Nickel For Your Thoughts?

What's a nickel worth, really?

Almost nothing now, just something to "round up" our purchases. Since we did away with pennies, in someone's infinite wisdom. I mean really, how is anyone supposed to balance a ledger with dollar$ and no cents?

Coins are something to peck through in change, if we happen to use cash. (And personally, I am rarely caught without cash. Just an old habit.)

But once upon a time as a kid, a nickel would buy lots of things, and I clearly remember getting paid for babysitting gigs in nickels and dimes. And happy to get them.

A couple of nickels would buy a bottle of pop and a decent bag of chips, not these baby sized bags today. They kept me from starving in High School, no food was provided there. Just junk food.

My grandmother loved playing cards, as I've mentioned many times in my Blogs. And Poker was a favorite, and we learned how to play it at the kitchen table when we were young. No judgment here, it's a great way to learn math, as most cards games are.

We'd play for change of course, and usually penny ante.

But with Momma, if she was the dealer and feeling flush, she's call out "Nickel ante." She liked winning money and she hated to lose.

And you'd have to cough it up.

It was a lot of fun. Jamie and I remember piles of pennies and the odd flash of silver. Sometimes we'd make change for a quarter to continue on with the play.

A friend of mine who shall remain nameless, but her name rhymes with "sauna" came across this particular nickel and challenged me write a story about it.

So here goes nothing. Except five cents..........

As you can see this coin is a 1957 nickel in pretty good shape, and it's significance of course, is that it's my birthday year and my friend's and lots of other cool people out there.

Change like this is becoming more and more uncommon, so it was fun to find.

This old girl is 12-sided, and is composed of 100% nickel, which Canada has plenty of. Take that Trump.

But the real story of course is, where has it been? What has it seen?

From dragging out pocket change from some old man's scruffy pants for a pack of smokes, to searching through purse dirt to find enough coins to get the kids a treat.

This nickel has seen it all. It's been in use for sixty-eight years, after all. The things it's seen............it's okay if she's a little the worse for wear.......

Today, most people wouldn't bend over to pick up a nickel, but in 1957, it was a worthwhile endeavour.

It could net you at least 5 penny candies or 10 candies, if they were 2 for a penny. Bubblegum? Easy!

A box of Cracker Jacks? You bet!

A big all day butterscotch sucker, I can see them yet.

Or a delicious ice cream cone, piled up high.

But for the grown ups, a nickel came in handy too.

You could pick up the daily newspaper.

How about a payphone? Yep, 5 cents a call.

And how about that delicious coffee for a mid day break, or tea if you prefer? A lowly nickel would cover it, at least in my day at Chaisson's Restaurant it would.

If mother was shopping, a nickel was enough to pick up a package of rolls for supper. Two nickels would purchase a can of Campbell's Tomato soup, still a household favorite. So a relatively cheap meal of the day.

This little coin would have been minted in time to see John Diefenbaker become Prime Minister in 1957.

Let's follow a time line to see what may have happened to this nickel in it's early life.

Coins are minted at the Royal Canadian Mint in Winnipeg and sent out to banks and other institutions to be put into circulation. There's a mint in Ottawa too, but it doesn't do the actual production.

So let's say the CIBC in Souris ordered bundles of coin for the vault. The tills would be loaded with coin and bills everyday to be put to work. I should know, I spent several years there in my early work life and coin was my job.

Then let's say Marion from Larter's Pharmacy came in to buy coin for the week. That store went through a ton of cash, since the credit card industry was still in its infancy and you got paid with a cheque every week.

Guckie comes in to get some cough syrup, pays with a $5 bill, gets coin back, including a nickel.

Then he buys some canned goods at Roy White's, using his pocket change. There goes the nickel.

Henry came along, picked up some gas at Gerard's, and mixed in his change was the nickel.

He came home, gave his change to Lizzie, who spent it on some meat at Josie's.

Josie cleaned out his till, went to the vendors (the liquor store) and got a bottle for the weekend. On Monday, Charlie at the liquor store rolled the coins, counted the cash and made a deposit at the CIBC.

Mel dropped in to the Bank and bought a few rolls of quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies to keep the Clover Farm going for a few days. He filled the till.

Then along comes Millie who pays for her order with a cash bill and gets coins in change.

You guessed it. That 1957 nickel got all around town.

It could easily have hopped on the Ferry at Wood Islands and showed up in Cape Breton.

From there perhaps it flew to B.C. in someone's knickers and showed up in a restaurant there. Who knows? It might even have been in Chilliwack on the Base in 1975.......

In any event, this and any coin would have volumes to say if they could speak.

How'd I do, "sauna?" Worth 5 cents?