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cigarettes from the 1950s with two pennies

I am not sure if I should open my 1950s cigarettes that have included in their package two pennies. If I open them to see if I was lucky enough to have the double stamped 1955 penny I will destroy the value of the package. I would cry for sure if I learned that I sold the pack for small amount and they had included a valuable coin. I do not know what to do with this. I read on this forum that some collectors had not seen such packs and no one had seen an unopened one. I would appreciate any wisdom or knowledge regarding this. I am new to this forum and hope I did this correctly. Thank you.

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  • ranshdowranshdow Posts: 1,431 ✭✭✭✭

    I'm sure many of us would love to see pictures. An easy way to do this is to email yourself the pictures, download them onto the computer you use to browse this site, and then upload them using the little icon on the upper right.

  • nagsnags Posts: 789 ✭✭✭✭

    I always assumed the coins were visible on the cigarette packages, The odds of being the doubled 1955 seems almost non-existent. Have to be at the right time and right location.

  • jesbrokenjesbroken Posts: 9,151 ✭✭✭✭✭

    In western Virginia on the Tennessee border, the cigarette machines all had cigarettes with 2 cents within the cellophane in the late 50's. Remember that well.
    Jim


    When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln

    Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
  • CaptHenwayCaptHenway Posts: 31,499 ✭✭✭✭✭

    What is the cigarette brand? That may eliminate the possibility.

    Numismatist. 50 year member ANA. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Winner numerous NLG Literary Awards.
  • JBKJBK Posts: 14,637 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I always thought the cello was slit with a razor by the vendor to fit the 2 cents in. Were the coins actually sealed in the pack?

    In any case, the value of a sealed pack with two unknown cents in it will never be anywhere near the same as two (or one) 1955 doubled die cents. So, you can roll the dice and open it or not, that is your decision. I do not know anything about vintage cigarette packs - there may be a way to date them to see if they are at least from the correct year/era.

  • Insider2Insider2 Posts: 14,452 ✭✭✭✭✭

    The errors can be authenticated from either side. Don't open the pack! It is worth more sealed wether the coins are the errors or not. Example, sealed pack in an exhibit of the error. Bet you can get over $100 even if the coins are normal.

  • TwobitcollectorTwobitcollector Posts: 3,079 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Most were found in New England

    Positive BST Transactions with:
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  • thisistheshowthisistheshow Posts: 9,386 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Looking forward to pictures.

  • The are Phillip Morris. The pennies are sealed inside an exterior cellophane wrapper. There is no slit through which the coins were inserted. The exterior wrapper has stamped on it "two cents". Because the cellophane is old it is discolored and we have been unable to view the coins clearly; we can see they are there but cannot see details. Thank you for quick responses!!

  • Timbuk3Timbuk3 Posts: 11,658 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Very nice, good luck !!! :)

    Timbuk3
  • Insider2Insider2 Posts: 14,452 ✭✭✭✭✭

    While the micro diagnostics will not show, 55 doubled dies have a rim around their rim that may be visible. Neat find. Let us know the rest of the story. How did you get the item?

  • clarkbar04clarkbar04 Posts: 4,922 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Insider2 said:
    While the micro diagnostics will not show, 55 doubled dies have a rim around their rim that may be visible. Neat find. Let us know the rest of the story. How did you get the item?

    I'd guess because he decided to quit 64 years ago. ;)

    MS66 taste on an MS63 budget.
  • My husband has a unique barber shop which is more like a collector's hut full of oddities and antiques. His customers are all a bit into such things too and bring him some really odd things. One elderly man brought him a box full of unopened cigarettes one day that included this pack. We have fun with his quirky collection of stuff. Thanks for the interest and help! What a nice group.

  • maplemanmapleman Posts: 1,052 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Hold them and you have a couple of the many untold thousands that, as I recall, were sold in manual pull knob vending machines as change during the 50's and possibly early 60's. I can't speak to the 40's. I would open at least one probably both. Perhaps you'll find a keeper.

  • TwoSides2aCoinTwoSides2aCoin Posts: 43,793 ✭✭✭✭✭

    My late father told me they (DDO's) were exclusively packaged in the "Lucky Strike" non-filtered brand. Who knows the truth ?

  • CoinscratchCoinscratch Posts: 7,807 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Magoo1 .. Lidar could figure it out plus, what about the possibilty of the coins being a high grade?

  • Curiosity certainly drives me to open them but then they say curiosity killed the cat. I suspect there aren't too many unopened packs around because of hope for the special coins and I wouldn't want to destroy one of the remaining packs. It's a good thing this dilemma is not really very important!

  • KeithMS70KeithMS70 Posts: 192 ✭✭✭

    I’ve always heard the majority were found in the cigarette packs. I believe cigarettes were 23 cents back then and to get your 2 cents back from a quarter they just put them in a pack.

  • thisistheshowthisistheshow Posts: 9,386 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Magoo1 said:
    My husband has a unique barber shop which is more like a collector's hut full of oddities and antiques. His customers are all a bit into such things too and bring him some really odd things. One elderly man brought him a box full of unopened cigarettes one day that included this pack. We have fun with his quirky collection of stuff. Thanks for the interest and help! What a nice group.

    Sounds like a cool barber shop.

  • thebeavthebeav Posts: 3,744 ✭✭✭✭✭

    That's really neat.
    I had always heard about this, but have never seen a pack !

  • JBKJBK Posts: 14,637 ✭✭✭✭✭

    That "two cents" stamp is the state tax stamp from Ohio. That is your first clue, but I am not sure in which state the 55 DDs were sold.

    I imagine that 99.999999999% of all the packs sold that way did not have doubled dies in them, so the chances are slim, but as @Insider2 said, even as an example for display your pack is very desirable.

  • SmudgeSmudge Posts: 9,208 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I would just keep them as they are, but I like odd old stuff. May be worth more as is. Check eBay for similar items.

  • JBKJBK Posts: 14,637 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Magoo1 said:
    My husband has a unique barber shop which is more like a collector's hut full of oddities and antiques. His customers are all a bit into such things too and bring him some really odd things. One elderly man brought him a box full of unopened cigarettes one day that included this pack. We have fun with his quirky collection of stuff. Thanks for the interest and help! What a nice group.

    I love that kind of barber shop. That is more like the way they used to be, When I was a kid my local barber had his war trophies from WWII displayed on the wall, including a Japanese rifle and pistol he had liberated from captured (or worse) enemy soldiers.

  • I agree the chances are slim. I think we will probably continue to hold them as they are but maybe try to find a way to see through the cellophane. I wonder if any doubled dies were ever located in Ohio.

  • georgiacop50georgiacop50 Posts: 2,909 ✭✭✭✭

    Wow that is the coolest thing I have seen in many years!!

  • The barber shop is a walk down memory lane for sure. He has my old steel fishing pole I learned to fish with over 60 years ago on the wall (that was my contribution to this odd little collection). Lots of local history items all around the shop. People bring in very cool things including old war stuff. It is a quirky local little museum of sorts. Probably not much value but lots of memories for all.

  • aus3000tinaus3000tin Posts: 369 ✭✭✭

    Would an X-ray lead to a worthy image of the coins inside the cellophane ??

    Chris

  • 7Jaguars7Jaguars Posts: 7,226 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Xray might do it...

    Love that Milled British (1830-1960)
    Well, just Love coins, period.
  • dcarrdcarr Posts: 7,936 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Listing the whole sealed pack for sale (on eBay, for example) would be technically illegal, I think.
    If it were mine I would take the coins out and destroy the rest of it.

  • ColonialcoinColonialcoin Posts: 618 ✭✭✭✭

    Perhaps Q. David Bowers of Stacks/Bowers would remember the details of which cigarette brand contained the 1955/55. His posts his email address at the bottom of his Coin World columns.

  • KeithMS70KeithMS70 Posts: 192 ✭✭✭
    edited January 14, 2019 4:12PM

    What a cool find. If it were me I’d look into the X-ray thing as well.

    Ps if you do open it take a video.

  • sellitstoresellitstore Posts: 2,404 ✭✭✭✭✭

    That package doesn't look sealed at the left end. Try gently unfolding the side flap to slip the coins out. It looks like that's where the retailer slipped them under the wrapper-from the edge.

    Collector and dealer in obsolete currency. Always buying all obsolete bank notes and scrip.
  • JBKJBK Posts: 14,637 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 14, 2019 4:29PM

    @sellitstore said:
    That package doesn't look sealed at the left end. Try gently unfolding the side flap to slip the coins out. It looks like that's where the retailer slipped them under the wrapper-from the edge.

    I also thought that corner looked a little wonky...

    To expand on my initial question/point, as I understood it, the 2 cents were added by the vending machine operator. Assuming that packs came from the manufacturer sealed in cellophane, unless the vendor added their own second layer of cello, the coins were slipped under the original cello somehow, so there would have to be an opening.

    Now, if you try to slide the pennies out of the apparently open end, the movement might be obvious so that destroys the originality of the pack. But, if in fact there was a breach in the cello to allow the pennies to be slid in, then "originality" is a relative term.

    Personally, I'd first try to go as far as I could with the evidence at hand. They were sold in Ohio and are a particular brand. Do those factors line up with what is known about the 1955 doubled dies? (I don't know the answer).

  • CaptHenwayCaptHenway Posts: 31,499 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @TwoSides2aCoin said:
    My late father told me they (DDO's) were exclusively packaged in the "Lucky Strike" non-filtered brand. Who knows the truth ?

    That brand name does ring a bell, but I couldn't swear to it. I do know that they were distributed in New England.

    Numismatist. 50 year member ANA. Winner of four ANA Heath Literary Awards; three Wayte and Olga Raymond Literary Awards; Numismatist of the Year Award 2009, and Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. Winner numerous NLG Literary Awards.
  • JBKJBK Posts: 14,637 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @CaptHenway said:
    I do know that they were distributed in New England.

    If this is true then this pack is not loaded with doubled dies....

  • AUandAGAUandAG Posts: 24,515 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I started smoking in 1959 and Lucky's were my brand. Go LSMFT!!

    bob :)
    PS: quit in 1997.

    Registry: CC lowballs (boblindstrom), bobinvegas1989@yahoo.com
  • ldhairldhair Posts: 7,111 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Colonialcoin said:
    Perhaps Q. David Bowers of Stacks/Bowers would remember the details of which cigarette brand contained the 1955/55. His posts his email address at the bottom of his Coin World columns.

    Yes. Mr. Bowers lived this topic. He would know.

    Larry

  • RogerBRogerB Posts: 8,852 ✭✭✭✭✭

    The tax stamp indicates Ohio. After manipulating the images I 'think' the one of the left is 1956 (obverse is up)....not not really sure.

  • JimTylerJimTyler Posts: 3,032 ✭✭✭✭✭

    You got about 1 chance in 1000 (maybe 10,000) that you're not going to wish you hadn't messed with it

  • thebeavthebeav Posts: 3,744 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 14, 2019 7:22PM

    I have always heard that the largest release of DD's was in the Binghamton, NY area.
    Ray Merena, a former partner of QDB was also from that area.

  • I really appreciate your productive responses. X ray is an interesting idea. I wonder how I could get that done? I also wonder why selling them on ebay would be illegal. I also want to find Q. David Bowers email and learn from him. The one end of cellophane is a little wonky but still sealed as we sorely wanted to look inside but thought we should quit trying before it ripped.

  • edwardjulioedwardjulio Posts: 1,021 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 14, 2019 7:33PM

    qdbarchive@metrocast.net
    David Bowers

    End Systemic Elitism - It Takes All Of Us

  • Thank you. He sounds rather brilliant and I am a newby to this topic but oh well, I think I will just jump on out there. I do enjoy learning new interesting things.

  • derrybderryb Posts: 36,108 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Like the sarge used to say "smoke if ya got 'em."

    The decline from democracy to tyranny is both a natural and inevitable one.

  • oih82w8oih82w8 Posts: 11,865 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 15, 2019 9:54AM

    There is some awfully discerning advice here in this thread about location and the probability of these being the 55 DDO Cents.

    There is a couple of ways to satisfy your craving for knowledge...Seeking guidance from Q. David Bowers would be my train of thought.

    oih82w8 = Oh I Hate To Wait _defectus patientia_aka...Dr. Defecto - Curator of RMO's

    BST transactions: dbldie55, jayPem, 78saen, UltraHighRelief, nibanny, liefgold, FallGuy, lkeigwin, mbogoman, Sandman70gt, keets, joeykoins, ianrussell (@GC), EagleEye, ThePennyLady, GRANDAM, Ilikecolor, Gluggo, okiedude, Voyageur, LJenkins11, fastfreddie, ms70, pursuitofliberty, ZoidMeister,Coin Finder, GotTheBug...
  • TiborTibor Posts: 3,197 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Colonialcoin said:
    Perhaps Q. David Bowers of Stacks/Bowers would remember the details of which cigarette brand contained the 1955/55. His posts his email address at the bottom of his Coin World columns.

    THIS!! He and his business partner, Jim Ruddy, handled these buy the bucket load.

  • mustangmanbobmustangmanbob Posts: 1,890 ✭✭✭✭✭

    How about the 3 cigarette packs in C rations?

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