It's 1932, The Mint just issued the new commemorative Washington quarter...
PhillyJoe
Posts: 2,705 ✭✭✭✭
The new design was a hit and would lose the "commemorative" status when production resumed in 1934.
What could you buy with your new quarter if you had one?
Well,
coffee was 19¢/lb.
bacon was 16¢/lb.
prime rib was 23¢/lb.
bread was 7¢/ 20 oz loaf
eggs were 15¢/doz.
iceberg lettuce 10¢/head
ketchup was 19¢/14 oz. bottle
sugar was 4¢/lb.
Campbell's tomato soup - 7¢/can
Florida oranges - 25¢/doz.
daily paper - 2¢
Ivory soap - 25¢ for 6 bars
toilet paper - 10¢/roll
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Mostly the worst of times. Even with the depression, the quarter was serious money.Six million of the new quarters were minted in 1932, 35 million in 1934, and a few billion in 2007.
Joe
What could you buy with your new quarter if you had one?
Well,
coffee was 19¢/lb.
bacon was 16¢/lb.
prime rib was 23¢/lb.
bread was 7¢/ 20 oz loaf
eggs were 15¢/doz.
iceberg lettuce 10¢/head
ketchup was 19¢/14 oz. bottle
sugar was 4¢/lb.
Campbell's tomato soup - 7¢/can
Florida oranges - 25¢/doz.
daily paper - 2¢
Ivory soap - 25¢ for 6 bars
toilet paper - 10¢/roll
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Mostly the worst of times. Even with the depression, the quarter was serious money.Six million of the new quarters were minted in 1932, 35 million in 1934, and a few billion in 2007.
Joe
The Philadelphia Mint: making coins since 1792. We make money by making money. Now in our 225th year thanks to no competition. 
0
Comments
JJ
==Looking for pre WW2 Commems in PCGS Rattler holders, 1851-O Three Cent Silvers in all grades
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The quarter really fit well into the times. It looks a lot like the art deco style of the day.
The silver coins took a strike reasonably well and very nice XF/ AU examples of the '32
issue could be found in circulation right up through the early '60's. Mint marked example
were, of course, pretty tough except for culls even by the late '50's.
<< <i>You forgot the most important item.........How much was a beer? Oh yeah, you couldn't legally buy one in 1932.
JJ >>
Grandpa made his own beer down in the basement. The cop on the beat helped him drink it.
TD
<< <i>Yep - IMHO, a complete classic commem set includes the 1932 PDS quarters......... >>
And a 1921 Peace?
Not sure about the 1909VBD Lincolns - anybody got info on this?
==Looking for pre WW2 Commems in PCGS Rattler holders, 1851-O Three Cent Silvers in all grades
Successful, problem free and pleasant transactions with: illini420, coinguy1, weather11am,wayneherndon,wondercoin,Topdollarpaid,Julian, bishdigg,seateddime, peicesofme,ajia,CoinRaritiesOnline,savoyspecial,Boom, TorinoCobra71, ModernCoinMart, WTCG, slinc, Patches, Gerard, pocketpiececommems, BigJohnD, RickMilauskas, mirabella, Smittys, LeeG, TomB, DeusExMachina, tydye
<< <i>Grandpa made his own beer down in the basement. The cop on the beat helped him drink it. >>
My wife's great grandfather was a 'shiner. He had a trap door under the dining room table that led to a still in the basement. Oh, yeah -- he was a town constable, too.
1932-34 prices
and it sets us apart from practitioners and consultants. Gregor
The 1930's were a strange period in America. I love the architecture, clothing styles, and developments in animation, yet the country was in the midst of a great financial crisis. It also signaled the doom of aesthetically pleasing US coinage. After the Washington quarter came the Jefferson nickel in 1948 and the Roosevelt dime and Franklin half dollars in the 1940's. Sad times indeed.
Obscurum per obscurius
<< <i>It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Mostly the worst of times. Even with the depression, the quarter was serious money.Six million of the new quarters were minted in 1932, 35 million in 1934, and a few billion in 2007.
The 1930's were a strange period in America. I love the architecture, clothing styles, and developments in animation, yet the country was in the midst of a great financial crisis. It also signaled the doom of aesthetically pleasing US coinage. After the Washington quarter came the Jefferson nickel in 1948 and the Roosevelt dime and Franklin half dollars in the 1940's. Sad times indeed. >>
The Jefferson nickel came in 1938.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
<< <i>Found this list for 1932-34 (airline pilots made the most!)
1932-34 prices >>
That's a very interesting list and seems to be reasonably accurate.
It gets one to thinking about how many of the products still exist, especially in
relation to the coins which were used to buy them. The foof products were mostly
all gone within days or weeks and even the last can of salmom was probably eaten
or tossed out by the end of WW II. How about canoes and telescopes. A few of
these would survive in degraded condition but probably very very few which are
pristine. Some of these items would degrade even in normal storage; leather and
mink coats simply wouldn't survive in good condition without a controlled enviro-
ment which was very expensive in that era. Summer storage for fur would run $10
or so. It seems improbable many of these survive in excellent condition. Few peo-
ple would pay to store something they don't use.
But the coins were money and rather than really consume them they are merely
passed back and forth which causes a little more wear each time. People did save
and protect the coins while things like razor blades were used and destroyed. Even
the coins in circulatrion spent years in collections as evidenced by the fact that the
first year 1932 was far more easily found nice than the much more common 1934. In
fact the '32 was more easily found nice than any of the pre-war Washingtons.
The FED melted the last 20% of these left in circulation in 1969. The rest are still
around in AG to XF in rolls and bags of old 90% silver coins. Attrition over the years
was over 1% so the rest doesn't include all that many coins. Another 5% was melted
in '79/ '80.
I'm not sure what the point is except that the cponditions of usage for the modern
Washington is more like canoes or the razor blades than like the '32 quarter or the
diamond ring. These coins now are rotated in storage and are "consumed" to a much
greater extent due to their lower purchasing power and the percieved lack of value.
You can't find 1932 razor blades and it looks like the day is approaching where finding
1965 quarters may not be that much easier.
and it sets us apart from practitioners and consultants. Gregor
edit..wow..Cigarettes $.15 pack
An authorized PCGS dealer, and a contributor to the Red Book.
<< <i>Not sure about the 1909VBD Lincolns - anybody got info on this? >>
Lincoln was born in 1809 so 1909 was the 100th aniversary. The 1959 Memorial back was the 150th aniversary of Lincoln birth and the 50th aniversary of the coin.
<< <i>Found this list for 1932-34 (airline pilots made the most!) >>
Looks like congresscritters had them beat.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
<< <i>
<< <i>It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Mostly the worst of times. Even with the depression, the quarter was serious money.Six million of the new quarters were minted in 1932, 35 million in 1934, and a few billion in 2007.
The 1930's were a strange period in America. I love the architecture, clothing styles, and developments in animation, yet the country was in the midst of a great financial crisis. It also signaled the doom of aesthetically pleasing US coinage. After the Washington quarter came the Jefferson nickel in 1948 and the Roosevelt dime and Franklin half dollars in the 1940's. Sad times indeed. >>
The Jefferson nickel came in 1938. >>
Yes, but the 1948 Jefferson nickel wasn't issued until 1948.
Obscurum per obscurius
<< <i>Even though things were rough during those times and drinking was illegal what about the price of a pack of ..smokes..??I'm sure people found the money to light up during those times..
edit..wow..Cigarettes $.15 pack >>
There would have been a lot of cigarettes sold during the dpression but this
was near the beginning of the era of prepackaged smokes. More people, and
especially the unemployed, would have rolled their own and saved about a dime.
Wow, that's expensive.
Thanks,
Chris
would have skipped the soap and loaded up and saved choice BU 1932-D and 1932-S quarters. I would have stunk, but the quarters would have made me an old wealthy man now!
In the '30's babes didn't go for dudes who stink and collect coins.
<< <i> would have skipped the soap and loaded up and saved choice BU 1932-D and 1932-S quarters. I would have stunk, but the quarters would have made me an old wealthy man now!
In the '30's babes didn't go for dudes who stink and collect coins.
Has this changed since the 30's?
An authorized PCGS dealer, and a contributor to the Red Book.