Sure, but by the mid-60's all the dated buffalo nickels were gone except for a few culls of '26 to '38 dates. Most of the older buffs were in circulation but they were dateless. Even when I started in 1957 there were few dated buffs before 1926. 1926 was only 21 years old!!! Now a 1992 quarter is older than this. Speaking of quarters they were even worse with no '24 or earlier surviving. You could get a type I without a dte and it was 40 years old. The equivalent is a 1973 quarter. But the big point here isn't really about the age of the coins in circulation but their numismatic collectibility. Coins in those days were all heavily picked over. If a coin should show up one time in a thousand based on its mintage then it was desirable and missing from circulation. You simply couldn't find it even in 10,000 coins. The '09-S VDB, for example, was about 95% removed from circulation as early as 1940!!! Finding it in 1957 wasn't really going to happen unless a collector inadvertantly spent one. It wasn't only the scarce dates missing but the high grades. Even common date coins were missing in nice condition. You really had to collect before the 1950's to find much that would be of value today. By comparison today's coins are not only older with 100 year old cents possible, but far more importantly today's coins aren't picked over. If you plot the grade of any date it will form a nice neat narrow bell curve. If you seek a coin it will appear relative its mintage. There are very scarce and valuable coins in circulation because very few people look. But most importantly some of the coins in circulation will probably have value in the future and are interesting due to their scarcity right now. You can find AU 1973 quarters even though they are scarce because most are worn. Circulating coins are a collector's paradise for the first time since the 1930's; since coin collecting became a mass market. Yeah, I have some nostalgia for the good ol' days as well and no one hated the new coins more than I did. But times change and what we really miss about those times wasn't how great the coins were but that everyone loved seeking the rare dates and the coins were attractive and were "ours". We identified with them.
(1) 31 years (2) 1924 - 75 million. Happen to know what 1974 was? (3) Gotta agree with you here. Seems like the only things worth searching for are errors and varieties. Gotta find me some WAMS.
D'oh. If you're talking about 1924 cents the mintage was only 75 million but these were saved by the roll and millions more were pulled out of circulation before they were worn much. They made three times as many 1973-D quarters but almost none of these were saved at all and are still circulating. Most are heavily worn though a few have been more lucky and are in XF. By 1965 even a F '24 penny was hard to find because people saved the nice ones. The only thing with high value are the errors and varieties but I'll wager that a lot of the stuff we take for granted (like AU 1973 25c's) will have value in the future because they weren't saved and they still aren't being saved. Coins are older now and they aren't picked over like they used to be.
Now see, I learned something I didn't expect to. The name came about via the pretense that the apparatus replicated (to whatever degree) an actual mineral-springs fountain. Wow.
Actually I picked that year as just a random year. Why were these saved by the roll and millions more pulled... rather than the 1926 or 1927?
God only knows. 1924 cents were considered highly collectible. People had stood in long lines to get '09-S VDB cents and the 1924 issue was far more widely available meaning people didn't need to stand in line. Many of the 1924 issues that were saved had to be spent for food and necessities during the depression but still many survived. As the penny boards became popular in the '30's people searchesd pocket change for nice older issues and plugged them into the boards. 1973 quarters were considered debased junk that no one collected. As the years went by nothing has really changed except there are a few today who seek them. But it's too late for almost all those coins made for circulation because they are low grade or culls. Now days finding nice 1924 cents is easy and a couple dollars will buy an XF. Even though it's far more common than an XF '73 quarter you can get the latter for a small premium. This is just the way it is.
A true "fountain coke" would be purchased at a soda fountain. The syrup would be put in a cup, some pressurized carbonated water added and it was stirred to dilute the syrup. Then the cup was filled the rest of the way with the high pressure carbonated water which would mix the syrup and water without losing the carbonation. This is a lost art today as there are very few soda fountains left, and most of those that are still around do not use the high pressure soda water. It does make a difference. (Especially when making ice cream sodas.)
