Ive long been interested in and studied the events of 1929 and the depression and prompted by the “my intentions for the new year” thread, I’d like to focus on collecting some coins from that period. I’m a small time collector so I surely can’t get the top prizes but I wondered if anybody else done this sort of thing and had some insight.
My mom and dad were both born in 1929. Easy to build a date set for that year. No dollar was made in 29.
My parents were kids in New York during the depression. Born 1918 and 1921. They went to bed hungry many nights. A lot of history back then. I made birth years coin sets for each of them years ago, before they passed. Besides a nice set of 1929 coins, you could add all kinds of memorabilia from that time-frame. Post pictures here when your collection starts coming together.
I came across this 1929 "set" for less than melt on the silver, which is pretty worn and harshly cleaned. I actually bought it for the cent, which is kind of interesting.
My dad was born in 1910, mom in 1916. The depression was very bad and a large number of people killed them selves. My dad just finished high school and he supported the family, his mother who was a widow, 2 brothers and a sister. He had a job setting up pins in a bowling alley. Nothing electronic had been invented at that time. When the depression really got bad he lost his job to a married man as they had preference. All through the depression his mother never turned anyone away. If a bumb knocked on the door she always gave them a hot meal. After they left she would go out and scrub the crub. She had to as the curb had been marked to identify the house as a hand out. Like the vast majority of people, no one could save coins or money for that matter. Every penny meant something precious! That is something we can not understand to this very day.
My grandparents were born in 1921 - my grandma especially would save everything. And can waaaay to much food.
You are so right. When my wife’s great grandmother passed in the 1990’s she whispered to my wife just before she passed to find the loose brick on her fireplace and retrieve the cash she had hidden there. She had rolled small bills tiny as a toothpick and stuck them behind that brick for years. We pulled several thousand in tiny rolled bills from that fireplace. Those folks that endured those times understood what it meant to truly be without and would go great lengths to avoid it again.
Yes they did! They have an understanding that we can't relate to. In fact, most people today would laugh at what they did but the did it out of necessity and that's where we lose it. Bless your wife's great grandmother!
Believe it or not, my dad was born in 1910,and my mom in 1916 also. He died in 2006, and my mom in Feb of this year (age 103!). and we are both Cointalk members. What are the chances of that?
My dad died many years ago at the age of 88 from Parkinson's. Mom died just shy of her 98th birthday. Both of us had parents that live full, rich and good lives through times that we can only dream about.
My Mom was born in 1928. She used to say that her earliest memory was of her mother holding her, standing on the front stoop, watching her father come home -- and her mother calling out, "did you find any work today?" The answer was usually "No". My grandparents were borderline well-off when they were married, with several thousand dollars in the bank. They lost it in the great crash. From that time on, they always had cash hidden around the house. Those same grandparents started me and my brother in the hobby. Collecting came easily to people who lived through the Depression, and had to learn to cling to whatever they could get. I watch my own children shopping at thrift stores, and readily taking things they've grown tired of back to those same thrift stores. I honestly can't say whether what they're doing is better or worse than what I was brought up to do. But I hope this is a sign that they won't succumb to the hoarding instinct as my wife and I did.
