I went to see friend Neil Segal in Kingston today to get some clear two pocket pages to organize my covers. His store used to be a stamp and coin business but 99 percent of the stamp business has vanished. There was a fellow at the counter and they were going over a tray of quarters so i took a seat. When they were all done with I.D.S,signatures ..i think even took photos..the customer left and i asked what the quarters were going for and i was surprised to hear "around five dollars". Wow ! i remember back in the 80's getting 3x face value for silver change...5 bucks for a quarter sounds pretty good.
Yes philb, a silver quarter will still buy you a gallon of gas, just like it did in the 50's. Some things just don't lose their value over time....unlike my pension cheque....sigh.
Those were great days..if someone had a dollar bill we could cruise all night ! I carried my school books in and out of the house but that was about it ..Ballast.
Phil is always bringing up something that shakes a story loose in my head..
Many years ago, I was taking a service call on a new check sorter at a bank in Oskaloosa, Iowa and after finishing fixing the problem, I asked the operator how she liked the new sorter. Her only complaint was "the keyboard slides around, I want it stuck down." Not wanting to glue it or screw it down, I drove over to the local Walmart and bought a small roll of peel-and-stick velcro. Exiting the store with the change from that transaction in hand, I saw a pop machine with Pepsi for fifty cents a can. I dropped two quarters from my hand into the vending machine, and one fell through to the coin return. I dug it out and dropped it in again, it fell through. I looked at the coin, and it was a 1946 silver quarter. I still have it somewhere in my desk, perhaps it is time to sell it.
Benque - Too much hassle to ship it to Canada, plus the cost would be high! I know a couple guys locally that collect coins, plus my local stamp & coin shop might trade me a pile of stamps for it. They have way more coin business than stamp business these days.
Hi Linus.
Interesting. The stamp/coin shop near where I live also sells sports cards, electronic games, and some model planes/cars. When I go in to peruse the stamps, coins, or bullion products, I am almost always the only customer in that area of the shop....and the clerk is dozing...LOL All the other areas do a booming business.