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I always wonder how many arcade employees may have been seeing silver quarters coming out of arcade games back in the 80s. I'll bet there were a ton!

No, but a related story...

My grandfather told me when he used to go to Las Vegas in the 50's and early 60's the slot machines would pay out real silver dollars. All Morgan and Peace dollars, but once in a while he would get a Liberty Seated dollar, which were very well worn, but date was usually readable. He saved most of them and would give 10 of these silver dollars to me every Christmas from 1969 until 1984 (his death). I still have all of them!

Cu Penny Hoarder wrote:No, but a related story...

My grandfather told me when he used to go to Las Vegas in the 50's and early 60's the slot machines would pay out real silver dollars. All Morgan and Peace dollars, but once in a while he would get a Liberty Seated dollar, which were very well worn, but date was usually readable. He saved most of them and would give 10 of these silver dollars to me every Christmas from 1969 until 1984 (his death). I still have all of them!

Wait a minute- did he give you Morgan/Peace dollars or Seated dollars?

Recyclersteve wrote:

Cu Penny Hoarder wrote:No, but a related story...

My grandfather told me when he used to go to Las Vegas in the 50's and early 60's the slot machines would pay out real silver dollars. All Morgan and Peace dollars, but once in a while he would get a Liberty Seated dollar, which were very well worn, but date was usually readable. He saved most of them and would give 10 of these silver dollars to me every Christmas from 1969 until 1984 (his death). I still have all of them!

Wait a minute- did he give you Morgan/Peace dollars or Seated dollars?

I only have 1 Seated, 1871. I didn't have it graded, but it looks to be VG. The rest are Morgans and Peace. A few rarer date Morgans too. Some of them have the dates removed... I read casinos did this to keep people from taking them home. My grandpop was a gold and silver bug, never believed in paper money and he did not turn in his gold in 1933 (he was a teen back then). 98% of kids today are totally ignorant and think bits of digital vaporware are worth something... how sad.

Cu Penny Hoarder wrote:No, but a related story...

My grandfather told me when he used to go to Las Vegas in the 50's and early 60's the slot machines would pay out real silver dollars. All Morgan and Peace dollars, but once in a while he would get a Liberty Seated dollar, which were very well worn, but date was usually readable. He saved most of them and would give 10 of these silver dollars to me every Christmas from 1969 until 1984 (his death). I still have all of them!

Very cool!

I wasn't an arcade employee but for a short time I blew through hundreds if not thousands of quarters playing some of the then-new arcade video games: pac-man, space invaders, etc. I was aware of silver even then, and occasionally would find a silver dime in change (a couple times a year back then), but don't recall ever seeing a silver quarter. You have to remember this was right after most easily available silver was swept up by the Hunt brothers rise in silver and the resulting big melt. Silver coin was already scarce in the 1970s; very little easy accessible silver coin survived 1980.

I began collecting in 1977 at 12 yrs old and was an arcade regular all thru my teens. I would've snagged any silver quarter before putting it into my fave pinball machines but can't recall ever finding one.

In junior high (late 1970s) one of our teachers would sell candy and snacks during recess and had a cigar box full of coins as change. Now and then I'd see buffalo nickels in there and begged to buy them. He shooed me away every time.

Thanks for the replies on this! I was not aware of a Hunt brothers issue, I'll have to look that up.

I also feel obligated now to share that I collect 80s arcade games and pins

thecrazyone wrote:Thanks for the replies on this! I was not aware of a Hunt brothers issue, I'll have to look that up.

I also feel obligated now to share that I collect 80s arcade games and pins

Not coin silver related, just reminiscing...

Arcades really took off after Space Invaders and Pac-Man came out. You literally had to wait in line to play them. The seated Star Wars game was my fav (I think it was made by Atari). I liked playing video games, but I wasn't addicted to them like some of my friend were. I was more interested in looking under the machines for quarters dropped on the floor. I found a lot of money under those arcade games back then, especially on Monday. When I was 10 years old $5 bucks was a lot of money, it bought much more than it does today. Fun times. Arcades started drawing less and less people around 1985. Atari owned they market back then and was coming out with all the popular video games. I still have the first hand-held Nintendo games "Toss-Up and "The Exterminator". They cost $30 in 1980 (a TON of money back then). Both are still functioning and in mint condition. I was playing them yesterday. Wonder what they're worth?

Very cool on finding money bitd. And yes, the SW cockpit was made by Atari.

Even today I find tokens on the floor of game areas like the ones at roller rinks. Funny how some things never change!

thecrazyone wrote:Very cool on finding money bitd. And yes, the SW cockpit was made by Atari.

Even today I find tokens on the floor of game areas like the ones at roller rinks. Funny how some things never change!

When Activision came out with their "Star Master" home video cartridge, I was in heaven!

The guy that owned the arcade used to chase us away because he knew we were finding quarters under the games. I placed a lookout while I kneeled down to check under the video games for quarters. Sometimes the owner would get distracted which gave us more time to look under the games.

Instead of chasing you, why didn't he just pick up the coins himself?

thecrazyone wrote:Instead of chasing you, why didn't he just pick up the coins himself?

I would assume since the arcade was always packed, he couldn't spend the time to do that while all those kids were in there. I found out later that the owner/manager would periodically sweep under the machines himself to collect the dropped quarters. That local arcade was literally packed with kids, some would wait in line to play certain games. The owner must have made tons of money back then. I'm sure rent was dirt cheap in those days.