I don’t mean to rub it in, but can you think of how many things you can purchase with a penny today? If you dropped it on the ground and couldn’t find it, chances are it wouldn’t bother you. You would probably think to yourself, it’s only a penny, why should I waste my time looking for it.
I remember in the late 40’s that a penny went a long ways. When I think about it, people of today are really being short changed.
Sixty years ago owning a shiny penny would bring happiness to a youngster and make him feel rich. A penny could buy bubble gum, licorice candy, jaw breakers, peppermint sticks, grab bags, a small bag of pop corn or salty peanuts, a candy bar or a lollipop, frozen cubes of orange flavored ice called Dainties or a cup filled to the rim with lemon flavored shaved ice. peanut butter taffy and many other marvelous tasting morsels.
Children could try their luck on a cent punch board, 100 chances on a board for a penny apiece. The holder of the winning number sometimes received a beautiful doll or a pair of roller skates. A row of penny vending machines lined up against a wall paid off in tin trinkets or a variety of candies.
The arcade buildings at carnivals or country fairs featured all kinds of penny activities. At movie viewing machines, one could see Charlie Chaplin or Krazy Kat flicks for a penny. For two pennies, one could ride the Merry-Go-Round. Pitching pennies onto dishes or into glasses was a game for everyone. If a penny stayed on a plate or fell into a glass, the winner got to take the item home. People could also throw darts at balloons in an effort to burst them, maybe winning a baseball or bat as a prize. Five pennies gained admission into Saturday matinee at the local movie house. The bargain was a program with two feature movies. Plus several cartoons and a newsreel.
When my parents talked about the Depression years, they would talk about the types of games they played during that time. Adults’ lives were involved with pennies. They played games such as penny-ante poker, or pitched pennies against the side of a building. The one closest to the building, took all the coins.
Vendors sold apples on street corners for a penny apiece. Newspapers were sold for three cents a copy and read diligently from front to back as a time ritual, which could be compared to watching T.V. today. Coffee cans and bottles were kept in people’s homes so people could save pennies for Christmas, birthdays or any other occasion.
A three cent cherry coke with two straws could be purchased at the local soda fountain for lovers to share. People on the way to work in the morning purchased two cent egg creams, a drink that contained no eggs, just colored cream soda that fizzled up to look like egg whites.
Mothers used a couple of pennies to buy a soup bone or a few scraps of meat to sweeten the pot of thin soup. A pound of potatoes sold for two cents. Sometimes an egg could be purchased for two cents also. If Mom got to the bakery on time, she could buy a loaf of day-old bread and sometimes a pie not too badly broken or smashed.
I’ve been told that people of Canada and the United States say that penny and cent mean the same thing. Penny is really a slang word for pence, and cent comes from the Spanish centavos, which is one hundredth part of a dollar.
According to history, the first cent issued by the united States Mint was the chain or link cent. It was a large coin the size of a current 25 cent piece. In 1856, a new cent was stamped. It was called “The Flying Eagle.” It is now a highly prized collector’s item.
I remember the days of the penny post cards. Penny stock has recently been issued on the stock market.
Wouldn’t it be nice if at the present we could get today’s paycheck but still the penny would have the same value as it did in the forties?
