Granddad’s 1954 Nash Rambler Cross Country Station Wagon
And The 1955 Doubled Die Penny
By
Robert A. Chapin
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2011
Revised 9-2-2011
In 1955, milk cost $.92 a gallon, bread was $.18 a loaf, eggs were $.78 a dozen, postage $.03, gas $.23 cents a gallon. A new car was $1950 - with the exception of granddad’s new 1954 Nash Rambler Cross Country station wagon two tone (Red and White) which cost between $1445 and $2999 and it may have had an optional automatic transmission. The annual salary was somewhere in the vicinity of $4,000 per year ($75.00 a week).
Burns and Allen were ever so popular, I was captivated by Roy Rogers, my parents couldn’t wait to watch I Love Lucy, Pat Boone’s: “Ain’t That A Shame” was moving up the charts.
For all coin enthusiasts and old car buffs, the year was 1955, I was 9 years old and granddad owned a 1954 red and white Nash Rambler Cross Country station wagon - with a rack on top. He purchased the car following his retirement the previous year to transport antiques to his shop in the old converted milking barn on the property in central Massachusetts.
Born in 1893 in Springfield, Massachusetts and following service in World War I as a lieutenant in the quartermaster corps, he worked the remainder of his life for Libby McNeill and Libby having progressed to senior vice president of sales in Western Massachusetts, Southern Vermont, and New Hampshire. One of his responsibilities as a salesman was to visit all the supermarkets in his territory and actually taste Libby’s baby food. Back in 1955 there were no mega-supermarkets as we know them to exist today.
Visiting a dozen stores in one day and convincing the store manager to taste the newest products was often a particularly bland experience for both men. On this particular day granddad introduced Libby’s newest product: Mashed peas with no salt added! Although the product was less than exciting, it was granddad’s job and it wasn’t often he endured the sampling of tasteless products. On the occasions when he sampled crushed pineapple or apple sauce it turned out to be a more pleasant palatable experience.
Along his route he created shortcuts from one town to another through the back roads and was particularly charmed by this particular old Saltbox house built in 1720. Stone walls erected by the early settlers in the time of our country’s founding were magnificent and superbly constructed. Although a non-farming estate, the hayfields were mowed twice a year under a cash arrangement with a local dairy farmer who paid granddad so much for each bale.
His plans were to retire on the 160 acre - mostly wooded estate. The previous owner Sadie Adams was a descendent of those who crossed on The Mayflower - and he, a descendent of The Deacon Samuel Chapin also crossed on the Mayflower. The Deacon Chapin was a principal founder of Springfield, Massacusetts.
The seven room house with 18-20 inch wide pine original floorboards, a fireplace large enough to slide whole racks of meat into its belly, accoutrements, and hanging utensils was appropriate for feeding the farm hands back in the day when the property was used for dairy cows. The milk they produced, the raising of hogs, chickens, and some beef cattle were eventually sold to other settlers or local shop owners. The house and barn were built by the early settlers and a trace of an old escape tunnel could be found (present day) in the cellar of the old house. The purpose of the tunnel leading to one of the fields in the dirt floor cellar was to protect the inhabitants from native American (Indians) .
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Following nearly 35 years with Libby - with the exception of approximately three years following the war when he was part owner of a lumber company in Springfield with his brother, the time finally arrived when he could retire, purchase the homestead which he named The Garrison Farm and really enjoy giving up the daily grind of the constant driving in all types of new England weather. The lumber company was a business for which he was not well-matched and he sold his interest to his brother.
Granddad was a meticulous person when it came to fashion. A gentleman born 7 years before the turn of the century, he always wore a necktie even though his shirt was flannel or multi colored. His belt line came just under his breasts and he walked with a hunch back possibly as a result of osteoporosis. He wore his hair in a Pompidou style and he was truly a “grand” gentleman, always dressing appropriately for dinner - including the necktie.
He was a coin and antique dealer, working out of the house, and involved me in hobby of coin collecting at an early age. One of the many pleasures he shared with me was to pack a picnic lunch and together we would travel the back roads of New England in his 1954 red and white Nash Rambler Cross Country Station Wagon stopping at a different banks along the way to purchase new (unopened) rolls of pennies. This year was 1955 - sometime around the end of the year.
As I recall the story, the Philadelphia mint was producing the 1955 penny and a slight misalignment occurred in the placement of the striking dies causing words and date on the coin to be doubled. Approximately 40,000 of the errors were produced on this particular evening shift.
The mistake was noticed by mint technicians and the dies immediately removed from production. With approximately 25,000 of the error coins already mixed with other 1955 coins, the decision was made to release the coins with the expectation that no one would notice the error. The coins were originally released in up state New York and a number of these uncalculated rolls found their way into Western Massachusetts.
The process of wrapping (rolling), contains coins from a number of different dies, and thus there is a mix of coins - preventing anyone from receiving a full roll of errors. I have found over the years that when there has been a major - or even minor die varieties only about 20% can be found in a single roll of uncirculated pennies.
On this particular late November day, granddad and I set out on the quest to purchase anywhere from $2.00 - $5.00 in 1955 pennies at each stop. We traveled to towns like Stockbridge, Greenfield, Amherst, and skirted several of the small locally owned banks just over the state line in Vermont and New Hampshire. I recall having $3.00 of my own money and granddad allowed me the thrill of walking to a bank (with his supervision) and asking the clerk if they had any new rolls of pennies. To this day, I find myself walking into the smaller regional banks and asking for new pennies.
On our return trip from a day of searching out banks for new pennies there was a Nash dealer less than three miles from our town in the neighboring town of Warren, Massachusetts. As granddad pulled into the parking lot he asked if I would like to see the new Nash Metropolitan model. WOW! What a treat. Once we entered, he asked the owner if I could sit in one of the two models in the modest showroom while the two men discussed who knows what.
Oh! The joy of sitting in the new convertible, two tone blue and white with a rack on the trunk and a Continental kit on the back that held the spare tire for all to see with a canvas white cover. I think the price was less than $1500.00. At 9 years old I was totally in love with the Nash Metropolitan convertible - and that new car smell - it will be burned into my brain forever!
To top off my day, the owner had a pistachio vending machine in his office, popped in a buffalo nickel and asked me to cup my hands under the spout as he turned the crank. My hands quickly filled with those white (they don’t make the white ones anymore) salt covered pistachios. Then he walked me into another room and handed me a bag of Wise potato chips and a bottle of Orange Crush soda. I was truly in heaven! It may sound strange, but I am now 65 years old - three years older than granddad was in 1955, and whenever I am reminded of Wise brand potato chips or have occasion to buy a bottle of Orange Crush soda I an transported back to the visit at the Nash dealership. It’s amazing how the human mind can store those wonderful experiences.
With mission accomplished, we returned home and after dinner retreated to granddad’s office where he began to open the rolls and closely examine them for this “strange” penny. He subscribed to a coin magazine The Numismatist, and had prior knowledge and a photo of the 1955 doubled die penny.
“Oh! Here’s one Bobby!” he shouted excitedly . Another ten specimens and “here’s another!” He managed to purchase 40 rolls ($20.00 face value) from a variety of about 6 or 8 banks and if my memory serves me, half of the rolls came from The Greenfield Savings Bank in Greenfield, Massachusetts, a distance of about 100 miles from upstate New York, where the bulk of the error coins were released.
His eagerness to discover the misaligned coin created approximately 100 pieces (2 rolls) from the 20 rolls he purchased in Greenfield. With customers calling to make appointments to purchase other coins in his inventory, he dealt in all denominations of U.S. coins and enjoyed quite a pleasurable business in his retirement.
With nearly 100 of the error coins, granddad was having a difficult time selling them for $.25 each. Many novice collectors did not want a coin that was not perfect and passed, on the $.25 cent coin. I do recall times when he would just give one away as a souvenir to customers, and he even gave me five - all nice and shiny!
Whenever I had the chance, I was by his side often looking through boxes of circulated Jefferson wartime nickels and the most popular were the Lincoln cents. I had the penny and nickel boards where I would snap a coin into the holder. Key dates were missing like the 1909-S, 1909-S-VDB, the 1914-D and 1922 Plain penny - all of which are worth a fortune today.
As time went by, granddad devoted much of his time to the antique business. Coins and antiques continued to keep him occupied. Eventually, the 1955 double die pennies were but a memory. With the exception of the 5 he gave me, he was of the opinion that these oddity coins would never become anything of significant value.
Eventually, granddad traded his Nash Rambler station wagon for a Ford Falcon station wagon in 1960. It was putrid green with an unprotected all metal dash, no seat belt and a far cry from the Nash Cross Country or the Metropolitan.
By this time I was 14 years I had my chores around the homestead. Cutting the grass was my responsibility and my dad paid me $1.25 a week. At the time it looked as though I had the entire south forty to mow - with a gas powered walk behind oil burning kluncker. Sadly, my dad died suddenly on May 13, 1963 - I just turned 17 and life changed rapidly for granddad, my mother and three sisters.
Granddad was fortunate inasmuch as he retired with a nice pension from Libby McNeill and Libby, and I believe he did receive a pension from Social Security.
I did not escape the Vietnam War, and while there, granddad died peacefully at the age of 75 on February 23, 1968. The military usually does not send one home with the death of a grandparent, but since the death of my dad in 1963, granddad was considered my “next of kin”.
The 1955 doubled die penny in the best possible condition is now valued at $40,000 (PCGS - Professional Coin Grading Service) graded MS-65. The five granddad gave me were possibly used in gum ball or white salted pistachio machines. I did continue the hobby and an interesting turn of events came about for me in the year 2000. That was the year that the U.S. Mint made another blunder in the production of pennies. The reverse design of the penny actually has two designs. Although not easily detectable, it is in the lettering AMERICA on the reverse. In that year, a mint technician made an error when he inadvertently replaced the worn reverse die of what is known as a business strike penny (that is the coin you and I receive from the banks) with that of a PROOF penny (reserved for collectors) reverse die. In the regular die, the lettering AM in AMERICA is touching (AM), and in the collector’s quality special PROOF issue set the AMERICA has a separation (A M).
Whenever there is a change in the die in any given year, that constitutes a major error. With a mixture of the wide (A M) and the close (AM) a feeding frenzy erupted for collectors.
As I mentioned earlier, I did follow in granddad’s steps and became an avid collector and dealer. I purchased 10 canvas bags from the local bank (each containing $50.00 - 5,000 pennies dated 2000). I was searching through them following an article in one of the coin magazines, where is described the newly found error. I was able to identify the error coins I had in my possession, and was able to locate 5,000 pieces.
This left me with 9 searched through bags with a face value of $50.00 each which I returned to the bank and the 5,000 with the error amounted to $50.00 which I kept. At the time of their discovery these coins selling at $20.00 each, and I was able to turn that $50.00 investment in excess of $100,000.
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Several years ago I had the opportunity to sit in a completely restored 1954 Nash Metropolitan - red and white just like the one I sat in at the dealership. The memories of 1955 are burned deep into my mind - and I miss the simple way of life when one didn’t have need to lock your door, or be concerned with identity theft etc. There are so many wonderful memories of that bygone era never to be repeated.
Although only nine years old, I was fascinated by my new hobby but equally fascinated with the 1954 Nash Rambler Cross Country Station Wagon, The Nash Metropolitan, Wise potato chips, salted pistachios, and Orange Crush.
The Nash Metropolitan had that new car smell and it seemed so spacious to me - at the time it was the state of the art automobile. Nash had a winner! Granddad originally wanted to purchase a Nash Metropolitan and the dealer even let him take one home for the weekend and I instantly fell in love with this classic car - and it was even available in a convertible.
I’m 65 years old now and granddad has been gone for years. Most of what I have written here is from memory, but I have also had the benefit of Google for those times when my mind just could not recollect. Isn’t technology wonderful? There may be occasion where I have slipped up or gotten it wrong, but after all, it was 56 years ago. Any mis-statement is not deliberate and I hope you have enjoyed this trip.
Thanks,
Bob