A Silver Dollar Memory

It's just a silver dollar, but there's a story behind this one, from the time that I first saw it.


We have to set the WayBack Machine to around 1964, to the days when my sister and I would sometimes stay over night or over a weekend at my grandparents farm. Grandpa Bryan's farm was one of those self sufficient farms, that have all but disappeared these days, except for maybe the Amish. The crops that they grew, for the most part, went to feed the cows, chickens and pigs. They could then sell the milk, eggs and pork to make extra money. As a side story my wife and I may have met when we were children, long before we dated, when her grandfather bought milk and eggs from mine.

Anyway, back to the silver dollar, it was on one of those weekend stays, when I was getting ready for bed. I was sleeping in the spare bedroom during this stay and happened to open a drawer of an old dresser, that held all kinds of treasures, at least for a 7 years old. There were old pairs of glasses, small tools, a watch or two and a box full of old silver dollars. These dollars were bigger than the coins that I was used to handling and a few of them were pretty badly worn. After looking at them I carefully replaced them in the drawer and moved a few things around in order to fold my clothes and put them away.

I thought about those coins over the years and they are probably what led me to a brief period of coin collecting when I was a teenager.

Recently, after the death of my grandfather, those coins were passed down to my mother, but she in turn gave them to me. I cherish those coins because of the memories of those visits to the farm and I carry one of the coins with me today, as a reminder of simpler times.

Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year