Intersting trivia

[TommyK]

In 1964, a shiny new quarter US (25p piece for our UK friends) would buy a gallon of gas.

 

In 2012, a 1964 quarter will buy a gallon of gas... and then some, owing to the value of a vintage, silver content of a 1964 quarter and it's value on the collector's market.

 

Quarters minted after 1964 have no silver content.

[MrNylon]

I remember when they changed the quarters over back then, and zip codes were introduced in 1963.

[daveinspain]

Does that go for 50 cent pieces too? I have a collection of Kennedy 50cent pieces ranging from 64 to 69 and some 1776-1976 anniversary coins as well...

[martinh]

Does that go for 50 cent pieces too? I have a collection of Kennedy 50cent pieces ranging from 64 to 69 and some 1776-1976 anniversary coins as well...

 

 

The 64s have about .39 ounces of pure silver in each coin, worth about $9-12 bucks for metal content. Post-64 has no silver content.

[daveinspain]

The 64s have about .39 ounces of pure silver in each coin, worth about $9-12 bucks for metal content. Post-64 has no silver content.

 

I have lots of 64s...

[DanvillRob]

I always heard that about a $20 gold piece..... 100 years ago an ounce of gold would buy a good man's suit..... today, an ounce of gold will still buy a good man's suit.

 

It's well known that gold, (and silver too, for that matter), tracks inflation.

[Markini]

As of 11:30am PST, August 23rd, a 1964 Quarter (last year for silver mintage-90%) is worth about 7 dollars.

[EVOL!]

... and some 1776-1976 anniversary coins as well...

 

My papou was a coin and stamp dealer so I inherited more than a few bicentennial quarters and half dollars. They are my favorite coins.

[Twiz]

I have a 1964 quarter that I use as a pick sometimes when I'm playing at home. I decided to try using a quarter after I read about Brian May using an English sixpence coin. This is kinda dorky, but I didn't want to use a regular old quarter, so I got a few rolls of quarters from the bank and luckily found one in there. It's funny how something so simple can change how your guitar sounds.

[Daryl M]

Here' s a good '64

 

[milod]

Well...

 

In '64 I got a 9-year-old used car (upper mid-level in original price) in very good running condition for $75.

 

Cigarettes were two bits a pack, ditto gasoline per gallon. A high-end department store dress shirt ran a bit under $20 and a decent suit altered for fit was maybe $120 or so. A six pack of low-end national brand beer ran 79 cents - less when on sale. A McDonald burger, fries and milkshake were 45 cents plus two pennies sales tax.

 

The thing with cars is that they were a lot less expensive, a regular "car" carried 6 easily and got 22-30 miles per gallon highway. That's before federal "stuff" added to the cost, so comparing price tags in ways are comparing apples and oranges.

 

Oh, and a cupla hundred bucks could buy quite a nice guitar or a pretty decent amp.

 

It's said that the past decade, increasingly the past couple years, the spendable income and the net worth of average Americans has dipped as much as 25 percent while prices the past several years have made significant increases on foods and other necessities, functionally serving as inflation so a given income means less. I have no difficulty believing that, given what I see wage scales in both the public and private sector where I live.

 

Guitars? For what it's worth, I honestly believe we're in a time period with some of the best bang for the buck guitars in history. Period. And that's at a time when there's a continuing demand for them, compared to the 1960s when they couldn't make the darned stuff fast enough.

 

m

[slavestate]

Guitars? For what it's worth, I honestly believe we're in a time period with some of the best bang for the buck guitars in history. Period. And that's at a time when there's a continuing demand for them, compared to the 1960s when they couldn't make the darned stuff fast enough.

 

m

 

In the past year alone I have seen the prices of certain guitars and amplifiers simply plunge in their value, and I'm only referring to local prices and re-sale, not collectors and their invested inventory. A decent amount of vintage amps and guitars are still in high demand so their up in prices are up as always, but there are a friggin' ton of vintage amplifiers and guitars that aren't the "hip" or considered option that have been completely affordable in the overall pricing of amplifiers and guitars in general.

 

A buddy of mine who was in his late teens to early twenties in the late 70's and early 80's made a correlation to this point in our lifetime, and to that of the mid-late 80's in that there are tons of great deals worth snatching up. He walked away with an insane amount of now sought after gear from the state of the market and on the "out of vogue" and "obsolete" views of vintage gear even then.

 

In other words, hoard as much as you can now for the potential re-sale a decade or two from now. It's a glimmer of hope I can totally dig. I suppose another reason to buy gear I don't really need.

 

Back to the OP, I'm going to start looking for quarters pre '64 now for sure.

[DanvillRob]

Cigarettes were two bits a pack, ditto gasoline per gallon. A high-end department store dress shirt ran a bit under $20 and a decent suit altered for fit was maybe $120 or so. A six pack of low-end national brand beer ran 79 cents - less when on sale. A McDonald burger, fries and milkshake were 45 cents plus two pennies sales tax.

 

m

Milo, now you're REALLY dating yourself! (somehow 'dating yourself' sounds like an exercise in self-abuse!).

 

I wonder how many youngin's know what "2 bits" is?

[milod]

Hmmmm... Never thought about the "two bits" loss from the general vocabulary. Heck, nowadays I don't think most folks have an idea of what a "byte" or "inner tube" might be. <grin>

 

I love your line about "dating yourself" and it's a reason that, without stating it, I've tried to use the term "showing my age" rather than the above. <chortle>

 

As for guitar costs, etc., I think we're kinda in hog heaven even with new guitars. In adjusted money, I doubt that a Gibbie LP studio would have cost more than a cupla hundred bucks.

 

But I also think that the price tags on guitars tell us something as much about the macro economy as the micro "guitar" economy. First, it has obviously become international. Second, there seems to be a major split in guitar marketplaces, one that's basically $500 and under and the other that's roughly $1,500 and up.

 

That market split leads me to confirm what is said elsewhere, that there is a gap between the working poor and those who have more disposable income. Luckily hard-working young singles, especially young single males, tend to have more disposable income that others with the same paychecks for rather obvious reasons, and they also buy a lotta guitars.

 

The point I see where I live, and have heard reflected from those in urban areas of the US at least, is that the only middle class tends to be government workers (including school teachers), physicians and other medical specialists. School teachers, especially, dispute that until median household incomes are examined and a single teacher's 9-month paycheck equals the median household income in their community.

 

Again... some tend to see such stuff in value judgments, I tend to see it more as an aspect of overall concern that the general economy seems out of whack and everybody looks to "fix" it piece at a time, which usually leads to "politics" really intervening, rather than considering a whole which ends up being criticized by those who prefer making arguments that are patently "political" rather than discussion of various economic measures, their historic efficacy and probability of effect.

 

m

[DanvillRob]

Hmmmm... Never thought about the "two bits" loss from the general vocabulary. Heck, nowadays I don't think most folks have an idea of what a "byte" or "inner tube" might be. <grin>

 

I love your line about "dating yourself" and it's a reason that, without stating it, I've tried to use the term "showing my age" rather than the above. <chortle>

 

 

Reminds me of the story of the single mother challenging her son.....

 

 

Mother says, "I've tried to be both a mother and father to you."

 

Son says, "Oh, go screw yourself!"

[TommyK]

Coins dated after 1964 are worth about face value. Some "1964" quarters were minted into 1966 or 1967. These silver quarters continued to carry the 1964 date to differentiate them from the copper/nickle quarters. Not sure why the continued to do this, unless these coins were destined for collector sets.

 

Bicentennial coins, I don't think, have a lot of over face value. So many were minted, everyone and their brother has a trove of these. They are more of a curiosity than anything.

[TommyK]

Milo, now you're REALLY dating yourself! (somehow 'dating yourself' sounds like an exercise in self-abuse!).

 

I wonder how many youngin's know what "2 bits" is?

 

I also seriously doubt that today's young'ns would know how many bits are in a byte.

 

 

For you young'ns:

 

25¢

 

and 8, not be confused with pieces of 8, from whence the 'bit' of 'two bits' comes from.

 

Acutally, there is a parallel here:

 

Back in the colonial days the Spanish real was tender of the day. To make change, the real was literally cut into, up to, 8 slices like a pizza. A 'bit' was one of the 1/8 portions of a whole real. Two bits made for one quarter of a real. This vernacular continued even after the US had it's own coinage and hacking up coins was no longer done, nor permitted. 2 bits is 1/4 of the base denomination, i.e. the dollar... or the real.

 

1 bit = 1/8 of a dollar

1 bit = 1/8 of a byte. For the young'ns, a bit is the smallest fraction of data, a single state, i.e. either on or off, i.e.e., 1 or 0. Eight digits, 1 or 0, in a line denote a single letter or number or character.

 

 

 

 

You think the framers of the computer world did this intentionally?

[milod]

Tommy... Yup on the money history of bits - and the binary ... Hmmmm ... bit too.

 

One neat thing about the old days of 8-bit processors is that you could almost think in terms of 8-bit machine language. Now... I'm in awe of my younger of two younger brothers who thinks easily in stuff like 32 and 64-bit machine language. Sheesh.

 

But most "kids" now look at the "computer" as relatively big and outdated and as likely for them to program as I'd be likely to rebuild the kitchen stove.

 

One other thing I've noticed, and IMHO it has to do also with the economy, is the way in which "dress-up" clothing seems almost no longer to exist outside of certain more affluent subcultures. When I was a kid every male big enough to sorta walk had a "suit" and all the girls had dresses. Now... even jeans and t shirt seem dressed-up enough even for church as long as it isn't a wedding or funeral.

 

I seem to wear a suit a cupla times a year if that. <sigh> Sad.

 

And all men wore hats - not caps, hats.

 

But then... I still remember the ice deliveryman and the icebox in the basement.

 

m

[pippy]

I have a 1964 quarter that I use as a pick sometimes when I'm playing at home. I decided to try using a quarter after I read about Brian May using an English sixpence coin. This is kinda dorky, but I didn't want to use a regular old quarter, so I got a few rolls of quarters from the bank and luckily found one in there. It's funny how something so simple can change how your guitar sounds.

+1

 

I read the same thing about Brian May back in around 1979/80.

 

I tried the pre-1920 (0.925 % silver) 6d but it was too thick so I tried the smaller 3d and found it to be perfect. I've been using them ever since. I love both the sound it bestows and the attack-control it gives.

 

P.

[damian]

Yeah......Don't use a Euro coin as a pick.................They aren't very valuable and the notes decay quickly.... ...

[Murph]

I read a book about the Hunt Brothers nearly cornering the silver market and started buying silver in the late 80's. A divorce forced the sale in the early 90's and I bought land until recently, getting back into silver.

 

Land, Silver and Gibsons.

 

Yep.

[RaysEpiphone]

I also seriously doubt that today's young'ns would know how many bits are in a byte.

 

 

For you young'ns:

 

25¢

 

and 8, not be confused with pieces of 8, from whence the 'bit' of 'two bits' comes from.

 

Acutally, there is a parallel here:

 

Back in the colonial days the Spanish real was tender of the day. To make change, the real was literally cut into, up to, 8 slices like a pizza. A 'bit' was one of the 1/8 portions of a whole real. Two bits made for one quarter of a real. This vernacular continued even after the US had it's own coinage and hacking up coins was no longer done, nor permitted. 2 bits is 1/4 of the base denomination, i.e. the dollar... or the real.

 

1 bit = 1/8 of a dollar

1 bit = 1/8 of a byte. For the young'ns, a bit is the smallest fraction of data, a single state, i.e. either on or off, i.e.e., 1 or 0. Eight digits, 1 or 0, in a line denote a single letter or number or character.

 

 

You think the framers of the computer world did this intentionally?

 

I think it was the Gaul's and the Romans that put hash-marks on there coins so you could cut it into 1/2 or 1/4 of the whole coin size. The bit's in a digital sense is all about sampling, and relate directly to physical electricity.

[milod]

I dunno...

 

Actually in computer stuff, I always saw bits and bytes and such as exemplifying alternative mathematical bases, such as octal and hexadecimal as opposed to decimal (base 10).

 

There was another cute term, though, that few would recognize: the "Nybble." It was half a byte.

 

<grin>

 

Of course, the reference to eating, byte and nybble (there were alternative spellings) also brought to mind another horrid pun, that a place used to store or use digital communications devices would be a baud-y house.

 

And that dates back before ASCII as some of us came to know it. I remember well how some old ASCII

 

m

[TommyK]

...One other thing I've noticed, and IMHO it has to do also with the economy, is the way in which "dress-up" clothing seems almost no longer to exist outside of certain more affluent subcultures. When I was a kid every male big enough to sorta walk had a "suit" and all the girls had dresses. Now... even jeans and t shirt seem dressed-up enough even for church as long as it isn't a wedding or funeral.

 

I seem to wear a suit a cupla times a year if that. <sigh> Sad.

 

And all men wore hats - not caps, hats.

 

But then... I still remember the ice deliveryman and the icebox in the basement.

 

m

 

I am of a mind that there are times a man needs to dress up. Have you ever looked for children's Easter outfits? Unless you are in the deep south, not a tie, nor sport coat among them. It's tees and shorts for Easter... EASTER for God's sake! That is NOT a pun.

 

The Bentonville Big Box does not carry suitable Sunday-go-to-meetin' clothes for kids or adults. Adult males can go to The Men's Warehouse or Casual Male for suits, but for boys it's a non-starter. I suspect that in time the pendulum will swing back t'other way and suits for boys will be back in style.

 

Hats, on the other hand, are de rigueur in the African American, adult male, community, especially in the "Big City". These hats are of the fedora variety which my Dad regularly wore, Sundays and goin' to meetin's. If I could find a habadasher selling these fedoras, out side the 'Big City', I'd be sporting one as well. I like the look.

 

 

It is interesting to watch TV shows, dramas and sitcoms, from the 1950's and even the 1960's. I have noted that the appropriate dress for riding on an air plane was suit and tie. Heck, even Andy Griffith dressed up to see Aint Bee off, and he wasn't even getting on the plane. Of course, there was nothing between the bonvoyage well-wishers and the air plane but 100 feet of tarmack and a four foot cyclone fence, with no lock! Now-a-days... sweat suits and jammies are the norm. And when Barney Fife rode the train (pre AMTRAK), he was properly dressed, wearing the Old Salt and Pepper suit and bow tie, and a Panama hat.

 

(BTW, on the TV show the train was UP rolling stock, which didn't travel to North Carolina... just a bit of trivia.)

 

A couple years ago, my FIL road Amtrak from Ark to Tx. What the young gal ahead of him wore would NOT qualify as Sunday-go-to-meetin', If'n you know what I mean. )

[milod]

Tommy...

 

Bentonville, Ark., I'm assuming... Been there.

 

Anyway, Yup on all you said.

 

After living in Memphis 8 years, albeit starting some 30 years ago, I find the differing clothing styles of the "black" community quite interesting, especially in music. The traditional guys like BB wear "dress-up" clothing to exemplify that regardless of songs, they're looking at the better side of life, and the rap guys dress like low-life gangsters who likely wouldn't have survived the "inner city" back in the day. There tended to be a lotta interesting scars on some of our old blues guys' bodies.

 

Back in the '60s I always got a kick outa the white kids emulating the old blues guys, but the blues guys were in suits and the white kids looked too dirty, unkempt and poorly dressed to work a lotta farms.

 

<sigh> Times certainly have changed, eh?

 

m