Coin Counting Day

One of my favorite days of the year was “Counting the Bank Day”.

At the end of every day, Mom and Dad would take the change from their pockets (kids, change is metal money that were given to a customer when they had given a cashier too much folding or paper money. Also, the Tooth Fairy used to leave a coin under the pillow for a tooth) and drop it into a bank. Counting the Bank Day was usually a weekend morning. Dad would come into the living room from the bedroom with the bank held against his belly cradled in his arms. “Yeah!” we would all yell.

I would go into the kitchen to get the ‘coin removal knife’ from the silverware drawer.  The bank was (and still is) a glass block with a slit in the top that we inherited (handed down) from Grandma Eva.

Dad would tip the bank and we kids would take turns sticking the knife in and guiding the pennnies  and other coins out of the bank. We would separate into coin style piles then go through each pile looking for specials-wheat backed pennies, silver quarters and dimes, buffalo nickles.

Only when that was complete, the counting began. Sometimes we rolled the coins and eventually the rolls would be deposited, sometimes we just put the ‘regular’ coins back in the bank for future countings. The special coins would be placed into Eva’s Coin Collection books or, if there wasn’t space, a plastic bag and a shoe box.

We still have Grandma Eva’s bank and a second glass block ban. Sometimes we call it “coin counting day” and discover we have collected enough to pay for the gas for a trip or an insurance premium. Unfortunately, it is taking longer and longer to fill out blocks due to the less cash usage. Darned debit and credit cards.

Recently, we rediscovered the shoe box with the saved coins and collector books. I am hitting the internet and my favorite coin valuation webpage….

Hope you Have Fun Searching (I know I will)!