A trivia question for any of the old timers here.
coindeuce
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Can anyone here confirm how the Lincoln cent change was packaged in vending machine cigarette packs in the 1950's ? I'm recollecting that a significant number of the 1955 doubled die cents were found in these cigarette packs. Were the cents each packaged in individual cellophane sleeves, or were they paired in a single cellophane sleeve, or just slipped inside the cellophane wrapper of the pack ?
"Everything is on its way to somewhere. Everything." - George Malley, Phenomenon
http://www.americanlegacycoins.com
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They were inside the cello wrapper of Lucky Strikes..... Cheers, RickO
Floating loose ? Within additional cello sleeve(s) ?
"Everything is on its way to somewhere. Everything." - George Malley, Phenomenon
http://www.americanlegacycoins.com
Not only Lucky Strikes: pcgs.com/News/Smoking-Pays-Off-For-Collectors
Sorry Ricko, had to give you a disagree. I hope that does not cause a seizure or comparable.
Update, I took it off because I can!!
I recall that there were coins inside cigarette packages in order to give exact change when purchasing from a vending machine.
I am not old enough to have seen this first hand, but the story I have heard is that a pack of smokes cost $.23, and the vending machines would charge $.25 per pack. My understanding is that the two cents were somehow slid inside the original cello pack that came wrapped around each box.
I work with some high-end fragrance and treatment products which are cello wrapped, most of what we make is sealed vertically then folded and sealed on each end. I think for some applications the vertical seal is eliminated, so while the ends are closed tight, it would be possible to slide a small coin or two between the overlapping ends of the cello wrap on one face of the box. I can probably upload a couple of photos if it will help my explanation make sense.
Sean Reynolds
"Keep in mind that most of what passes as numismatic information is no more than tested opinion at best, and marketing blather at worst. However, I try to choose my words carefully, since I know that you guys are always watching." - Joe O'Connor
You can google this and I'm sure you will be inundated with the stories of old timers like QDB who experienced the craze first hand.
@Wabbit2313..Nope...that is ok ... I say Lucky Strikes because that is what my Dad smoked at the time and he would send me to the store for them.... and the cents were loose inside the cello.... sure, there were other brands, because machines dispensed several types... all for the quarter. Correct @roadrunner... I did experience it firsthand Cheers, RickO
An interesting story for sure.
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But were you in the buying and selling of them as a dealer at that time? QDB has some interesting articles on the subject as they were very active on this coin handling dozens or maybe hundreds of specimens. How many total did they buy and during which months? What parts of the country did they get them from? This all from first hand accounts.
I came across a pair of '55 plain Lincoln's packaged as a pair in an aged cellophane sleeve. Seemed possible that they may have been part of a cigarette package. I've seen individual cents stored in an unsealed cello sleeve from collectors who were active in the 1960's or earlier. These are sealed.
"Everything is on its way to somewhere. Everything." - George Malley, Phenomenon
http://www.americanlegacycoins.com
a very good idea. something to do in the winter months and get educated (fwiw on that part)
A good example of purchasing one item and then profiting in the extra bonus. (55' Double Die) Just as, receiving a "priceless" Honus Wagner baseball card when buying a pack of smokes!
"Jesus died for you and for me, Thank you,Jesus"!!!
--- If it should happen I die and leave this world and you want to remember me. Please only remember my opening Sig Line.I would love to know how they got the two cents inside the cellophane. If they slit it, the tobacco would get stale.
...and I'd say Kools, because it's what my mother smoked.
The two cents were inserted into the cellophane at the bottom of the pack.
The process of placing cents as change in cigarette packages sold from vending machines was called "pennying". Until 1956 or so cigarettes were packaged in soft, pouch-type jackets. Merchants were able to force pennies through the cellophane with little effort. Yes, the package was no longer airtight but it apparently was of little concern. The cigarettes still had a foil wrap.
Around that time flip-top boxes were introduced. The tight cellophane and rigid box construction made pennying difficult and operators were looking for a simple solution. They soon got it. Taxes and rising packaging costs raised the price of a pack to 30c.
Below is a 1957 vending machine that tackled the problem.
As a kid my siblings and I were always on the lookout for discarded cigarette packs. Some smokers were lazy or forgetful and pennies could be found in the empty packs.
Lance.
@lkeigwin...Great information ...Thanks... Cheers, RickO
Ah, for the days when prices increased in increments smaller than a nickel. I was just at the supermarket and bought a Hershey bar (with almonds) on sale for 99 cents. Back when I was first old enough to go the block and a half up to the corner store your basic Hershey bar (about the size of this one) was a nickel. Over time it slowly got smaller and smaller, till one day it jumped to a dime but was back to the size of the old nickel bar or perhaps even bigger. The adjustments in size were their way of making small increases in the price per ounce of what you got. Eventually the dime bar got smaller and smaller till one day it jumped to 15 cents and again increased in size.
Those were also the days of strict retail price control by manufacturers and wholesalers. "Blue laws" limited operating hours and days for many businesses. The only things available on Sunday were gasoline and, later, prescription/medical products.
Absolutely correct @Capt Henway, as I remember vividly many a day I would take my school-lunch money, 35 cents, and rather than eat lunch, I would buy seven plain (usually) Hershey bars and take them home, break the little scored lines that enabled exactly equal-size squares of chocolate, pile them up, and eat them one (or two or three) at a time. The ones with almonds were delicious too but the presence of a nut crossing one of those scores in the chocolate might produce an irregular break at that point, and my little OCD self preferred not to deal with irregular pieces of nut sticking out from the piles. Welcome to the OCD club where everybody counts, everybody counts, everybody counts.
Somehow I don't think I told my Mom about eating gobs of chocolate after school rather than the meat and three she supposed I was.
The 5c (and later 10c) Hershey's chocolate bar with almonds I remember didn't have scores for breaking into uniform pieces. The bar had a smooth, flat bottom and a smooth curved top with Hershey's impressed on the top.
Lance.
Ah, you are right, I remember them now, even more reason to avoid those nasty irregular bits. Plus I was allergic to both nuts and chocolate, not that that kept me from such total tomfoolery as a kid. Thanks for the correction @lkeigwin !
Kind regards,
George
Well, I was around for the mid 50's cigarette vending machines as I was taken to the bowling alley where the green monster sat along the wall. Both my parents smoked, my dad Kents and my mom L&M but the machines only carried the major players, she had to smoke Kents if she ran out at the alley. In those days, it seemed like everyone smoked everywhere. There were even ashtrays right there at the scoring table...bowling, beer, drinks and cigarettes! Now then, I do not remember them getting any change back in the cigarette pack, they may have been .23 cents at the store, but a quarter bought you a pack out of a vending machine. My dad would let me pull the lever and they would fall out into the tray. I do not recall 2 cents ever being in the pack, this must have been a East Coast thing.
"Keep your malarkey filter in good operating order" -Walter Breen
I remember it well! My dad got the cigs and I got the two cents. Over the years I have seen a few of these packages for sale at antique shows.
Guess they just cut into and placed 2 cents in.... just my 2 cents
At the store they would have just given change out of the cash register, so the added two coins would only have been in the vending machines.
In 1970-71 I worked at a party store in Detroit and the regular smokes were 41 cents. Not 40, 41. We went through a lot of rolls of cents giving out change.
The price of single candy bars went from 5 cents to 10 cents in early 1966. I recall this happening when I was a freshman in college. It was a most troubling development!
I remember a day in September of 1960 (which I can remember because they were paving our street that day and my friend Tim wrote the date in the cement on his curb) when a 16 ounce Pepsi at the corner store went from 10 cents plus 2 cents deposit to 11 cents plus deposit. When I asked why, I was told that it was because of the embargo on sugar from Cuba.
I suspect the Pepsi was a 12 ounce and not a 16 ounce. I'm not sure if they ever made 16 ounce glass bottles.
Yes they were 16 ounce glass bottles! One of the reasons why I was a Pepsi fan rather than a Coke fan.
This was in the Detroit area. Might have been different where you were.
The size/price manipulation still goes on today.... the wife and I were discussing this last week. I also remember penny candy in the local shop... they had trOys of candy and you could buy one (for a cent) or several.... That option disappeared about the time I joined the Navy...Cheers, RickO