Bargains from the past

Ah, yes. The "good old days" when even magazines like "Popular Mechanics" (the source of the OP ad) ran classified ads for everything from coins and stamps to fur bearing animals.

In 1964 (the year I started buying coins from dealers other than my local shop) I replied to an ad in Popular Mechanics from Delmarco Products just like the one he ran in 1957 for large cents. Ended up with total junk--worn out, scratched, and, in one case that I especially remember, a hunk of corroded copper that I couldn't even identify the type--let alone the date.

Never bought from a classified ad in Popular Mechanics again.

 

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Tears are slowly falling from my eyes...

 

It is, I recognize the address.

They didn't come as a roll, most of them were distributed in the Northeast and came slipped inside the cellophane of cigarette packs from vending machines. (Cigarettes were 23 cents a pack.)

I suspect that $9 for a quarter eagle may have been a typo, too high. Notice the half eagle was only $12.50, two and a half times face. Quarter eagle should have only been around $7

 

Back when mercury wasn't toxic, now that's funny!

 

Heck yeah. We used to keep a shaker with mercury in it on the table, just to add flavor to fish. Then along came Old Bay.

 

This was printed at least in the mid 50's, so I'm surprised at the lack of any phone numbers.

 

They were that price for low graded counter parts up until the early 2000's.