So with a new year marking the passage of time ... Lets start a "I am so old that ..." thread

WingedLiberty1957 · January 1, 2018 6:42AM

It can be either coin related or not. Lets all reminisce.

**I am so old that I remember when ... **

silver coins circulated in change
"Color TV" was a signage promotion for Motels (when a TV show broadcasted in color was an event)
Gold coins were illegal to own (or restricted?)
blue seal Silver Certificates circulated as currency
high end department stores had coin shops inside
every corner drug store had a coin supply display (whitman folders and coin tubes)
you could easily find Buffalo Nickels, Mercury Dimes, Standing Liberty Quarters, Walking Liberty Halfs in change
there were 3 grades of uncirculated: Unc., Choice Unc., Brilliant Unc. (led to a lot of dipping)
Coin Magazines like "Coinage" were in every newsstand.
Almost every dealer sold abrasive "Coin Cleaner Paste"
New cars cost $1500, new houses cost $8000, gasoline was 29 cents a gallon
TV shows were mostly about hillbillies and idiots (beverly hillbillies, petticoat junction, gomer pyle, f troop) -- today that genre covered in the news and press conferences
As a kid you could just disappear all day and nobody looked for you or was concerned
The space age was the rage: school would stop to watch rocket launches, you drank Tang (the breakfast of astronauts) and ate TV dinners, cars had fins and taillights that looked like rocket flames.
Kids would "pitch pennies" as a game

1960 Plymouth (Car or Rocket?)

Lets hear your fond or not so fond memories of the past

bkzoopapa · January 1, 2018 6:53AM

All of the above, plus I had a WWII ration book in my name as a baby. Yes I still have it, I,m a collector almost from day one.

291fifth · January 1, 2018 6:54AM

The purchase of a new Red Book was a major financial decision.

WingedLiberty1957 · January 1, 2018 7:07AM

I am so old I remember when ...

The US Mint would only sell 2 items every year: Proof Sets and Mint Sets. (Today the count seems more like 50+ items)
A mother that worked a "formal, out-of-the-house job" was a rare thing (1 income could support a whole family). All those 50's and 60's TV shows that reflected society at the time where the wife stayed home and the husbands would freak out if their wife wanted to work. Households did not need 2 incomes to survive and thrive.
Men wore hats all the time and women wore white gloves.
When the Kennedy Half Dollar release in 1964 was a huge event (lines at banks).
I only vaguely recall the release of bags of Morgan Silver Dollars at FACE VALUE at some banks. Was that the early 1960's?
The first fast food joint in my town. I think it was Hot Shoppes Jr. and right next door a McDonalds opened up a few weeks later. Hamburgers, Fries, and Milkshakes were 15 cents each!
if you wanted to buy something you had to use cash money. Some men would jingle the change in their pockets as they walked around (I now wonder if that was a sign of being rich or just a nervous habit?)

WingedLiberty1957 · January 1, 2018 7:18AM

TV antenae installation and TV repairman was a career, they drove around in trucks
Every drug store had a "tube tester" for checking blown tubes in your TV
Milkman, elevator operator, switchboard operator, and typist was a career (how many words per minute you could type determined your salary)
Everybody had "rabbit ears" on their TV sets and no remotes so someone had to sit near the tv to adjust volume, change the channel, and adjust the rabbit ears for each channel.
No designer clothes, everyone kind of wore the same thing. A suit was just a suit, there was no Armani Suit.
Doctors would make house calls!

Outhaul · January 1, 2018 7:20AM

I’m so old I fart dust.

giorgio11 · January 1, 2018 7:21AM

I just don't think that way. I am so young that at age (nearly 69) I can still run eight miles in a couple of hours. A moderate pace! My Mom is old (99 yrs 7 months).

Yeah, I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade. I do remember when 1960 Small Date Philly cents were going for $10,000 a bag, and I could buy BU Morgans for face value at the bank. And 1950-D nickel rolls were crazy!

And yes, I worked with my uncle Jack Patton on a milk truck once in a while.

Kind regards,

George

WildIdea · January 1, 2018 7:22AM

I remember when at 12 midnight the TV went to a flag and played the Star-Spangled Banner then went to snow until 5:30 when cartoons came on.

291fifth · January 1, 2018 7:35AM

@WildIdea said:
I remember when at 12 midnight the TV went to a flag and played the Star-Spangled Banner then went to snow until 5:30 when cartoons came on.

... and the TV test pattern with the chief.

WingedLiberty1957 · January 1, 2018 7:38AM

WingedLiberty1957 · January 1, 2018 7:40AM

your TV had just a few channels (maybe 6 or 7?) ... ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, a few local stations. If you didn't like what was on, too bad. No recordings, so you had to be home at a certain time to watch a show. A family would gather around their TV set in the evening to watch a favorite show.
you would tape a quarter to your phonograph arm/needle to keep it from skipping
you would use a stack of coins under a desk leg to keep it from rocking.
you could stick a penny in a fuse box hole if you didnt have a spare fuse (ouch)
breakfast was basically sugar: sugar pops, sugar smacks, frosted flakes, cookie crisp (basically a bowl of chocolate chip cookies with milk poured on (how did any of us survive?)

BobSav · January 1, 2018 7:44AM

Damm !!!!
I remember ALL of the above.
Yikes !!
Bob

Kkathyl · January 1, 2018 7:50AM

I was the first member of my family to own a computer at the age of 17. Learning to highlight total lines in yellow was fancy advanced skills in Lotus 123 because excel did not exist.

mustangmanbob · January 1, 2018 8:05AM

No joke was politically incorrect.
Everybody had a collie (Lassie) or German Shepard (Rin Tin Tin)
Seeing my mom cry when my draft number by birth date was drawn.

59Horsehide · January 1, 2018 8:09AM

Baseball cards cost 1 cent or 5 cents a pack
You could ride your bike to the bakery and get a half dozen fresh donuts for 25 cents (and eat them all by the time you got home)
When Mom took me to get new shoes, had to put my feet in an "X-Ray" machine to see how the shoes fit
A bottle of pop cost 10 cents and candy bars was a nickel
You never had to lock your house or car

SCDHunter · January 1, 2018 8:20AM

I remember when you could buy a proof set from the US Mint for $5.00 and that included delivery by registered US mail.

dpoole · January 1, 2018 8:26AM

I'm so old that...oh, hell. I forget.

CommemDude · January 1, 2018 8:32AM

*The only way to get cash for the week was to stand in line with your bankbook during banking hours

COIN WORLD was brand new and you had to go to the newsstand every week to get the new one
Most people in town would pay their electric bill at city hall with cash every month
You could call the DPW after a snowstorm and ask them to plow out your street , and they would !
Most of us walked home for lunch and returned by 1 pm in elementary school

dpoole · January 1, 2018 8:34AM

Oh, yeah. Now I remember!

At 5:00, we'd watch Howdy Doody, fretting whether Howdy'd beat Mr. Bluster in the mayorial election for Doodyville.

My mom'd give me a dollar to go get a haircut. The haircut cost $.75, so I'd have a quarter left over, I'd have to decide whether to buy two comic books and one candy bar, or one comic book and three candy bars.

(Decisions were no less weighty back then.)

We went EVERYWHERE on a bike, including to the local coin shop at Woodward & Lothrop's. Mom expected us home by dark.

sellitstore · January 1, 2018 8:35AM

Yes, all of the above plus we had a very similar 1960 Plymouth except that it was white and maybe had 4 doors? It's the first car that I remember our family owning-over 50 years ago. Thanks for the memories.

cladking · January 1, 2018 8:37AM

Roosevelts were the "new" dime in circulation.

This year it will be possible for the first time to get six decades of identical dimes; '68-D, '78-D, '88-D, '98-D, '08-D, and the '18-D.

Of course if you don't mind all the changes there are also '46(ag), '56(ag), '66, '76, '86-P, '96-P, '06-P, and '16-P.

cladking · January 1, 2018 8:50AM

The '18-D will officially go into production tomorrow, I believe. They'll spend a lot of time swapping out the old dies so production will be limited.

The attrition on dimes now days is just staggering so large numbers are being made to replace those and to accommodate a growing (and recovering) economy. Production is likely to be in the 3 billion range this year which just dwarfs older dates like the 40 million surviving '69-(P) dimes. There will be another 75 dimes to search to find the scarcer dates next Jan 1.

Attrition on the scarcer dates will increase a little because they'll have more wear and will be more likely to be lost and collectors are increasingly likely to remove each one for their collections. Nearly 35% of these early dimes are culls and the average grade is F-.

These dimes sure have been fun to watch for the last half century.

Of course I'm so old that I'm, beginning to forget some of it.

WingedLiberty1957 · January 1, 2018 9:07AM

kids played cowboys and indians. seemed like a ton of shows was about that genre
airplane travel was exotic -- something only the rich did. People dressed up in their sunday best to fly.
cars had hand crank windows and those great little triangular side window vents (that I still miss to this day).
cars were all plastic on the inside (even the floor and seats) ... and no seat belts. if the car stopped suddenly you went flying.
no helmets on bikes or skates

robec · January 1, 2018 9:14AM

@WingedLiberty1957 said:

your TV had just a few channels (maybe 6 or 7?) ... ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, a few local stations. If you didn't like what was on, too bad. No recordings, so you had to be home at a certain time to watch a show. A family would gather around their TV set in the evening to watch a favorite show.

you would tape a quarter to your phonograph arm/needle to keep it from skipping

you would use a stack of coins under a desk leg to keep it from rocking.

you could stick a penny in a fuse box hole if you didnt have a spare fuse (ouch)

breakfast was basically sugar: sugar pops, sugar smacks, frosted flakes, cookie crisp (basically a bowl of chocolate chip cookies with milk poured on (how did any of us survive?)

Growing up in San Diego we only had 3 TV stations 8, 10 and 12 and no remotes.

Outhaul · January 1, 2018 9:33AM

When I was in high school, I delivered milk in glass bottles door-to-door driving, while standing up, in a Divco milk truck. I'd finish my route, drive to my wife's (my then girlfriend) house and pick her up for school.

BustDMs · January 1, 2018 9:41AM

All the kids hat “flattop” haircuts.

You listened to your favorite baseball teams games on the radio.

A new bike for Christmas was a BIG deal and using the Seattle Pilot cards with a clothes pin for a noisemaker.

Playing kick the can, red rover, hide and seek, smear the queer and other games until the streetlights came on.

Shooting your B.B. gun in the woods without someone calling the cops.

Turning in pop bottles for candy money.

Arguing with your friends on whether Matchbox or Hot Wheel cars were better.

Making Creepy Crawlers with a hot plate that could have started a house fire.

tommy44 · January 1, 2018 10:19AM

I'm so old (73) that.....
-Harry Truman is the first President I remember as a kid
-my mother would send me to the store with fifteen cents (I think) to buy a loaf of Lady Betty sliced white bread
-I could go to the movies for twelve cents
-all the Lincoln cents were wheaties and if you went through enough rolls you could complete a set from coins found in circulation (the only three I never found in circulation were the 14-D, 22 plain and 55 DDO)
-all the dimes, quarters and halves in circulation were 90% silver
-you could get silver dollars at the bank for $1.00 each
-indian cents, buffalo nickels and barbers were frequently found in circulation
-you could buy proof set from the mint for $2.10 each
-some civil war and hard times tokens could be purchased for a dollar or less
-my first car was a 1959 diarrhea green Plymouth Belvedere with push button drive and rear fins almost as tall as I was
-I forget where we were going with this

BuffaloIronTail · January 1, 2018 10:24AM

I remember buying the new 1968 PDS Cents at the Coin Shop
A "Date Restored" 1918/7 Buffalo Nickel that my dealer had was out of my reach at $20.00
I only saw pictures of coins I coveted in magazines (like the 1909-S VDB and 1914-D Cents)
A stamp cost 6 Cents when I started at the Post Office Department in 1970

I'm tired now...........time to take a nap.

Pete

WingedLiberty1957 · January 1, 2018 10:42AM

I have a funny story about the naivete (or stupidity) of childhood (or at least of my childhood). I was 6 when JFK was shot and was pretty out-of-it in terms of current events. Meanwhile, I used to watch a kids show called "Ranger Hal" on my local station (it was kind of like Captain Kangaroo, but a local lower-budget version). On that show there was a stuffed rabbit called Oswald the Rabbit that would talk to Ranger Hal during various segments. When I heard on the news in passing back in 1963 that Oswald shot Kennedy, I was amazed and shocked -- and wondered how Oswald the Rabbit got a gun and pulled that off. I figured I would not be seeing Oswald the Rabbit on that show anymore. Oh the innocence/stupidity of being 6. I bet 6 years olds today are infinitely smarter than I was!

291fifth · January 1, 2018 10:54AM

My kindergarten teacher brought a TV into our classroom (no desks) and we sat on our rugs and watched President Eisenhower's 1953 inaugural parade. I thought it was really boring.

WingedLiberty1957 · January 1, 2018 11:02AM

anybody remember "duck and cover" nuclear attack drills in school during 1962/1963 cuban missile crisis? Lots of bomb shelters being built by homeowners and those Fallout Shelter signs popping up in cities and towns. I was doing duck and cover drills in Kindergarten (can you imagine? way to scare a bunch of 6 year olds).

jmlanzaf · January 1, 2018 11:09AM

I'm so old I collect coins!

deefree49 · January 1, 2018 11:45AM

I remember when they retired the wheat back cents. It really made me sad.

Going through penny rolls, 1916, 1917 1918 1919 and 1920 cents with S and D mints were fairly common in circulation.
1910 cents were so common, I'd put them back in the rolls without a second's hesitation.

We had trucks that brought:
Milk
Bread
Fruit
Household items (Fuller Brush Man)
Potato chips

Our family car was a 1955 Chevy. I loved that car.
The coin store at the corner had several 1909 S-VDBs for sale, uncirculated $50 each.
I found an Indian Head penny in change!

I loved the Standing Liberty Quarters but a lot of them didn't have dates.
The same held true with Buffalo Nickels.

You could find 1932 D or S Washington quarters in circulation without having to search really hard.
"War" nickels were common!

People never bothered to pick up their dog's bizness. The good old days!

PTVETTER · January 1, 2018 11:56AM

I remember the party line phone.
Not everyone had a TV.
dealers sold from the Red book and purchased by the blue book!
I walked over 1/4 mile to get to the school buss stop and then had a 8 mile ride to school!

BillDugan1959 · January 1, 2018 12:16PM

I remember party line telephones (early to mid-1960s). Very inconvenient for my Dad's farm business.

I remember when an automobile that was two or two and one-half years old would routinely have its body rusted out. My parents and all their friends got a new car every year it seemed. These were farmers, not wealthy at all for the most part.

I can remember when there was no ABC affiliated TV channel in our area. CBS in Peoria, NBC in Springfield - when atmospheric conditions were just right, you might get PBS from Champaign-Urbana (but signal never lasted long, and the programs were nothing but a boring curiosity).

Grandpa listened to baseball games on huge wood-cased table radios every night.

LRCTom · January 1, 2018 1:10PM

I'm so old that I remember..

-Coin World being about an inch thick
-Two thirds of the boys in fifth grade working on Whitman folders, from circulation

Many high schools having coin clubs (or "coin and stamp clubs")
Bid boards. One in the area closing almost every night.
The first round of GSA dollar sales
Coin shows that were so crowded, you could hardly get to a dealer's case

2ndCharter · January 1, 2018 1:36PM

We had three channels growing up in the Albany, NY area - 6, 10, and 13 (although 13, the ABC affiliate) came in a bit snowy no matter how much my Dad fiddled with the antenna. In the evening, I sat closest to the TV as I was the remote.

I also remember in high school when, every once in a while, a girl would "disappear" - and, if you asked what happened, you were told they were visiting relatives out of town although you never saw them again,...

BStrauss3 · January 1, 2018 5:16PM

Zenith SpaceCommand remote control

Paradisefound · January 1, 2018 7:18PM

scroll way way down to find your birth year

jedm · January 1, 2018 8:54PM

I'm so old that I remember... having a paper route and at this time of year having chocolate covered cherries that I received as Christmas gifts in what seemed like an endless supply. Also summertime "town team" baseball games where we would run and wrestle with the other kids to get the foul balls , and receiving a dime when returned to use for popcorn or pop. Again on the paper route I remember delivering the news of the Vietnam war, and of the landing on the moon.

BLUEJAYWAY · January 1, 2018 9:06PM

World Series games were aired in the daytime,Greeney stick-um caps for the cap guns,Vac-U-Form making toy, S/H stamps,TV time Popcorn-butter in one side of the package the popcorn kernels in the other. P.S. How many here are so old they forget their first mustard stain on their shirt.

Lakesammman · January 1, 2018 9:14PM

We would X-ray our feet at the shoe store to see if they fit properly.

CaptHenway · January 1, 2018 9:27PM

I remember watching the Davey Crockett TV show at the house we moved out of in July, 1956. We had three American stations plus one Canadian station.

BillyKingsley · January 1, 2018 9:45PM

Being born in 1984 I missed some interesting things. I remember before the internet was a thing anyone talked about or even knew what it was.

oldgoldlover · January 1, 2018 9:55PM

When I was shopping for my first car I saw a 1956 T Bird. I feel in love with the design and bought a 57 in May 1979. i drove it to school and took my last final exam that day. i paid $2,700 for the car and it was in pretty fair shape and more important had a straight frame. I drove the car for ten years, three of which were in Austin, TX when attending UT. I lived next door to three girls and they would knock on the door late in the afternoon and want to go cruising. I had five of them with me at one time, quite crowded given the car was a coupe,

The hard top came off in May and served as my dirty clothes hamper till end of September. I would park on campus, go to class, shoot some straight pool and head home in time to fire up the grill.

I graduated and drove the car to work and got a job for the local T BIrd restoration expert doing upholstery work. During this time I started stock piling parts as I intended to completely restore the car from bottom to top.

I finished the restoration after ten years and the car looked brand new. I became a dad in April 1986 and sold the car on May 19 1986, ten years to the day after acquiring it.

I still miss my bird and will never forget all the fun I had in the car.

Sales price was $18,000. I made all the money and had all the fun.

Other than having five girls in the car at once I made the drive from Austin to Houston in hours and seven minutes and that was before all the loops were in place around the small towns. never got one ticket but I sure deserved some.

Don't be sad its over just glad it happened. Happy New Years to all.

Cladiator · January 1, 2018 10:09PM

**I am so old that I remember ... **

• The old CU Open Forum

CommemDude · January 2, 2018 5:12AM

Listening to Alan Shepard's 15 minute ride into space broadcast throughout the school's PA system
Walking around with a two pound SEARS "miniature" transistor radio listening to Leslie Gore
Working in a furniture factory during summer so I could make 1.65 an hour...a small fortune to a 16 year old
Listening to my dad talk about the rare coin hoard in the old house next to ours...occupied by a Mrs Clarke (!)
Seeing sputnik streak across the sky and being scared that the Russians were watching me

Outhaul · January 2, 2018 5:23AM

Duck and cover.

Outhaul · January 2, 2018 5:24AM

@Lakesammman said:
We would X-ray our feet at the shoe store to see if they fit properly.

Ah, yes. The fluoroscope. Little did we know, huh.

Outhaul · January 2, 2018 5:27AM

Major Mudd and Willie Whistle.

cladking · January 2, 2018 6:28AM

@LRCTom said:

-Two thirds of the boys in fifth grade working on Whitman folders, from circulation

Seems it's just you and me that remember this.

You weren't in Mr Marshall's class too were you?

I also remember the lines to sell silver in 1980 didn't get long until AFTER the price crashed.

So with a new year marking the passage of time ... Lets start a "I am so old that ..." thread

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