So what would $20 clams in 1933 get you?

coinsarefun · August 22, 2014 1:32PM

Well I guess you could get a gold coin but.....you better not tell anyone

I think for coolness factor you might consider $20 clams baby

I was doing research on money of the great depression era and ran into this.

In March 1933, in the midst of the Great Depression, Pismo Beach turned to its own form of gold — Pismo Clams.

Eleven of the town’s merchants got together to issue the clam currency. Among them: K.L. Phillips service station, Henderson’s Drug Store,
Hi-Way Cigar Store, Leiter’s Rexall Pharmacy and Restwell Cabins. Even the Pismo Beach Post Office accepted clam currency then.

The shells were marked with India ink in denominations ranging from 25 cents to $20.

One shell reads “Good for $20.00 on demand F.W. Wolverton Signs, Sign other side, March 6, 1933.” Another carries a $5 value at Leiter’s Rexall Pharmacy.
Many of the clams were signed inside when they were redeemed.

In creating the currency, the Pismo Beach business owners turned back the clock to the era before the Civil War when it was common to find locally produced scrip.

Some libertarians and business advocates say local scrip is a good way to keep goods and services trading in a local community without watching some of the
money leave town for taxes or corporate profits.

Read More here

This 25 cents one sold in 2012 for $450 clams...plus juice

Or....maybe $750 clams for this 10 cent clam

Another neat item

silverpop · August 22, 2014 1:50PM

Broadstruck · August 22, 2014 1:52PM

Great post!

rmpsrpms · August 22, 2014 3:05PM

Excellent "numismatics at its best" post. Surprisingly high prices paid for these. We go through Pismo Beach twice a month. It offers the first glimpse of the vast Pacific on the way south on 101, and the last glimpse on the way back north.

yosclimber · August 22, 2014 4:31PM

There are even a couple of these clams in the Smithsonian National Numismatic Collection.
http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1003768

[edit:] Right, I think that last shot in your original post is at the Smithsonian.

coinsarefun · August 22, 2014 4:34PM

Thanks yosclimber, I forgot to include that in my original post.

SaorAlba · August 22, 2014 10:55PM

One of my great grandmothers lived there during that time and I have some of her numismatic savings from then - unfortunately no clamshells though. Pismo Beach is just in one of the very coolest parts of California - I loved wasting my summers there when I was in high school.

johnny9434 · August 23, 2014 2:33AM

goood stuff

ricko · August 23, 2014 2:42AM

And the clams are great eating as well.... camped on the beach there and dug clams..... were great with scrambled eggs for breakfast. Cheers, RickO

Justlooking · August 23, 2014 2:50AM

Shells were money before money was money.

coinsarefun · August 23, 2014 8:14AM

Glad everyone enjoyed it.

AUandAG · August 23, 2014 8:31AM

And shells were shells before shells were money before they were money....

bob

DCW · August 23, 2014 11:12AM

This is a very cool thread indeed. The prices paid for these shells, while at first may seem outrageous, are really just a reflection of what many will pay to have a tangible piece of history in their hands.
I'd forgotten all about these.