Juke Box quarters!

Hi All
I just learned this after seeing it a few times in the past and wondering what it was about (I had thought it was just a kid who got into his moms nail polish)

Back in the day bars, soda shops, etc would paint quarters red for use in the juke box - if the employee wanted to play music or comp a song - kind of like a coin “slug” and when the jukebox person would come to clean the coins out, they would return the red ones to the shop owner or whoever to use again!

I’m sure with very little looking you can find them in bulk melt bags. I just learned about this the other day and already found 2 in a melt bag

Just a cool tidbit I learned and thought was worth sharing!

 

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I actually used to do that. And also to my paint worn Matchbox cars.
I saw the other thread about the juke box quarters too and thought that to myself of my youth. lol

 

I didn’t see that there was already a thread in these ... oops!

I guess other uses were laundrymats and later on arcades. I love that these are late 50s mid 60s though. Great time for juke box music I imagine

 

I recall a restaurant that had a single juke box in the early 1970s.
Then at some point they installed "remote" stations so you could pay/pick songs from your table that was connected to the main one.

 

I had a friend that did that for money on the pool table.

 

Considering the time of year and the dates on mine, I just hope at some point someone used them to play the monster mash.

 

I knew a fellow once that did this on all '64 dimes, quarters and halves. He did it so he didn't spend them as this was the last year of 90% silver coins.

 

Same bulk bag - just pulled a ‘45

 

There's many threads .. not very often though.
I can't find the one from recently but here's one ==> https://www.cointalk.com/threads/do-i-have-something-interesting.267647/

you can find new and old threads, here's a blue quarter thread ==> https://www.cointalk.com/threads/jukebox-quarter.93407/

 

My folks had a jukebox in our cafe in the 60s. The big hits were “Orange Blossom Special” and “On the Wings of Dove.” Dang, I wish I still had the jukebox AND the cash box.

Never used painted quarters, so this was interesting.

Steve

 

Forget the quarters, even if they are silver, I wish I had the jukebox.

 

I've seen a lot of these in circulation. Didn't know about the juke box thing. I thought they were from ice fishermen. Don't know about now but back in the day the most popular ice fishing lure was a quarter with a big red dot painted on each side.

 

Interesting about the ice fisherman!

I hear that the red quarters from the 80s were most likely from arcades, which is pretty cool too

 

That's a little different than the way I heard it. As I was told, many years ago, the owners of the juke box would paint some quarters to give to the shop owners. The painted quarters were to only be used for the juke box, which is why they would paint them.

I agree it is an interesting piece of trivia, and I'd love to come across some of those coins. The practice goes back many years before juke boxes cost a quarter, so I'd bet there are some old painted dimes and nickels out there somewhere.

 

Thanks much for sharing this. I love a humble coin with history every bit as much as a gleaming MS64 specimen.

I had never heard that story before but it makes sense. Folks tend to forget in these days of instant information that money was often used in unique ways. PT Barnum would paint cents red and pass them out in communities prior to his circus coming to town. If you received a red cent in your change then you knew the circus was coming..... Cool post. Thanks.

 

I guess the juke box operators were motivated because they found people were more likely to use the juke, if music was already playing. So they did this so the staff could keep music going without shelling out and cash. A win / win.

 

Here's an 'oldie' - Fred sings the line 'bring your jukebox money'

 

What color is worth more

 

Sorry Jarvis but the B-52's are not "an oldie". Oldies are Hermits Hermits, The Coasters, The Beach Boys, Gary Lewis and The Playboys, Chuck Berry and numerous other groups or singers from the '50's to mid '60's. Too many to name but the Love Shack song is a good one.

 

I think that is why he put oldie in quotes. (Of course the B-52's formed over 40 years ago and Love Shack is almost thirty years old, so for some of the people here it WOULD be an oldie. )