I received a package today from my sister. It contained memorabilia of our late parents and tucked in there was a fake 1964 Lincoln cent in a cardboard 2x2. The obverse and reverse are shown below: Now, here's what the 2x2 says with a genuine Lincoln cent shown for comparison: Anyone who lived through the Nixon administration (1968-1972) remembers: The end of the Vietnam War; Watergate; recession; inflation; wage and price controls; the closing of the gold window; oil crisis; gas lines. I also survived two major layoffs. So, this little token commemorates the inflation of the period.
That's funny. I wonder who signed it in 1974? Minor correction - the Nixon administration didn't end until August 9, 1974 (not 1972). I lived through it but was in high school.
Dont know who signed it. And, yeah, I knew it was 1974, just another mistake. My father never bought tchotkes so I have to wonder how he acquired this.
I remember my neighbor asking me in Summer 1973 or Summer 1974 what I thought of "Watergate." I was 10 or 11 years old. I assumed it had something to do with gates holding back water.
I was of a similar age, and I remember being so VERY VERY tired of hearing Watergate, Watergate, Watergate on the news. I wasn't interested. I eventually started paying more attention, though.
I'm smiling because I have one just like it. I'm a Vietnam Veteran and this tiny bit of the past made my day, thanks for sharing @Publius2
The funniest part is the "Pat. Pend.". I mean, copyright maybe, but what on Earth did they think was patent worthy about a miniaturized penny?
A penny still had some buying power then.. I think Bazooka bubble gum was 1 or 2 cents? I'm surprised my Dad didn't have one of those "tokens," he enjoyed novelties like that.
Yeah, I remember Aug 9, 1974. I had graduated HS and had just started my foray into college. The inflation and recession had really impacted my family the past three years from that. I had to make do with a 10 speed Schwinn bike as my travel the last two years of h.s. and into college because of the economic conditions and how my dad and mom were struggling to keep working at anything that was within their realm of what they should be doing... which was difficult because at the same time, especially for my father, who was then over 50 years old in 73-74, the industries he had been employed in for his lifetime was then starting age discrimination.... either letting the older dudes so they could then hire recent grads in their early 20s or when a job opening was there, basically wastebinning the applicants who were over 40 years old. Even with their more experience, they were trimming and trying to cost-cut with employee costs and just make do with less experienced people. These things both tremendously affected my family with what we had, what avenues were open to us as we left h.s., and also led more to the destruction of the family, as my mom and dad did not see eye to eye on what my father should be doing and she started really getting on him to just take any job. One time she screamed at him while he was on the phone to just take the job, but he was trying to negotiate a decent employment and of course that disappeared the moment the other person heard her in the background. This led to other issues that had been under wraps in the marriage and they ended up divorced several years after and our family was never the same. It took many years for all of us in our family to get anything sort of like stability and what we considered a decent life that we had prior to about 1971, and now I am getting reverbs from this current situation. Not so much for me, I am ok, but for my family members and others I know who never went through the 70s and even the 80s that were not so hunky-dory economically. But I am now really limiting my choices at the stores, etc. as the prices are nuts and it reflects back on when me and my family had to just make do in the 70s. What is worse in many cases, is that instead of gas being rationed (filling up on even or odd days based on arbitrary rules) or waiting in long lines to do so, is that the stores are out of stock of so many items. I never ever in my life thought I would see things in our stores like this that were reminiscent of Soviet style or more recently, Venezuela, etc. problems. It bothers me that we have devolved into this.
Jiffy Corn muffin mix was .11 cents a box in the store in 1972-73. How do I know? My family started getting those as part of our meals as they were cheap (sort of like living on ramen before ramen) and could provide some filling food without much money spent. Heck, during that time, I was lucky to get a quarter to spend for myself from my dad. I had no allowance.
