Love this. Me and coins go way back -- I still have my prized collection of steel pennies, Indian head pennies, Buffalo nickels, and of course the ever-valuable <=1964 dimes, quarters, half-dollars (Kennedy!), and huge-ass Ike dollars. It's so great to hear about the people behind the governmental currency that eventually become keepsakes. And super sad that so many are most likely gone.
When I worked at our family business (gift shop) in the early 80s, I occasionally got very old bills and coins -- those pre-1964s were fairly common, believe it or not. Silver has skyrocketed in price lately -- I should probably sell my coins!
That's fantastic! I was kind of a half-assed coin collector as a kid, which started when my parents or grandparents (I forget) got me a display folder that had slots for all kinds of different coins. I wish I knew where that was now, but I don't think I had anything that was particularly rare.
I got into it through Chuck -- a kid I knew in middle school. I can't remember just why I was so fascinated, I remember I even bought one of those "coin value" books. Some of my coins are even in that little white square thingy with a circular cellophane in the middle. I assiduously wrote down the year, the mint (this is all coming back to me -- S for San Francisco, D for Denver, P for Philadelphia!), and I "assessed" the condition with G, VG, E...my goodness. What a total geek I was (and still am)!
When I think of my coin collection, I think of Brewster's Millions, which I watched a number of times back then. There's a scene where the rich dudes are laughing at Richard Pryor for not understanding the rules of the game because they hear he bought a very expensive stamp, but then they receive a postcard with that very stamp! I think that's actually a pretty bad movie, but my 80s brain surely loved it (probably also because I was a huge baseball fan, and having John Candy be Richard's catcher was just perfect.)
One of my best memories of childhood was touring the Denver Mint. My grandparents lived just outside Denver, so that was a no-brainer on our visits — as was Casa Bonita, the Mexican restaurant/theme park that has recently been revived by the South Park guys.
Really powerful piece showing how symbolic acts like canceling quarters reflect much deeper institutional shifts. The connection between commemorative programs getting scrapped and actual civil servants being pushed out is spot on. Ive seen similar patterns where surface level changes signal bigger ideological purges underneath. The part about Q's policy work on employee identificaton shows how much effort goes into basic dignty protections that most people take for granted.
Love this. Me and coins go way back -- I still have my prized collection of steel pennies, Indian head pennies, Buffalo nickels, and of course the ever-valuable <=1964 dimes, quarters, half-dollars (Kennedy!), and huge-ass Ike dollars. It's so great to hear about the people behind the governmental currency that eventually become keepsakes. And super sad that so many are most likely gone.
When I worked at our family business (gift shop) in the early 80s, I occasionally got very old bills and coins -- those pre-1964s were fairly common, believe it or not. Silver has skyrocketed in price lately -- I should probably sell my coins!
That's fantastic! I was kind of a half-assed coin collector as a kid, which started when my parents or grandparents (I forget) got me a display folder that had slots for all kinds of different coins. I wish I knew where that was now, but I don't think I had anything that was particularly rare.
I got into it through Chuck -- a kid I knew in middle school. I can't remember just why I was so fascinated, I remember I even bought one of those "coin value" books. Some of my coins are even in that little white square thingy with a circular cellophane in the middle. I assiduously wrote down the year, the mint (this is all coming back to me -- S for San Francisco, D for Denver, P for Philadelphia!), and I "assessed" the condition with G, VG, E...my goodness. What a total geek I was (and still am)!
When I think of my coin collection, I think of Brewster's Millions, which I watched a number of times back then. There's a scene where the rich dudes are laughing at Richard Pryor for not understanding the rules of the game because they hear he bought a very expensive stamp, but then they receive a postcard with that very stamp! I think that's actually a pretty bad movie, but my 80s brain surely loved it (probably also because I was a huge baseball fan, and having John Candy be Richard's catcher was just perfect.)
One of my best memories of childhood was touring the Denver Mint. My grandparents lived just outside Denver, so that was a no-brainer on our visits — as was Casa Bonita, the Mexican restaurant/theme park that has recently been revived by the South Park guys.
Really powerful piece showing how symbolic acts like canceling quarters reflect much deeper institutional shifts. The connection between commemorative programs getting scrapped and actual civil servants being pushed out is spot on. Ive seen similar patterns where surface level changes signal bigger ideological purges underneath. The part about Q's policy work on employee identificaton shows how much effort goes into basic dignty protections that most people take for granted.
There's also a great strip club on Colfax!
There's so much happening on Colfax. I wouldn't overlook the excellent bookshop. Nor the perfectly adequate auto parts store!
I'm guessing that's more to the west.
I was thinking of one out east, but I’m sure there are some good ones west too.
I guess I'm only familiar with the sleazy side of Colfax. I had some great times there though.