Dad's Two Cents' Worth

After my father died in 1978, we found a small cardboard box in his top bureau drawer that contained about three dozen old or unusual coins. It was not a serious coin collection, and none of the coins was extremely rare or valuable. I'm sure he took most of them out of circulation after getting them in change.

There were, among other things, a few large cents (pre-1856) and quite a few Indian-head pennies and Liberty nickels. There was a half cent and a two-cent piece, some Morgan silver dollars, and some commemorative half dollars. There were a few foreign coins, but most were American.

What is really fascinating about his little accumulation of coins is what it did not contain. For instance, there were no Standing Liberty quarters, no Mercury Dimes, and no buffalo nickels.

Now, coins will generally remain in circulation for at least 20 years after they are last produced, and that should have held true for the Standing Liberty quarter (minted from 1916-1932), Mercury Dime (1916-1945), and buffalo nickel (1913-1938). Yet he didn't put any of those away in his little cardboard box.

Why would that be?

He could simply have lost interest, I suppose, but I think the real reason is that to a man born in 1912, these coins would not seem old or unusual. They were coins he literally grew up with.