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Coin whimsy at Cracker Barrel [long]



 
 
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  #1  
Old May 20th 07, 03:55 AM posted to rec.collecting.coins
Mr. Jaggers
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Posts: 5,523
Default Coin whimsy at Cracker Barrel [long]

My wife and I stopped at a Cracker Barrel for supper (yup, us old-timers
call it that) this evening. Hanging on the wall adjacent to our table was a
large oval mirror, flanked by oval frames containing photographs of what
must have been a husband and wife. We started speculating as to who they
might have been. Our conclusions: The photos were taken in the 1880s; they
were not elderly, but already beyond the average life expectancy of the day;
and they were city dwellers (country folks were much less likely to have
been able to afford the luxury of large, framed photographs under convex
glass). For all I know, they could have been David and Sadie Metzler, two
ancestors of mine. My wife decided that they were of the merchant class,
maybe dealers in fine fabric, as they were well-dressed themselves.

Many numismatists, upon taking coins in hand, try to imagine who might have
used them, and for what purchases. In this case, I did just the opposite.
I started thinking about what kinds of coins passed through David's hands in
the course of business. If the couple were from the East, they would likely
have seen some XF-AU Indian cents dated in the 1870s, along with some of the
older dates in lower grades. I wonder if David looked through them, having
heard the rumor about the scarcity of 1877, and started filling a jar under
the counter with the ones he found. If they hailed from farther west, there
might have still been a Civil War token or two come through the till,
interlopers from a bygone era. Certainly there would have been many shield
nickels in the mix of their daily coins, still bright and shiny from recent
mintage. And liberty nickels! Did David have to keep an eye out for
someone trying to foist a gilt 1883 no-cents nickel as a $5 gold? Did he
ever get one of the million and a half 1885s, in high grade, which has
turned out to be a very rare item these days?

And how about the silver? Seated Liberty minors would have made up the bulk
of his precious metal coins. The occasional capped bust pieces might have
been squirreled away in the same jar that housed the 77 Indians. I imagined
that David and his wife might have lived in Carson City and handled some of
the rare CC mintmarked dimes, quarters, and halves that sell for four and
five figures today. It might have been a daily occurrence for a customer to
come in and send a silver dollar clanking across the counter - not just any
silver dollar, but an 1879-CC that had barely circulated when it came into
their shop. Or, better yet, an 1884-S that had not really circulated at
all, brought in the pocket of his leather coat by a traveler from San
Francisco who noted that its surfaces were especially mirrorlike and yet
free of marks, almost good enough to use as a very portable shaving mirror,
what we might call MS-63 nowadays. Yikes, look that one up in your Redbook!

Those owners of the mercantile would have certainly seen gold coins,
including the tiny one-dollar pieces, so small and lightweight that they
might slip through a crack in the wood floor. A few three-dollar gold coins
would likely have floated in and out of their lives, and at face value!

At this point the server came back to the table and asked if we wanted
anything else. No, I put down a tip (sorry, no rare coins), we got up, paid
our tab, and headed home after a fine visit to the world of the Metzlers.

James


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  #2  
Old May 20th 07, 08:41 AM posted to rec.collecting.coins
Amistad
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Posts: 661
Default Coin whimsy at Cracker Barrel [long]

Some fun reading, James! Don't you just love those old photos at Cracker
Barrel? My wife and I eat there often. We've sat in a certain place
several times where there is a wide panoramic photo on the wall that
contains the razor-sharp images of about 120 men. According to the markings
on it, the photo was made at a North Carolina clam bake in 1925. Some of
the fellows are standing, some are kneeling, and a few (in the foreground)
are reclining back on an elbow. Though my wife has been largely impervious
to this assemblage of men, I've spoken numismatics with a few of the more
gregarious souls when we've sat there beside them. On one occasion, one of
them even volunteered to let me browse through his pocket change. To my
delight and amazement, he had among his few coins a 1912-S Liberty Nickel in
XF, and a 1916 Standing Liberty Quarter in AU condition!

Amistad
'pondering the value of 30 cents back in the "old days!"'


  #3  
Old May 20th 07, 10:24 AM posted to rec.collecting.coins
note.boy
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,418
Default Coin whimsy at Cracker Barrel [long]

On UK cable TV there a series titled "The Edwardians In Colour" and it's
amazing.

I forget the exact details but a rich man send photographers all over the
world to record normal people doing normal everyday things as he realised
that great changes were coming.

Something like 76,000 colour photographs were taken along with a lot of
colour moving images.

I find it fascinating to see moving colour images taken almost 100 years ago
of people that were born up to 180 years ago. Billy


"Mr. Jaggers" lugburzman[at]yahoo[dot]com wrote in message
...
My wife and I stopped at a Cracker Barrel for supper (yup, us old-timers
call it that) this evening. Hanging on the wall adjacent to our table was
a large oval mirror, flanked by oval frames containing photographs of what
must have been a husband and wife. We started speculating as to who they
might have been. Our conclusions: The photos were taken in the 1880s;
they were not elderly, but already beyond the average life expectancy of
the day; and they were city dwellers (country folks were much less likely
to have been able to afford the luxury of large, framed photographs under
convex glass). For all I know, they could have been David and Sadie
Metzler, two ancestors of mine. My wife decided that they were of the
merchant class, maybe dealers in fine fabric, as they were well-dressed
themselves.

Many numismatists, upon taking coins in hand, try to imagine who might
have used them, and for what purchases. In this case, I did just the
opposite. I started thinking about what kinds of coins passed through
David's hands in the course of business. If the couple were from the
East, they would likely have seen some XF-AU Indian cents dated in the
1870s, along with some of the older dates in lower grades. I wonder if
David looked through them, having heard the rumor about the scarcity of
1877, and started filling a jar under the counter with the ones he found.
If they hailed from farther west, there might have still been a Civil War
token or two come through the till, interlopers from a bygone era.
Certainly there would have been many shield nickels in the mix of their
daily coins, still bright and shiny from recent mintage. And liberty
nickels! Did David have to keep an eye out for someone trying to foist a
gilt 1883 no-cents nickel as a $5 gold? Did he ever get one of the
million and a half 1885s, in high grade, which has turned out to be a very
rare item these days?

And how about the silver? Seated Liberty minors would have made up the
bulk of his precious metal coins. The occasional capped bust pieces might
have been squirreled away in the same jar that housed the 77 Indians. I
imagined that David and his wife might have lived in Carson City and
handled some of the rare CC mintmarked dimes, quarters, and halves that
sell for four and five figures today. It might have been a daily
occurrence for a customer to come in and send a silver dollar clanking
across the counter - not just any silver dollar, but an 1879-CC that had
barely circulated when it came into their shop. Or, better yet, an 1884-S
that had not really circulated at all, brought in the pocket of his
leather coat by a traveler from San Francisco who noted that its surfaces
were especially mirrorlike and yet free of marks, almost good enough to
use as a very portable shaving mirror, what we might call MS-63 nowadays.
Yikes, look that one up in your Redbook!

Those owners of the mercantile would have certainly seen gold coins,
including the tiny one-dollar pieces, so small and lightweight that they
might slip through a crack in the wood floor. A few three-dollar gold
coins would likely have floated in and out of their lives, and at face
value!

At this point the server came back to the table and asked if we wanted
anything else. No, I put down a tip (sorry, no rare coins), we got up,
paid our tab, and headed home after a fine visit to the world of the
Metzlers.

James



  #4  
Old May 20th 07, 11:16 AM posted to rec.collecting.coins
Mr. Jaggers
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5,523
Default Coin whimsy at Cracker Barrel [long]


"Amistad" wrote in message
...
Some fun reading, James! Don't you just love those old photos at Cracker
Barrel? My wife and I eat there often. We've sat in a certain place
several times where there is a wide panoramic photo on the wall that
contains the razor-sharp images of about 120 men. According to the
markings on it, the photo was made at a North Carolina clam bake in 1925.
Some of the fellows are standing, some are kneeling, and a few (in the
foreground) are reclining back on an elbow. Though my wife has been
largely impervious to this assemblage of men, I've spoken numismatics with
a few of the more gregarious souls when we've sat there beside them. On
one occasion, one of them even volunteered to let me browse through his
pocket change. To my delight and amazement, he had among his few coins a
1912-S Liberty Nickel in XF, and a 1916 Standing Liberty Quarter in AU
condition!


Lower-grade duplicates from his collection, which he no doubt raided to pay
for his meal that day? Say, let me know where that Cracker Barrel is, will
you, so I can offer to trade my five odd 1922 "mint error" Lincoln cents
that I culled out of my pocket change while they were still shiny, and that
1901-S quarter that I carry around with the letters of LIBERTY just barely
visible. Please hurry, before he spends them and they get greasy
fingerprints all over them from some grubby kid.

James


  #5  
Old May 20th 07, 01:51 PM posted to rec.collecting.coins
Bruce Remick
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,391
Default Coin whimsy at Cracker Barrel [long]


"Mr. Jaggers" lugburzman[at]yahoo[dot]com wrote in message
...
My wife and I stopped at a Cracker Barrel for supper (yup, us old-timers
call it that) this evening. Hanging on the wall adjacent to our table was
a large oval mirror, flanked by oval frames containing photographs of what
must have been a husband and wife. We started speculating as to who they
might have been. Our conclusions: The photos were taken in the 1880s;
they were not elderly, but already beyond the average life expectancy of
the day; and they were city dwellers (country folks were much less likely
to have been able to afford the luxury of large, framed photographs under
convex glass). For all I know, they could have been David and Sadie
Metzler, two ancestors of mine. My wife decided that they were of the
merchant class, maybe dealers in fine fabric, as they were well-dressed
themselves.

Many numismatists, upon taking coins in hand, try to imagine who might
have used them, and for what purchases. In this case, I did just the
opposite. I started thinking about what kinds of coins passed through
David's hands in the course of business. If the couple were from the
East, they would likely have seen some XF-AU Indian cents dated in the
1870s, along with some of the older dates in lower grades. I wonder if
David looked through them, having heard the rumor about the scarcity of
1877, and started filling a jar under the counter with the ones he found.
If they hailed from farther west, there might have still been a Civil War
token or two come through the till, interlopers from a bygone era.
Certainly there would have been many shield nickels in the mix of their
daily coins, still bright and shiny from recent mintage. And liberty
nickels! Did David have to keep an eye out for someone trying to foist a
gilt 1883 no-cents nickel as a $5 gold? Did he ever get one of the
million and a half 1885s, in high grade, which has turned out to be a very
rare item these days?

And how about the silver? Seated Liberty minors would have made up the
bulk of his precious metal coins. The occasional capped bust pieces might
have been squirreled away in the same jar that housed the 77 Indians. I
imagined that David and his wife might have lived in Carson City and
handled some of the rare CC mintmarked dimes, quarters, and halves that
sell for four and five figures today. It might have been a daily
occurrence for a customer to come in and send a silver dollar clanking
across the counter - not just any silver dollar, but an 1879-CC that had
barely circulated when it came into their shop. Or, better yet, an 1884-S
that had not really circulated at all, brought in the pocket of his
leather coat by a traveler from San Francisco who noted that its surfaces
were especially mirrorlike and yet free of marks, almost good enough to
use as a very portable shaving mirror, what we might call MS-63 nowadays.
Yikes, look that one up in your Redbook!

Those owners of the mercantile would have certainly seen gold coins,
including the tiny one-dollar pieces, so small and lightweight that they
might slip through a crack in the wood floor. A few three-dollar gold
coins would likely have floated in and out of their lives, and at face
value!


I thought the same thing as I was transcribing the 1859 diary/ledger written
by my great great grandfather (1818-1885) who lived in in Portland, ME. I
have printed it out in a report for my grandson. In an appendix I included
photos of various 1859 coins he might have encountered, along with examples
of some broken bank notes from the Portland area and an assortment of
newfangled postage stamps he may have used. I also listed a couple dozen
events and facts pertaining to the year 1859. I was as captivated by the
results as I hope he will be one day.

And of course we old New Englanders always called our evening meal "supper"
(suppuh). Dinner (dinnuh) was in the middle of the day. Even going out at
night to a real fancy restaurant with tablecloths was goin out to suppah.
Heck, some of those places were called supper clubs, not dinner clubs.

Bruce




 




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