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Old Men's Wallet/Coin Purse

Anyone else remember those? They were long and made of leather, with a clasp top, a bit smaller than the modern cigarette pouch. They date from the time when coins had more purchasing power, and you didn't want to lose one by keeping them loose in your pocket. They were also used as wallets, since things like ID and credit cards were rare in those days. The last one I remember seeing new was on sale in a 1970s Johnson Smith catalog.

Have no idea what their proper name was. Also have no idea if they're still sold new, or if they've gone the way of knee length breeches. Also know I haven't been able to turn one up with a web result.
 
What I remember from my childhood (the 1970's) were those rubber/plastic ovular purses with a slit down one side. When you compressed it from the endpoints where the slit ended it opened up.

None of the old men I knew in those days carried a leather item for coins. Those rubber things were the only thing I remember any man carrying (if anything). Have never seen anyone carry anything like it since.

I've only witnessed guys pulling change out of their pockets (like I always did) since then. I myself rarely used change as a younger man and always opted (sometimes to my chagrin) to pay with bills and collect the change in my pockets which I would empty nightly into a mason jar (or bank as a kid). Still operate this way IF I have to use cash.

Chris
 
Anyone else remember those? They were long and made of leather, with a clasp top, a bit smaller than the modern cigarette pouch. They date from the time when coins had more purchasing power, and you didn't want to lose one by keeping them loose in your pocket. They were also used as wallets, since things like ID and credit cards were rare in those days. The last one I remember seeing new was on sale in a 1970s Johnson Smith catalog.

Have no idea what their proper name was. Also have no idea if they're still sold new, or if they've gone the way of knee length breeches. Also know I haven't been able to turn one up with a web result.
I'm envisioning something like the following, except made of leather:

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Seems like the only place to find them would be in a museum... In fact, the one above is about 200 years old and is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
 
I'm envisioning something like the following, except made of leather:

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Seems like the only place to find them would be in a museum... In fact, the one above is about 200 years old and is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

That's close to the shape, and the clasp matches. Made of leather, the bottom was more square. The last one I remember had two compartments, both closed at the top. It had belongs to my father or grandfather, and had a WWII gas rationing stamp in one of the compartments. That places its manufacture in the first part of the 20th century.
 
What I remember from my childhood (the 1970's) were those rubber/plastic ovular purses with a slit down one side. When you compressed it from the endpoints where the slit ended it opened up.

None of the old men I knew in those days carried a leather item for coins. Those rubber things were the only thing I remember any man carrying (if anything). Have never seen anyone carry anything like it since.

I've only witnessed guys pulling change out of their pockets (like I always did) since then. I myself rarely used change as a younger man and always opted (sometimes to my chagrin) to pay with bills and collect the change in my pockets which I would empty nightly into a mason jar (or bank as a kid). Still operate this way IF I have to use cash.

Chris

I remember the oval type. You could buy them, and they were also given away as promotional items. I had a different style made specifically for young children. This was closed by a zipper, and mine had a pirate on it. That was before the 1970s.

By the 1970s, I don't recall men using the type of coin purse/wallet I described. Before that, I do.
 
What I remember from my childhood (the 1970's) were those rubber/plastic ovular purses with a slit down one side. When you compressed it from the endpoints where the slit ended it opened up.

None of the old men I knew in those days carried a leather item for coins. Those rubber things were the only thing I remember any man carrying (if anything). Have never seen anyone carry anything like it since.

I've only witnessed guys pulling change out of their pockets (like I always did) since then. I myself rarely used change as a younger man and always opted (sometimes to my chagrin) to pay with bills and collect the change in my pockets which I would empty nightly into a mason jar (or bank as a kid). Still operate this way IF I have to use cash.

Chris
I remember those types were available at every bank as a freebie with the banks name on it. Like these.
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Citing the '80s:

I remember a few variations growing up, but honestly I can't remember the last time I saw one in person. And I have never associated them as a "men's" item.

The rubber oval was a common place trinket for advertising purposes, but I rarely remember seeing them in regular with adults. Kids maybe used them when they were first received for whatever reason, but abandoned soon after.

The hinge top with the buttoned clasp (like the picture earlier in the thread) were still around my parents and grandparents house growing up, but less so among men and really only sitting in women's purses, and even then less likely to be in use.

I also have seen the spring hinge or zipper cases that I typically associated as a "rosary case" growing up used as a coin purse. They are probably the only ones I still see on store shelves, though usually not marketed for a different use.

I will include pictures of what I envision. These are all from current active retail website, so they are still around. Some are marketed as coin purse, some are marketed as rosary case. I think maybe the style of clasp you are picturing maybe went out of style for whatever reason (manufacturing ease, practicality, save on metal parts?), just like a however many hundred years earlier a coin purse would have been a leather pouch with a draw string.

Thoughts?



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martym

Unacceptably Lasering Chicken Giblets?
I saw my maternal grandmother twice in my life and I remember she had a leather pull-string coin purse.
I remember her pulling it out and giving my brother and I change to go buy candy.
Must have been more than 40 years ago.
 
I'm envisioning something like the following, except made of leather:

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Seems like the only place to find them would be in a museum... In fact, the one above is about 200 years old and is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
This type of design reminds me not of a coin purse but a cigarette pack holder from the 1970's or so that my aunt's would use. I still remember the Pall Mall cigarettes (no filter) that my Aunt Edna would smoke in it. It also had a side compartment for a lighter.

Chris
 

Rhody

I'm a Lumberjack.
What I remember from my childhood (the 1970's) were those rubber/plastic ovular purses with a slit down one side. When you compressed it from the endpoints where the slit ended it opened up.

None of the old men I knew in those days carried a leather item for coins. Those rubber things were the only thing I remember any man carrying (if anything). Have never seen anyone carry anything like it since.

I've only witnessed guys pulling change out of their pockets (like I always did) since then. I myself rarely used change as a younger man and always opted (sometimes to my chagrin) to pay with bills and collect the change in my pockets which I would empty nightly into a mason jar (or bank as a kid). Still operate this way IF I have to use cash.

Chris
I remember these rubber things too. I dont remember leather pouch op described
 
I had a different style made specifically for young children. This was closed by a zipper, and mine had a pirate on it. That was before the 1970s.

By the 1970s, I don't recall men using the type of coin purse/wallet I described. Before that, I do.
That reminded me of a zippered leather coin purse that my parents gave to me just before we went on vacation down to the U.S. My Dad may have been using it to hold coins for cigarette vending machines. I vaguely recall that a pack of smokes was about $0.45 back then.

Anyway, I already had a plastic zippered coin purse (with a hockey team logo on it). So, the idea was to keep my Canadian money in the plastic one and put any US money that I received into the leather one.

After digging through the dresser in the spare bedroom, I found it:

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It's 3.5" x 2.0" and made of leather (rough in/smooth out). When I looked inside, I found:

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The coins range from 1966 to 1973. I think that our trip was in 1974, so that matches up.

Whole lot of good memories came flooding back when I was handling that little coin purse just now. I'll never stuff into a forgotten drawer ever again.
 
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