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Lincoln's and Buffalos

Penny Arcade of Yesteryear

Lincolns and Buffalos
Of Yesteryear
By
Dewey Maggard

Some of you will remember the days when we had the Penny Arcade. In these fascinating places,
there was always a distinctive aroma of the most pleasant sensation to your sense of smell. There
was cinnamon, banana, chocolate,strawberry, cherry and caramel to name a few. These odiferous
aromas were coming out of fairly large jars that an adult could put their hands in.
When you as the buyer could look and look at the variety of shapes and colors before your eyes
of candies unlimited. Rows and rows of these colorful jars stood neatly just above your reach or in
a cabinet of glass doors. Generally, it was a kindly elderly person who was to ask, May I get something for you? Of course, with so much to choose from, this propiertor had to have the patience of the proverbial Job. Why, because it took considerable time to make a decision in such a place.
In this wonderful archive of digestible collectibles, your only requirement to own some was a little metal disc known as the Lincoln Penny. You were to young to know why Mr. Lincoln had such a sad expression on his face. You were too young to know the struggles he had in growing up
in a new land of wilderness inhabited by Native Americans (Indians) that werent too well liked at that time. You were too young to understand all these things. Too Young to understand why Mr. Lincoln could later tell his listeners in a speech. We live in the fairest land on earth; I ask you what have we done of ourselves to deserve such a bountiful country?
Most of what you really did know was this little red cent could buy as many as 10 pieces of
candy and sometimes more. Oh, there was those orange slices two or three for a penny. Little
cellophane bags of red-hot cinnamons for a penny. At least twenty five to a bag. Then there was
this neat little package of things we called kits. ten pieces all neatly wrapped in wax paper house in
a tiny cardboard holder. This was a good trade item on the way back to the school. Trade one of
your walnettos for the other persons banana kit. The smart kids would decide before hand what
they would trade each other after their purchase. We must not forget the licorice sticks- must have
been a foot long piece for a penny. These places were rightly called The Penny Arcade as I am
hard pressed to remember items which may have cost more. That is not say there werent any nickel items. Since most of us who frequenting this paradise for the young knew what our buying power was with these pieces of magic. I say magic because to a young mind what could be more magic
than to exchange a little red piece of metal for as many as ten things to tantalize the taste buds.
So, all you Lincoln collectors, that penny you look at in your album today even if it is a 09-S,VDB was much more than Mr. Lincoln and Victor D Brennen with a mint mark. It was a
little bit of heaven. Maybe the composer of the song Pennies from Heaven was thinking about
the Penny Arcade of Yesteryear. You will have to travel far and wide to find a place that harbors these wonderful odors we remember of those yesterdays. If such places exist they are quite rare.
As we graduated into middle school as they were called then or Junior High School, We had new
lessons to learn about the Nickel, the Five- cent piece. We certainly didnt have any idea that the fellow on this coin actually was a composite of at least two indians. One by the name of Iron tail (not much know about him. Then there was Three Moons. It has been said that Mr. Frazier (the engraver) actually captured the likeness of Three Moons the most on the finished product. Perhaps for good reason as we do know more about this indian fellow. Some of what we do know is that he was a Cheyenne Chief, and that he was among those who fought Custers army at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. We also know that he lived until 1919 after having been able to visit the home of
the Great White Chief, The President at the White House. No, these were things we had yet to learn but most likely in later years after becoming a coin collector. There are perhaps millions of collectors even today who have the Buffalo Nickel who do not know what I have just related.
Let us also consider the beautiful Bison (Buffalo) on the reverses of this coin. Mr. James Frazier traveled to the Chicago Zoo after learning they had probably the best living specimen of a buffalo
in captivity. He spent several days at the Zoo sketching this beautiful massive beast. When he had satisfied himself with all his sketches he then could return to his office at the mint and go to work
on the sculpturing process. All of this of course was the preliminary procedure that took place in
getting to the public the final product of what we now call the Buffalo or Indian Nickel.
As youngsters, we did not care who the Indian was or what the Buffalos name was.
A short time ago, thinking I had found such a place as mentioned above with all the elements of the old penny arcade on a back road several miles from where I live, I stopped to
take a look. What caught my eye was a gorgeous sign on the side of the building featuring Eskimo
Pies, with a large For Five Cents printed on the sign. Remember the youthful face surrounded by fluffy white in the true Eskimo Parka Many of you will remember buying these wonderful ice cream treats for a Big Nickel or five cents And for an extra inducement, there was a stick with the
imprint Free Eskimo Pie If you got one of those sticks, well you got another Eskimo Pie.
This sign was my objective as well as getting a good sniff of the inside of this little country general store. Sure enough, the aroma was there. That peculiar aroma that took me back to the
days of the ten for a penny candies at the Penny Arcade. Yet today there was nothing for a penny.
My quest was a picture. Yes I wanted a picture of this fading depression year advertisement
The lady who came from out of the back of the store wanted to know if she could help me. Since
it was a hot summer day, I purchased a cold drink loitering outside looking up at that sign.
The lady followed me outside and asked why I was looking over her building..She said, I am
not ready to list this property if that is what you have in mind. I said, No lady, nothing like that.
I then went to my car and pulled out my Camera and proceeded to back off to get a good view of
the Eskimo Pie sign. To me, this was a collectible for film of course. She followed me across the
road saying she would rather I not take pictures of her building without stating my purpose. I went
ahead and clicked for the first one..Okay, I said, I love that little Eskimo Pie kid on your building
and that is why I am taking these pictures. Oh!, Well, you could have at least asked. That might be
worth some money. Maybe, lady but all I want is a picture and I am simply reminiscing about
the days of when a Nickel would by what that picture says it will Were you the owner of this
place when that picture was painted?, I asked.; Well, No, my daddy built this building and as you can see this building is fairly old, of course, it is older than I am. She must have been 80. Then she says, Well, as long as we are reminiscing, let me tell you something. Then she proceeded to tell me how they rode in their horse drawn wagon on an overnight trip 20 miles.to partake in eating Ice Cream, the first place in the the area to have it . This place had a name like
Knights Ferry
I thanked her for sharing her experience with me but most importantly for the Pictures of the
Eskimo Pie sign on her building. Now why would I do a thing like this? Well, dear ones, why does any collector do such things. To tell you the truth, the Buffalo Nickel was linked to me very closely as this was the one I saw in bright shinny (mint) condition the most often. This coin was was important to me because most of the kids I went to school with were Native American and were
among my best friends. The other thing of prominence was that I knew where a whole herd of about 80 of these beautiful beasts were. On more than one occasion I had close up views of them
and even got to pet one in his corral although I doubt if he ever knew it.
Yes, this Nickel was big to the all the kids I knew. For sure, you could buy a nice juicy hamburger with one of these coins. A bowl of chili, a minced ham sandwich,a piece of pie. a double-dipped ice cream cone and the list is endless. Many of you have had those very same experiences with this American classic coin. Wow, with two of them, you could go to the Saturday Matinee for a big double feature (or more) of Cowboys and Indians. The bad guys never got away. No there was never any bad language. Nickel was king during these days. With two of them, you could swim at the Crystal Plunge all of a Saturday afternoon. Space does not permit to name all
the wonders this magic piece of metal would get you. Who cared whether the date was a 1913
much less if Black Diamond (our model Buffalo) was on a mound or not. Types were not too important then.
Well, I can tell you though, when I saw this new nickel (Jefferson) coming on the scene, I didnt like it at all. After all, what was wrong with the one we had. No siree, they can have this new Jefferson Nickel was my thought at the time. Of course, this must be the way things are. We too
often do not appreciate what we have until we see it replaced with something else. The best advice any of the old-timer collectors can give then is this. When you see something you like. GO FOR IT. And so what!, if the value does not seem to appreciate like in some other coins, you will always have what I have just shared with you. Nice memories. That is what makes this hobby the king of them all.



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