ROBERT RHUE'S RAMBLINGS ON THE HOBBY IN THE 1960S

In response to your request for “musings from the 1950's and 60's, let me just share a few tidbits from my own experiences.

When I was putting together a type set in the early 60's I remember distinctly that most coins in Choice Uncirculated were around $20. The better varieties, for instance an Arrows Dime or an Arrows and Rays Quarter would run $35 or $40 in Choice Unc. And a super AU bust dollar set me back $200.

My twelve piece gold type set including the $3 gold piece, all Choice to Gem Uncs. Except for the Type II Gold dollar (which was only a slider) cost me $800 to put together. Five years later it was still worth only $800, so that's the first thing that I sold when I needed money for college.

Many people will remember the craze over BU rolls. 46-S nickels and quarters, 55-S pennies, 55-P, D and S dimes, and hundreds of other dates and denominations which had anything under the normal mintage, was highly sought after and driven to the moon pricewise. Reminds me a lot of the tech stock market of ten years ago. Anyway in 1964 the roll market crashed suddenly, and seemingly forever, since many if not most of those rolls can be bought today – 45 years later – for a small fraction of what they sold for in the early 60's.

I could ramble forever about memories from those days but will save some of those for another day.

Wayne Homren, Editor

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