The other side of the coin

When I was a kid, my dad used to carry a small, red squeeze change purse. You don’t see many adults carry these around much anymore. I guess he didn’t like the loose change in his pockets. At the end of the day, he would routinely go through his change and give me his extra Bicentennial Quarters. I loved saving them. I would line them up next to my lucky baseball and a ticket stub on my dresser. They were like little trophies.

The U.S. Mint issued the Bicentennial Quarters from 1975 and 1976 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the United States. Unlike regular quarters, the bicentennials featured a unique reverse design of a Colonial drummer and a flaming torch, symbolizing the nation’s independence.

When I went off to college, I would keep extra change in a desk drawer in a coffee cup with a big yellow smiley face. The change pile was my lifeline. I used it to pay for my laundry, to buy the New York Times when a prof lectured us that we needed to be reading at least two or three big city daily papers each day, or needed to buy a Big Gulp soda to stay up late studying.

I would try to hold off using the Bicentennial Quarters. I would put them back until I could no longer avoid it. I hated to use them, but life was life. I was like a poker player holding onto my last ace. When I had no other choice, I felt like I was stealing from Fort Knox.

The Bicentennial Quarters have always been popular. The US Mint picking up on the popularity released a 50 State version starting in 1999. In a similar fashion, they featured unique reverse designs for each state in the union. While I’ve always liked these quarters, I never cared for them like the 1975 quarter. They didn’t touch me the same way.

Fast forward to last week, I rarely use cash anymore. We were out and about, however, and I absent-mindedly passed the cashier a $20. Of course, I came back home with a Bicentennial Quarter in my change pile. Since over 1.6 billion Bicentennial quarters were made between the Philadelphia and Denver United States Mint facilities, they are still occasionally found in circulation. 

I was instantly taken back to being a kid again. I saw my dad’s red squeeze coin purse and my little line of trophies. The quarter was still only worth 25 cents, but it was worth so much more.

It came full of memories.