What a blast from the past! I came across these rubber coin purses at the souvenir shop at Mount Rushmore recently..
I haven't seen
(or noticed) these things in stores since I was a kid. I along with many of my friends used to carry these around in the 70s and 80s. I personally liked how they kept all of my change as well as various boyhood items like firecrackers, arcade tokens, and Cracker Jack toys neatly contained. For us kids, these coin purses were a Godsend, because change wouldn't fall out of our pockets when we were running, biking, or sitting down.
The coin purse was created back in 1951, and was quite popular for the next three or four decades. They were handed out as freebies by supermarkets, liquor stores, restaurants, banks, and many other types of businesses. My prized coin purse had print on it which made it look like an orange football. My dentist gave me one once that was red with a set of white teeth printed on it, which made it look like a mouth opening and closing when you squeezed it. Something about the manufacturing process ensured that the print wouldn't get scratched or wear off (at least on the top quality brands like Quikoin).
I'm truly saddened that these coin purses are nearly extinct, but maybe more so because of the reasons why. Folks simply don't use much legal tender these days. Cash has become an annoyance to many, and we've largely become a society that is now paying with plastic for most items. If I remember correctly, my old coin purses used to hold about $3.00 - $4.00 in silver coins quite comfortably. When I was a kid, that kind of money could keep a kid fed and entertained for the better part of a day. Sadly today.. it cannot.
When Susan B. Anthony Dollars were released, you could load your coin purse up and run around town like a big shot! With the new dollar coins available today, I guess you could fill it up and carry about ten bucks in coin on you. Which gets me to thinking..
I believe I'm going to peruse my junk drawers to see if I can dig up some of my old coin purses. Call me crazy.. but I dig using cash rather than plastic, and a rubber coin purse is still a very useful item for someone like myself who does a lot of biking. I've also got a few ideas running through my head in regards to re-purposing them. I'll have to let you know what I dig up..
