Red and Rover by Brian Basset for September 03, 2012

In the world of fiends, the gumball-chewing variety are the worst!

Good thinking, Red.

what’s a penny? i use to put quarters in mine so i could use a pay phone…ya-ya-ya, i know, what’s a pay phone?

We always put dimes in ours (during the mid-70s); they were so pretty and shiny.

You’re right, subway tokens are collectors items now.

W Chris Watkins: You blew it. My first reaction was that penny loafers in the ‘60s held dimes for pay phones. When I read “quarters”, I thought, “wow he is young”. Then you try to appear older with that crack about what pay phones. Didn’t work, child.

Some of the early penny loafers came with the penney already in them. In the ‘60s, when pay phones were a dime, some would put the dime under the penny (which was just decorative anyway), for safety. This was called “mad money” so if you got mad, you could still get home. The pseudoetymology that it was for impulse purchases doesn’t hold water. Even the “five and dime” (now dollar store) didn’t have much for impulsive buying.

What’s a Subway token?

Gumballs for a PENNY? Aww, that just couldn’t be!

Misesrichord: There are all sorts of “coins of convenience”. The 1890s Populists did not favor “free minting of silver”, but a 16:1 backing until there was $50 per person in circulation – because coins were so scarce that IOUs were circulating like money. (It didn’t reach $50 until WW-II inflation got it there in 1947!)

In an earlier period, a company started minting their own silver dollars because of silver loss to robbers when shipping it back east for minting. Charged with counterfeiting, they got off on the basis that unlike the government, their coins really contained a dollar’s worth of silver. In fact, their workmanship was so good, the government hired them to become the Denver mint.

Jules934: And coin-operated machines would give you an average of 17 peanuts for a penny. Strange what you remember from childhood.

Coin-Operated Shoes