Letters to the Editor: Collecting Painted Quarters
Readers respond to Philip Lo Presti’s “Painted Quarters” with decades-old collections, curious coin damage, and a colorful memory from the summer of 1976.
World coming to an end, or is it? I can’t understand; they stop Dear Mr. Philip Lo Presti,
I have been a collector for 67 years. I have saved these painted coins:
1 Morgan Dollar
2 Walking Halves
1 Franklin Half
1 1964 Kennedy half
1 Barber quarter
5 Washington quarters
6 Mercury dimes
3 Roosevelt Dimes
1 Jefferson Nickel
1 Wheat cent
I also have coins damaged by cigarette machines. Have the little round dent.
L. A. Puckett
Hello L. A. Puckett,
I very much appreciate your letter about the painted coins that you have collected over your 67 years. I enjoyed the fact that you actually collected these and took the time to tell us about them. I also learned that there are other painted coins out there besides just quarters.
Thank you very much for responding to my article.
Philip M. Lo Presti
Mr. Lo Presti,
When I turned to page 30 of the June 30 Numismatic News article by you titled “Painted Quarters,” I had an immediate flashback to the summer of 1976. The red quarters took me back to a late evening when I was waiting for my good friend to finish his work duties in closing down the pizza parlor for the night. I sat in the empty restaurant at a table with the manager when he showed me some red-painted quarters in his hand. He abruptly hurled the quarters one by one into the different empty seating areas of the pizza parlor. Shocked, I asked him why he did that. He explained that the coins were supposed to be picked up by the cleaning staff when they performed their duties in the middle of the night. They were to leave the coins for the manager’s attention once they finished. The coins were definitely not lucky finds for them to keep. This process was a test of honesty and service quality control on the part of the housekeeping staff. To my knowledge, the painted quarters were not put in the jukebox or pay phone. The jukebox was always playing songs, so there was no need to seed the device with “house quarters”.
The summer of ‘76 was an especially memorable period in my life between my junior and senior year. Your article took me back there.
Phil Fifield
Philip Lo Presti grew up on Long Island, New York, is retired, and now lives in Florida. His interest in coins was sparked by a Canadian coin he received in spare change at the ripe old age of 6. The different look of that coin spurred him on to study and collect coins for the next 61 years. His relationship with Numismatic News began with contributions to “Letters to the Editor” and the “Viewpoint” sections of the publication. His viewpoint critiquing the artistry of the newly released state quarter program attracted the attention of the editor at the time, who published it as a two-part feature series. He now enjoys writing articles regularly. He is a lifelong artist and photographer as well as a numismatist and brings his eye for artistry, beauty, and craftsmanship to his impressions and interpretations of coins. He combines these with a little bit of coin history to create interesting, informative, unique, and often witty articles. He loves and values the responses to his articles and hopes to hear from more readers in the future!
