins lay dormant for several years until in 1979 the president signed legislation to authorize the sale of the remaining coins at a set price. In early 1980, this set price was retracted just a month before the coins were set to sell in another round of mail bid sales due to a run in the silver market. Originally, the 1980 sale limited the amount of coins per customer to 500 pieces. However, just thirteen days before the sale began, the number was dropped to thirty-five coins per customer. The sale ended in July of 1980 after a hectic few months. Below you will find pictures of original paperwork for both sale 3 & 4. Click for a larger view.



A friend of mine bought 3 GSA CC sets in the early 1970's while he was a young man in the Navy. Still has them.



I remember 1979 as the year of the bailout. That was when coin prices on even junk and problem coins rose far enough that you could get out of most mistakes made a few years earlier. Dealers were asking what I had to sell to them....anything would do. They just needed product. I took advantage of that and sold a lot of early "mistakes" for profits. Who knew I should have sold everything including the good stuff, then come back in summer 1982 for the 65% off sale.

talkingwalnut2

Like someone said, Coin World was the only game in town, or at least the only one I was aware of and could afford. Because of the lag time, ads from the most recent issue were obsolete even before they hit mailboxes. I learned the hard way that a lot of dealers wouldn't honor their own most recent ads from the back of the classifieds.



On a brighter note, I lived in a small town with a business district of about 4 blocks long on Main Street that had maybe 5 different bank branches. On summer days I'd hitch a ride into town with my mom, then buy a couple of rolls of pennies or nickels from the first bank, sit in the alley and search the rolls, then trade them in on 2 different rolls at bank number 2, and so on. Back then the tellers would make change for you even if you weren't a bank customer. Thanks, Obama!

3keepSECRETif2rDEAD

Cool thread!...I was born in 1980 but my pops said the 70's kicked some major azz...and from all the stories of him running the bar at The Studio Cafe in Newport Beach...forgetaboutit

halfhunter

Originally posted by: WingedLiberty1957

Lots of dateless Buffalo Nickels in rolls tho. You used to be able to drop acid on the date area to make the date appear (shudder at that now!).

When we dropped acid in the seventies, all kinds of funky things appeared . . .



HH

TopographicOceans

Back in the 70's people had to walk all the way across the room to change the channel on the TV.

They were barbaric times.

sparky64

One of the things that stands out the most to me about the '70's was the Bicentennial in 1976.

I was 12 years old and maybe that's why I thought that it was all soooo cool.



Everything was geared toward patriotism. And I mean everything. Shows, advertisement, retailers, schools.....



The bicentennial quarter is still one of my favorite designs.







Edit: So enjoy the collecting, business and periodical stories that have been posted.

TwoSides2aCoin

Best decade of music ever.

By '79 when the SBA was released I threw up a little in my mouth.


See the TOP 100 songs from that year ?
See how many titles fit Susan B.



"My Sharona" The Knack
2 "Bad Girls" Donna Summer
3 "Le Freak" Chic
4 "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" Rod Stewart
5 "Reunited" Peaches & Herb
6 "I Will Survive" Gloria Gaynor
7 "Hot Stuff" Donna Summer
8 "Y.M.C.A." Village People
9 "Ring My Bell" Anita Ward
10 "Sad Eyes" Robert John
11 "Too Much Heaven" Bee Gees
12 "MacArthur Park" Donna Summer
13 "When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman" Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show
14 "Makin' It" David Naughton
15 "Fire" The Pointer Sisters
16 "Tragedy" Bee Gees
17 "A Little More Love" Olivia Newton-John
18 "Heart of Glass" Blondie
19 "What a Fool Believes" The Doobie Brothers
20 "Good Times" Chic
21 "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" Neil Diamond & Barbra Streisand
22 "Knock on Wood" Amii Stewart
23 "Stumblin' In" Suzi Quatro & Chris Norman
24 "Lead Me On" Maxine Nightingale
25 "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" The Jacksons
26 "Don't Cry Out Loud" Melissa Manchester
27 "The Logical Song" Supertramp
28 "My Life" Billy Joel
29 "Just When I Needed You Most" Randy VanWarmer
30 "You Can't Change That" Raydio
31 "Shake Your Groove Thing" Peaches & Herb
32 "I'll Never Love This Way Again" Dionne Warwick
33 "Love You Inside Out" Bee Gees
34 "I Want You to Want Me" Cheap Trick
35 "The Main Event/Fight" Barbra Streisand
36 "Mama Can't Buy You Love" Elton John
37 "I Was Made for Dancin'" Leif Garrett
38 "After the Love Has Gone" Earth, Wind & Fire
39 "Heaven Knows" Donna Summer and Brooklyn Dreams
40 "The Gambler" Kenny Rogers
41 "Lotta Love" Nicolette Larson
42 "Lady" Little River Band
43 "Heaven Must Have Sent You" Bonnie Pointer
44 "Hold the Line" Toto
45 "He's the Greatest Dancer" Sister Sledge
46 "Sharing the Night Together" Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show
47 "She Believes in Me" Kenny Rogers
48 "In the Navy" Village People
49 "Music Box Dancer" Frank Mills
50 "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" The Charlie Daniels Band
51 "Gold" John Stewart
52 "Goodnight Tonight" Wings
53 "We Are Family" Sister Sledge
54 "Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy" Bad Company
55 "Every 1's a Winner" Hot Chocolate
56 "Take Me Home" Cher
57 "Boogie Wonderland" Earth, Wind & Fire & The Emotions
58 "(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away" Andy Gibb
59 "What You Won't Do for Love" Bobby Caldwell
60 "New York Groove" Ace Frehley
61 "Sultans of Swing" Dire Straits
62 "I Want Your Love" Chic
63 "Chuck E.'s In Love" Rickie Lee Jones
64 "I Love the Nightlife" Alicia Bridges
65 "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now" McFadden & Whitehead
66 "Lonesome Loser" Little River Band
67 "Renegade" Styx
68 "Love Is the Answer" England Dan & John Ford Coley
69 "Got to Be Real" Cheryl Lynn
70 "Born to Be Alive" Patrick Hernandez
71 "Shine a Little Love" Electric Light Orchestra
72 "I Just Fall in Love Again" Anne Murray
73 "Shake It" Ian Matthews
74 "I Was Made for Lovin' You" Kiss
75 "I Just Wanna Stop" Gino Vannelli
76 "Disco Nights (Rock-Freak)" GQ
77 "Ooo Baby Baby" Linda Ronstadt
78 "September" Earth, Wind & Fire
79 "Time Passages" Al Stewart
80 "Rise" Herb Alpert
81 "Don't Bring Me Down" Electric Light Orchestra
82 "Promises" Eric Clapton
83 "Get Used To It" Roger Voudouris
84 "How Much I Feel" Ambrosia
85 "Suspicions" Eddie Rabbitt
86 "You Take My Breath Away" Rex Smith
87 "How You Gonna See Me Now" Alice Cooper
88 "Double Vision" Foreigner
89 "Everytime I Think of You" The Babys
90 "I Got My Mind Made Up (You Can Get It Girl)" Instant Funk
91 "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" Michael Jackson
92 "Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)" Robert Palmer
93 "Somewhere in the Night" Barry Manilow
94 "We've Got Tonight" Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
95 "Dance the Night Away" Van Halen
96 "Dancin' Shoes" Nigel Olsson
97 "The Boss" Diana Ross
98 "Sail On" Commodores
99 "I Do Love You" GQ
100 "Strange Way" Firefall

bidask

I attended my first ANA convention in !971.

I distinctly remember buying a 1804 quarter in original fine condition for $300.

BillJones

Originally posted by: TopographicOceans
Back in the 70's people had to walk all the way across the room to change the channel on the TV.

They were barbaric times.

You could by a TV with a remote if you wanted it, but my parents thought that was an extravagance.

cladking

Originally posted by: TopographicOceans

Back in the 70's people had to walk all the way across the room to change the channel on the TV.



They were barbaric times.

Sometimes I wonder how we did it and then I remember there weren't ten minutes of ads every three minutes and sometimes there was one good program on after another.

Walkerguy21D

I remember subscribing to CoinAge magazine in the early-mid 70's, and drooling over the glossy covers that usually featured stacks of gold and silver coins.
I bought my first Morgan dollar from a friend who's dad was a part time dealer in 1972. An 1892-O in VF with rim ding for $1.75.
The neighbor lady was into coins, and bought some of the GSA CC dollars from the GSA sales. My mom then bought one from her as a gift to me. A dazzling white '83CC, for $30.

TwoSides2aCoin

Everyone remembers Nixon for Watergate. Numismatists remember him for "floodgate"

ricko

I was in the Navy in the early '60's...then in the '70's I was living in Europe and the West

Indies....so missed all the silver mania....When I was a kid delivering papers, there was nothing but silver.... Walkers, Franklins, Washies, Mercs and Rosies was what change was... well, with nickels and wheaties too.... Oh for a time machine.... Cheers, RickO